The first class of the day was potions so at 8:45 Dray, James, Triss, and Kat all left the hall towards their dorms to get their books. James walked back up to Gryffindor tower with Kat, reluctant to leave her alone with people like Randal running around.
When they entered the common room Kat ran up the stairs into her dorm while James pulled out his little black book and wrote the name of his potions book. The book appeared in his hands after 30 seconds of waiting. Kat came running down the stairs with a very heavy bag about a minute later.
James took the bag from her and cast a quick wandless feather weight charm before running out the door behind Kat. They arrived at the class room with two minutes to spare.
Kat and James grabbed a seat next to Triss and Dray who had obviously been in the class room for quite a dew minutes. "Has Professor Snape made his appearance yet?" asked James putting Kats bag in front of her on the table.
"No, but my dad said the first lesson is quite a show," said Dray.
About a minute later the bell rang and at that exact moment the class room door slammed open. "There will be no foolish wand waving in this class so don't even bother to ask. Now you are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making," he began. He didn't speak very loud but you could here him as if he were yelling.
"As there is no wand waving in this class many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you to really understand the beauty of a softly simmering cauldron with its softly shimmering fumes. I can teach you to how to bottle fame, brew glory, even put a stopper in death, if you aren't as stupid as you look," Snape continued as his eyes looked over every person in the room.
'You would think he would get a little more original,' James thought to Triss.
Triss couldn't help to giggle and even with her hand over her mouth Snape had heard her. "Is there something you find funny Ms. Summers?" Snape asked walking towards her.
"No sir," said Triss still trying to stifle her giggles.
"Tell me Ms. Summers, what would you get if you added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" asked Snape grinning evilly.
'Triss, asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of Living Death,' James thought to Triss knowing she didn't know the answer to the question.
"Asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful it's known as the Draught of Living Death," Triss said to Snape silently thanking James for saving her ass.
Snape looked like someone had just knocked over a potion he had been working on for months when Triss answered the question right. "Ms. Summers, where would you look if I asked you to find me a bezoar?" asked Snape glaring at Triss.
'In the stomach of a goat, it will save you from most poisons,' James thought to Triss.
"A bezoar would be found in the stomach of a goat, it can save you from most poisons," Triss answered. 'Now I know where you get your glare from,' Triss thought to James as Snape glared at her again. James couldn't help but laugh at Triss's comment now knowing why most older students flinched when he glared at them.
Snape turned to James with silent fury burning in his eyes. "Do you find something funny as well Mr. Cage?" Snape asked James.
"No sir," said James wiping all emotions from his face but still laughing on the inside.
"Mr. Cage, what is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?" Snape asked obviously trying to embarrass either Triss or himself.
"Monkshood and wolfsbane are the same plant also known as Aconite," said James truly bored by the easy, to him at least, question.
"Damn Death eater's children," Snape said so low under his breath that had James not had very sensitive hearing he wouldn't have noticed.
"I don't appreciate you calling my parents Death Eater's Professor Snape, for the fact that they were killed by Death Eater's," said James getting very pissed off that Snape would dare talk about Alex and Emma, who he still considered his real parents, like that.
Snape started to make a come back but stopped when James glared at him. 'Bastard,' James thought to Triss who nodded to him. The class went by smoothly until Snape called James to stay after class. Dray, Triss, and Kat all decided to wait out side as they didn't have another class until after lunch and wanted to be able to stop James if Snape decided to be an idiot and James tried to kill him.
When the bell rang all of the students, except James, poured out of the room as fast as they could. "You asked to see me Professor," said James walking up to his desk.
"Yes, I would like to apologize for my comment about your parents. It was uncalled for and shouldn't have been thought much less said. Do you accept my apology?" asked Snape looking very apologetic.
James heart softened a bit at the offer and even more when he saw the self loathing behind his eyes. "Yes, I accept your apology and I apologize for getting so angry," said James.
"Thank you, and 30 points to Slytherin for the questions you and Ms. Summers answered," said Snape before returning to what ever he was doing.
James walked out of the class room to see Triss, Dray and Kat all waiting for him as promised. "What did Snape want," asked Dray,
"He wanted to apologize for talking that way about my parents and give Triss and I the points we deserved for answering those questions," James explained as they made their way to the Slytherin common room.
Halloween
Life at Hogwarts had been good so far. Kat had been accepted as an honorary Slytherin by the rest of Slytherin house. The Gryffindor's pretty much left her alone but when they didn't James, with the help of Jewel, played extremely funny but embarrassing pranks on the said Gryffindor.
Professor Potter, the Gryffindor head of house and transfiguration professor, suspected James but could never prove anything as Jewel was normally the one to set up and execute the pranks. It turned out that Professor Potter was a Gryffindor version of Snape, biased towards every house but his own. James had nearly hurt said Professor many different times.
Professor Evans, Potter's wife and the charms professor, was nothing like Potter, she was very strict but fair and unbiased. James often wondered why she had married Potter but it wasn't really any of his business. The only real problem with Evans was that because of her pregnancy she was very short tempered, not that James could blame her.
The Defense Against the Dark Arts professor could only be described as one thing, a joke. His name was Jack Quirrell and he couldn't say a sentence with out stuttering if he tried. James had to re-teach the lessons to Triss, Dray, and Kat because they couldn't understand through all of his stuttering.
Flying was one of the more eventful classes the four of them had had. A rather clumsy Gryffindor boy named Neville Longbottom had lost control and fell off his broom while more than one hundred feet in the air. James had used his quick reflexes and caught Neville before he hit the ground. Snape had been so impressed he bent the rules and let James try out for Slytherin seeker.
James had been the best at the tryouts and had been given permission to get his own broom. James had written to Gringott's and had them order him the new Nimbus 2000 model. This of course didn't make Potter very happy and he tried every thing in his power to get James kicked off the Quidditch team but finally stopped when Dumbledore had had enough of Potter's complaints.
It was now Halloween and everyone was in good spirits. Kat, Dray, and Triss had just aced another DADA exam with help from James. James had been announced as having the highest grades in his year as sad as Potter was to admit it. The Halloween feast was to begin soon and everyone was waiting for it.
About an hour before the feast Kat excused her self so she could go get ready in her dorms. James started to get worried when the feast started and Kat still hadn't come back but Dray and Triss wouldn't let him go look for her, insisting she was fine. About 45 minutes into the feast Professor Quirrell came running through the doors like Satan was chasing him. "TROLL! TROLL IN THE DUNGEONS!" he yelled before dropping in a dead faint.
At the word 'troll' all of the students bar James, Triss, and Dray started to panic. "SILENCE," yelled Dumbledor standing from his seat. "Prefects, please lead your students to you house Dormitory. Professors, please follow me," said Dumbledor.
As Flint led the students out of the hall Neville Longbottom came running towards James as fast as he could. "James, Parvati Patil said that Hermione was in the girls bathroom crying a little while ago and never came out," said Neville panting.
"Thanks Neville," said James before running up to where Triss and Dray were. "Triss, Kat is in the girls bathrooms and she doesn't know about the troll," said James grabbing Triss's arm and pulling her down a corridor towards the bathrooms with Dray following behind.
As they reached the bathrooms a smell that was undeniably troll drifted in the air. James heart sank when he hear a scream of terror. James let go of Triss and ran as fast as he could towards the bathroom.
When James entered he saw the crumbled form of Kat laying on the ground and he went on auto-pilot. He hit the trigger points in his hands for his claws, turned into a very large black panther and jumped on the troll ripping and tearing at the troll's skin.
He felt Triss enter the room and sent her a message telling her to get Kat and send Dray to find Snape. Triss did as asked and sent Dray to find Snape while pulling the unconscious form of Kat out of the bathroom.
Dray arrived with Snape and a few other teachers a few minutes later. "What happened?" he demanded seeing Kat's unconscious form.
"Neville Longbottom told James that Kat was in he bathrooms and didn't know about the troll. James told me and Dray and I followed him. We heard Kat scream and James took off. When I pulled Kat out and sent Dray for you he was fighting the troll," said Triss as Professor Evans examined Kat.
"What do you mean fighting the troll?!?!" Snape demanded walking towards the door. Before he could open it a roar that defiantly wasn't a troll sounded followed by a loud 'Clunk'. Snape opened the door to see James inhuman form with his claws still out. "What the Hell is going on here?!?!" Snape demanded.
James turned he attention to Snape with a feral look in his eyes. Triss ran passed Snape and right up to James. "Let me see your hands," she said in a steady voice. The feral look in James's eyes disappeared and he let Triss look at his troll covered claws. She inspected them for a minute and pulled a blue potion out of her robes. She poured the potion over James hands and watched as it ate away all of the troll pieces.
By the time this was done Potter and Evans had entered the room and Dray had left to go get Quirrell. Evans put her hand over he mouth and looked like she was going to throw up at the sight and smell of the mangled troll on the floor. "What did that?" she asked.
"I did," said James before having another potion pushed down his throat by Triss. After he swallowed the final potion Triss pulled out her wand and cast a cleansing charm on James clothes, hands and face.
Evans caught a glimpse of his claws had to stop her self from screaming. "What the hell are those?!?!" she screamed at him. Snape and Potter nodded their heads showing they wanted to know as well.
"None of your business. Where is Kat?" James asked Triss retracting his claws.
The professors looked flabbergasted that a student would talk to them like that but didn't stop him when he walked out of the bathroom. "I suggest you leave him alone for a little while. He cranky and low on energy plus that troll blood is going to make him sick," said Triss.
"What potions did you give him?" asked Snape.
"The one I cleaned his hands with was a disinfectant so he didn't get ever more troll blood in his blood stream and so the blades don't rust. The one I made him drink was an antibiotic. Our guardian gave me a set of the potions to carry around if something like this happened, James has a set as well," Triss explained calmly.
"Why does he have metal claws installed in his bones?" Evans asked.
"N.Y.D.B." said Triss.
"What does that mean?" asked Potter glaring at her.
"None Ya Damn Business," said Triss before walking out of the bathroom and leaving the flabbergasted professors to look after her. Outside of the bathroom Triss saw that James had already left and taken Kat with him. 'Probably going to the hospital wing, there is no way he has enough power to heal her.'
Even though James looked invincible Triss of all people knew it wasn't true. Before Triss had even met James, Dragon had put a block on his powers not wanting James to get a big head. When she had arrived Dragon had trained her on how to deal with James in a bunch of different situations. He had had to tell her about the power block, currently James was only using about 20% of his real and ever growing power.
Now Triss was glad for the training knowing James would probably collapse from the energy loss soon, especially if he had wandlessly taken Kat to the hospital wing. Sure enough when Triss arrived at the hospital wing James was standing over Kat with the new medi-witch, Madam Winter, looking rather wobbly. Poppy Pomfrey was away for the year, assisting her pregnant daughter. He started to fall but Triss was next to him and holding him up in less than a second.
"What's wrong with Kat? James will want to know in the morning," said Triss adjusting James's weight.
"She has a nasty bump on the head and her ribs are bruised but she is fine other than that. She should be ready to go to classes with you tomorrow," said Madam Winter.
"Thanks," said Triss carrying James out. About half way to the dorms Triss ran into Dray. "Dray, can you give me a hand. James is heavy," said Triss.
Dray grabbed James and pulled about half of his weight off Triss. Together the two of them carried James to the dorms. Thankfully the common room was deserted when they arrived. Dray lead Triss to the room he and James shared and helped Triss lay James down. With a quick spell from Triss James was in his normal night attire and tucked under the covers.
"What spell was that?" asked Dray.
"Something I found in a book," said Triss walking out of the room and to her own dorm.
Review responses:
Sailor Star8: Thanks for the compliment. Most likely Snape will be James dad but I might do something else. I almost making this up as I go. Feel free to give me ideas.
Shadow: Thanks Shadow.
Cataclysmic: Thanks.