The next morning James woke up feeling like Hell. He groaned and rolled onto his side facing his alarm clock, it read 10:35 a.m. "Shit!" said James trying to get up. He succeeded in sitting up but had to lay back down when a dizzy spell came over him, "Shit," he muttered again.
"That is no way to talk Shadow," said a teasing voice.
"Why didn't you wake me up for classes Triss?" asked James lying back down and pulling his pillow over his eyes.
"Snape excused you for the day and possibly tomorrow pending on how you feel. All that bacteria from troll blood is a bitch to get out of your system. Oh! Snape, Evans, and Potter have decided not to tell anyone about the incident in the bathroom," said Triss smiling evilly.
"What did you do to them Tigress?" asked James not liking the evilness of the smile on Triss's face.
Triss put on her 'I'm a perfectly innocent Angel' act. "What do you mean what did I do? I swear I didn't torture them in to promising they wouldn't tell. I just threatened them very nicely. Plus, I think Snape has a soft spot for you," said Triss in all seriousness.
"He thinks he was one of the people who killed my foster parents," said James pulling the pillow off of his head.
"He wasn't one of them was he?" asked Triss fearing for her professor's life.
"No, if he had been I would have killed or at least mauled him by now. You know Quirrell has the mark, right?" said James.
"You're kidding? The man can hardly stop stuttering long enough the say a spell, much less to pledge his allegiance to the Dark Lord," said Triss.
"He has the mark, trust me. It's etched into his aura, just like Snape and Lucius," said James as Dray walked in with Kat behind him.
"What about my Dad?" asked Dray flopping down on a chair.
"Well let's start from the top, I don't want you to be too confused," said James ignoring the fact that he felt like he had been run over by the Hogwarts express, twice. "When my foster parents were killed I kind of went off and killed a few Death Eaters. After that I somehow Disapperated from my house and ended up at our Guardian's house. Come to find out I have a few…extraordinary powers," James continued carefully.
"He trained me on how to use my powers and right around my 8th birthday I met Triss," explained James before being cut off by Dray.
"What kind of extraordinary powers?" he asked.
"You have to swear on your honor as a wizard that you will not tell anyone what I'm about to tell you. If you break the trust I instill in you, you won't get it back," said James looking both Kat and Dray in the eyes.
"I agree," Kat and Dray said in unison.
"I am a Shapeshifter, Elemental, Healer, Transporter, Will wizard, Telepath, Parselmouth, and aura reader," said James slowly so they could digest everything he had just said.
"Okay, I think I can handle that," said Dray slightly uneasy.
"What about you Kat?" Triss asked from her spot on James bed.
"Okay, I second what Dray said," said Kat.
"Good, now as an aura reader I can measure how magically powerful people are and what abilities they have or if they have been enchanted in some way. The Dark mark is an enchantment, it creates a black ring around the person who has it," James continued explaining.
By now James could tell Dray was a bit panicky but kept his clam demeanor. "Dray, I know your dad has the mark but I also know he was a spy. Snape is in the same position, but I'm not sure about Quirrell yet," James said.
"I know Quirrell isn't a spy, there are only two living ones, my dad and Snape," said Dray.
"Well, we'll have to keep an eye on him. Now, both of you need to leave because Troll blood is a pain in the ass to get out of you system," said Triss trying to shove them out the door.
"Why does he have Troll blood in his system?" asked Kat obviously not knowing what had happened the previous night.
"He saved you from becoming a Kat pancake at the hands of that Troll," Triss said simply while pushing them out the door. "What do you think about Quirrell?" asked Triss after she had successfully gotten rid of Dray and Kat.
"I'm not sure yet but if he is still a loyal Death Eater he's in deep shit," said James cracking his knuckles for effect. Triss just rolled her eyes and started making James drink more potions.
The next day and a half consisted of James being totally bed bound on Triss's orders. Even he didn't dare cross Triss's orders so he took that time to finish all of his homework and read some. Sadly he had to flush the bacteria from the Troll blood out normally so it wasn't like he could get up and move around anyway.
When James arrived at breakfast he saw all of the members of the Quidditch team sitting an empty corner of the table. "Oy Cage! Get over here," yelled Flint. James walked over to the group and sat down. "Now that Cage has decided to show up we can start the meeting," Flint continued.
"The first match is Slytherin vs. Gryffindor and is on next Saturday, the 17th. Practice has been scheduled for Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 6:30 to 8 o'clock and every night from 6 to 9 o'clock. You better be there!" said Flint before leaving the group.
"I feel for you Shadow," said Triss after he told her about practice.
James! said a voice from under the table.
James looked under it and saw Jewel with her tail wrapped around a piece of parchment. Is that what I think it is? James asked picking her up discretely and grabbing the parchment.
Yes, tap it twice with your hand or wand and say 'The time has come to haunt the night, to be mischievous in the moonlight' and it will activate, said Jewel wrapping herself invisibly around his neck.
"The time has come to haunt the night, to be mischievous in the moon light," James repeated and the paper came to life. With in seconds a map of that floor of the school appeared with several labeled and moving dots. It was headed 'Hunter's Map.' "Wow," said James studying the map.
To clear it say 'Mischief managed,' Jewel said from her spot on his neck.
"Mischief managed," said James, all of the moving dots and lines disappeared. This is awesome Jewel, I owe you one," said James giving the invisible Jewel a piece of bacon.
Thank you, said Jewel before crawling into his robes.
The weeks leading up to the Quidditch match were pure hell. His new broom, a Nimbus 2000 had arrived and several Gryffindors had tried to steal it or get it confiscated. Jewel completely refused to leave his side after she heard about the Troll incident claming she had to keep him out of trouble. Flint was brutal at Quidditch practice and had threatened the whole team with death or large amounts of pain several times if they lost the match. On top of that was training with Triss, she was even more determined to beat him and that had resulted in several stitched up cuts. Being constantly hit with Bludgers while trying to catch the snitch at practice didn't help.
Finally it was the day of the match and Flint had pulled each member of the Quidditch team a side and threatened to rip them limb from limb, torture them with the Cruciatus curse and then throw what was left of them in the forbidden forest if they didn't do their job.
An hour before the match James went back up to his dorm and got his broom and Quidditch robes from a warded compartment of his trunk. After getting all of his stuff he walked down to the locker rooms right outside the pitch. By the time he was changed and read to play the rest of the team had arrived. After everyone was ready Flint started his speech, "If you lose this match I will rip you limb from limb," ect. Finally the announcer, a third year named Lee Jordan, announced the Slytherin team.
The team flew out onto the field and waited for the Gryffindor team to be called out. The captain, a boy named Oliver Wood, was the first to be called out followed by the chasers, the beaters, and the seeker. Once both teams were out on the field Madam Hooch dragged the Quidditch balls out onto the field. She kicked the chest and the Snitch and Bludgers took off.
She picked up the Quaffle and yelled, "I want a nice clean game," before throwing the Quaffle in the air. The game was on. Flint had taken the Quaffle immediately and was half way to the goals before the Gryffindor chasers even knew where the ball had gone.
James flew up above the game hoping to avoid getting hit by a Bludger. The day before Triss had gotten really violent with her sword and had given him three very large gashes in his skin that made it hurt like hell to move.
About 30 minutes into the game James flew back down hoping to spot the Snitch. About 150 feet off the ground his broom gave a rough jerk. At first James thought nothing of it but when his broom started trying to throw him off he switched over to his aura tracing mode and searched for an enchantment. James spotted an on going curse and traced it back to Quirrell in a matter of seconds. 'Big surprise,' he thought.
Before he could over ride the curse his broom gave a lurch and sent him over the front of it. He heard Triss and Kat scream as he was thrown off but he managed to grab the handle with one arm.
Looking over to where the teachers were sitting James was surprised to see Snape furiously muttering the counter curse. Knowing Snape wouldn't be able to stop the curse James pushed some of the pain from the stitches in his side threw the link Quirrell had with his broom.
The effect was immediate, the curse disappeared and Quirrell nearly passed out from the pain shooting threw his head, Quirrell was going to have one hell of a headache. James pulled him self back up onto his broom and saw the snitch. 'Great time for it to appear,' James thought before going after it.
The Gryffindor seeker, Jonathan Reed, had seen the Snitch as well and was going after it to. The two of them were neck and neck after the Snitch when it dived. Both James and Reed dived after it and the ground rapidly approached. About 20 feet from the ground Reed pulled out of the dive but James kept going. Five feet from the ground the Snitch turned right and James missed the ground by inches.
He was back on the snitches tail in seconds and was reaching out for it when a Bludger hit him in the side but he was able to grab the Snitch before he dropped off his broom in pain. James knew that his ribs were bruised if not broken and healed them automatically. Before he could stand up Hooch was hovering over him and he showed her the Snitch. She made a grabbing motion to Lee Jordan and he regretfully announced the Slytherin victory.
James climbed to his feet and felt Triss at his side. She started to poke and prod at his side and he noticed it was bleeding. "We need to re-stitch these," said Triss pushing him back towards the castle. Once they had reached his room James was in a considerable amount of pain and cursed that potion he had to take.
Triss made him lay down on his bed and take off his shirt. "Where is Jewel?" Triss asked curiously noticing the snake wasn't in its normal spot around James's neck.
"She hates to fly so I sent her to go explore the castle," James explained wincing as Triss removed the multiple stitches in his side. After she finished removing all of the stitches she swabbed the three deep cuts in an anti-bacterial solution, re-stitched, and wrapped the cuts.
All of the sudden there was a pop and a frantic looking Jewel appeared. James, you mother is in trouble, come on! Jewel yelled.
Where is she Jewel? James asked picking up the frantic snake and neglecting the fact that Jewel had called Evans his mother.
I can take you, grab Triss, said Jewel.
James did as he was told and he felt a surge of power before they ported. The trio reappeared in one of the upper corridors where the curled up form of Lily Evans lay. James once again went on auto-pilot. "Triss go get Potter and Snape. Now!" he said walking over to Evans.
James held both of his hands over her crumpled form. His eyes turned an eerie silver and a glow enveloped Evans picking her up and turning her on her back. The glow around Evans turned to dark green which meant she had been poisoned with some kind of dark mixture and the color didn't change at all which only could mean one thing, Basilisk poisoning.
James's eyes didn't change in color but the glow around Evans slowly disappeared laying her on the floor. James placed his hands over Evan's swollen belly and a silver ball of light appeared in the space between his hands and her stomach.
By this time Potter and Snape had arrived and Triss was having to physically hold both of them back. "LET GO! THAT LITTLE BASTARD IS GOING TO KILL HER!" Potter screamed trying to pull himself free from Triss's tight grip.
Finally she got fed up and put both of her struggling Professors in a full body bind. "Chill out. He's not going to kill her," said Triss while watching James heal their professor. A few minutes the ball of silver light disappeared and James's eyes returned to normal.
"Unbind them Triss," James ordered.
Triss did as she was told and cast the counter curse. Potter was on his feet and kneeling next to his wife in seconds and Snape was standing over both of them. "What happened Cage?" he asked as calmly as he could.
"Professor Evans was poisoned with a mixture of Basilisk venom and Phoenix ash, known as Basilisk poisoning. This isn't the first time it's happened, I think every miscarriage she has had was a result of the same poisoning. Oh, Professor Potter. Congratulations, you have two healthy twin girls due sometime around Christmas time," said James looking at Potter.
Potter looked up at James with tears in his eyes and before anyone could react Potter was on his feet and wrapped James in a hug. "Thank you," he whispered before releasing James and returning to his wife's side.
James was stunned to silence as was Snape and Triss. "I trust you can get her to your rooms on your own. Let her rest and she should be as good as new by Monday," said James snapping out of his daze. With a bit of assistance from Triss, James got back to his dorm and crashed into his bed a sleep not even bothered by the noise of the party in the common room.
Review responses:
Cataclysmic: Thanks for the compliment. As you'll see in the chapter above Snape, Evans, and Potter are pretty much going to leave him alone for the time being. Also I finish my writing so fast because I always finish the chapter after the next one I am to post, or you can think of it as this, I'm already finished with chapter 8 and working on 9.
Jordan: See above.
Ankalagon: Thanks. I plan on avoiding that whole 'all powerful and mighty' thing. I don't like it either, think super-sayan. As of right now both McGonagall and Flitwick are dead but I might change that and say they were in retirement. Notice I left a lot of stuff open because I hadn't made up my mind. For the time being Potter and James are neutral with each other but that WILL change. Ron won't really be brought into the picture until second year when Ginny arrives, but I'll but a prank on him in the next chapter if I can. As far as James and his mum go, they'll be friendly and what not for now but I don't want to spoil the story.
C: At age 11 one of my best guy friends was 6'1" and my other guy friend was 5'10". Almost every other guy I know was 5'8" or taller at age 11 bar two, and they had bone marrow disorders. Sorry if it goes against statistics. Plus, James is NOT completely human anyway, and their for not average J