Lone Child
Chapter 13: New friends, Hogwarts, and an accident
"How was Greece?" James asked Dray.
"Alright I guess. I really don't like going there. My Aunt Cassandra is absolutely batty but her house is near Athens on the beach so I wasn't totally stuck in the middle of nowhere. How about yours?" asked Dray.
"It was alright. James over there was neck deep in some project until Kat came over and then we ran her through Animagus training. We need to run you threw that as well," said Triss as an after thought.
"No need. As crazy as my aunt is she has here uses. She ran me threw the course as well," said Dray flinching at the memory.
"What's your form?" asked James.
"A Velociraptor. My dad was a bit shocked. He said that no one on record had ever been able to turn into a Dinosaur. Cool don't ya think?" Dray asked.
"Yeah. See James, I told you all of our forms were carnivorous," said Triss sticking out her tongue.
"Real mature Triss. I never said we wouldn't be but as Kat said, 'for all we know Dray could be a rabbit,'" answered James nearly falling out of his chair laughing when Dray started sputtering incoherently with a look of horror on his face.
The quartet was still joking about the look on Dray's face 10 minutes later when the compartment door opened. A girl that James recognized as Weasley's younger sister stepped in. "Do you mind if I sit here? My brother is being a prick and I want to get as far away from him as I can," she said. Not much of a problem considering the compartment could easily seat 8 people.
James smiled to himself he liked the girl already. "I don't see any problems with that. What is your name?" he asked.
"Ginny Weasley," she said.
"Well I'm James Cage, the redhead is Trisstessa Summers, call her Triss. Gel boy over there is Draco Malfoy; he likes to be called Dray. This one next to me is Hermione Granger but everyone calls her Kat," said James pointing to each one of them in turn.
"Leave me and my hair gel out of this," said Dray running a hand threw his hair lovingly.
Triss rolled her eyes while Kat and James snickered a bit. "Anyway, what house do you think you'll be in?" Triss asked.
"I'm not sure. Everyone else in my family is Gryffindor so I might go there as well," she said a bit uneasily to the crew of Slytherins.
"Well, we already have one Gryffindor so what's another," said Dray.
Ginny sat and another head peeked in. She was obviously a first year and had brownish red hair and dark silver green eyes. She was very well built and looked like she could throttle even James or Triss. "Do you mind if I sit her?" she asked.
"Not at all. In fact we were going threw introductions. This big git is James Cage, only I am aloud to call him Jimmy. Blondie over there is Dray Malfoy. The girl across from James is Triss Summers. The other red head is Ginny Weasley and I'm Kat Granger," said Kat shaking the girls hand.
"I'm Melanie Crew. Everyone calls me Mel," she said a bit guarded. James could feel quite a bit of abnormal energy radiating off of her but couldn't see what it was. She was well guarded in the mind and body.
"Nice to meet you Mel and welcome to our still forming little group," said James as she sat down in the window next to James and across from Dray. "You know Dray, we need more guys in this group. We're out numbered," he said sinking into his chair faking fright.
Everyone but Mel laughed. Defiantly well guarded. If you looked hard enough you could see emotions running threw the back of her eyes as if she were talking to someone. While the rest of them told Ginny a bit about themselves, Mel pulled out a book and started to read.
About two hours later there was another knock at the door and the Weasley twins waltzed in. "Hello dear Mr. Cage I am Gred and this is my esteemed brother Forge," one of them started.
"We are here on a business proposition," the other one said.
"We would like to join in on your group of Hunters," the first one continued.
"As we fear the wrath of a Slytherin prankster,"
"And wish to be let in on the secret to your success."
James looked at the two of them suspiciously for a minute. "What do you think Dray? Should they be aloud the honor of becoming a Hunter?" James asked Dray in a fake formal tone.
"I don't know James. They seem to lack in creativity but they did get rid of Filch in their second year. Plus the fact that they are the brothers of our rival," said Dray.
"What does that make me?" asked Ginny.
"Ah, but you have yet to be sorted and have your mind molded to our Slytherinish ways dear Gin," said James faking an evil laugh.
"Well if your going to remold our baby sister you might as well take us along for the ride," said Gred.
"Yeah, there should be at least a few male Weasley Slytherins," said Forge.
"What has the world come to Draco? Gryffindor Weasleys asking us to mold them into Slytherins. Hogwarts is in for one hell of a year," said James evilly.
"Does that mean we're in?" asked Gred and Forge simultaneously.
"Of course, but should you ever double cross us you shall wish you were beaten with an out of control Bludger," said James seriously.
Gred and Forge gulped. "We can still try to kill each other in Quidditch right?" asked Gred.
"Naturally, can't win the cup with out at least a little resistance," said James.
"You mean Gryffindor can't win the cup with out a little resistance," said Forge.
"No, Dray and Triss are joining the team this year, you Gryffs are doomed," said James.
"But Slytherin doesn't have any open positions," said Gred.
"Yeah they do. Bole was dropped last year after hitting Flint with a Bludger and Flint was dropped over the summer because he failed the exams," said James smugly.
Gred and Forge burst into fake tears. "Oh woe is we. We're going to be trampled by Slytherins," they cried on each other's shoulders. Everyone laughed including Mel whom everyone thought was reading.
Several hours, Chess, and exploding Snap games later the train arrived in Hogsmead. James, Triss, Dray, Kat, Gred and Forge separated from Mel and Ginny so they could go to the boats with Hagrid.
They piled into the carriages led by black winged horses James recognized as Thestrals. "Hey can any of you see the Thestrals?" asked James.
"I can," said Dray. Everyone else was able to see them as well.
"Why wouldn't we be able to see them Jimmy?" asked Kat.
"Because they are dark creatures and your only able to see them if you've seen death," said James as the carriage pulled to a stop.
The six of them shuffled out of the carriages and into the great hall where the sorting hat was sitting just in front of the head table. James jaw nearly unhinged at the sight of who was sitting at the head table next to Evans. "Dear God no," he said hoping his eyes were deceiving him.
"What's wrong Shadow?" asked Triss.
James pointed to the head table. "Oh no," said Triss.
Sitting at the head table in all his glory was none other than Gilderoy Lockhart, hitting on Professor Evans much to her displeasure. "We're doomed," said Dray.
James, Triss and Dray separated from Kat and the Weasley twins and went to the Slytherin house table. "If I didn't think Dumbledore was crazy last year I defiantly think so now," said Dray.
"Did either of you happen to look at the book list?" asked Triss cringing a bit.
"Not yet, why?" asked James.
"All of our Defense books are by Gilderoy Lockhart," she said smacking her head on the table.
At that moment Potter walked into the hall with all the first years. After the Hat finished singing its song he started calling out names. "Creevey, Colin!" was the first. He was sorted into Hufflepuff. Next was Mel, it looked as if they were having a small conversation while she had the hat on but it finally called out Slytherin. Triss waved her over.
Finally the last name was called out "Weasley, Virginia!" Like Mel, Ginny seemed to be having a conversation with the hat, or an argument. After two minutes it seemed the hat won and it yelled out "Slytherin!"
James looked over to the Gryffindor table and saw all the Weasleys except the twins fuming. James waved to Ginny and motioned to the empty seat next to him. Ginny sat looking like she would cry. "What's wrong Gin?" he asked.
"Mom and dad are going to be so pissed," she said just below a whisper.
"Your parents aren't going to be mad at you for being you. Plus you did manage to piss Ron and Percy off," said James pointing to the two fuming redheads.
Ginny chuckled at the sight of the two. James took that time to look up towards the teacher's table. Both Evans and Potter were staring at Ginny in shock, both thinking something about it being wrong to have a Weasley in Slytherin.
It was then that Potter noticed that his wife was being hit on by one of the most insufferable men on the planet. He walked up behind Lockhart and grabbed his shoulder. Potter whispered something in Lockhart's ear and Lockhart jumped up from the seat and Potter took his place after subtly casting a few cleansing charms. Evans was now safely between Snape and Potter.
After the feast ended Dumbledore stood. "Welcome and Welcome back everyone! I'm happy to announce that Mr. Filch has decided to return after his years absence," said Dumbledore pointing to an ugly old man petting an equally ugly in the back of the hall. "Also I would like you to welcome Professor Lockhart as your new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor."
A few boos could be heard but they were drowned out by the clapping from most of the female population. In fact the only girls who weren't clapping were Triss, Ginny, Mel, and Kat, who had joined the Slytherin table shortly after the feast had begun with Gred and Forge in toe.
"Prefects please lead your house to their dormitories," said Dumbledore when the boos and clapping stopped. The group all stood and parted, following their respective Prefects. When they reached the entrance to the common room the prefect started talking. "The password to the common room is 'Pure blood.' You will be notified when it changes," he said as the entrance opened.
The group of Slytherins poured into the common room and into the over stuffed chairs and couches. They talked for a little while about classes, teachers and the like for a while but started to get drowsy. "You'd best head to bed Shadow. I let you off with training most of the summer so we need to start up again," she said standing from her now normal spot on his lap. James yawned and nodded before standing and exiting with Dray not far behind.
The next morning James woke with Triss bouncing on his bed as normal. "Get up!" she yelled as she bounced.
"Shhh! You're going to wake the whole castle," he whispered.
"Silencing charm," she said sitting cross-legged on James's bed. James groaned and rolled out of his bed. After throwing on his normal dueling attire he met Triss in the common room.
"Now, I want to make this a bit more interesting. In addition to our swords we will use our wands as well," she said after they had arrived at the pitch. It was still dark out but that had never stopped them before. Triss tossed James his sword and started her attack.
James was having a hard time countering Triss's attacks. It was obvious she had been training during the summer. She was using her wand and her sword very accurately and had given James a deep gash in his side and shoulder and a large cut across his back.
After narrowly missing a bone-shattering hex James decided it was time for the games to stop. Unknown to Triss he was holding back, trying not to hurt her because he didn't trust the potion they had taken. With a small wave of his wand a disarming charm went flying at Triss but not before she shot off another bone-shattering hex.
The disarming charm hit Triss dead on and she was thrown backwards while her wand and sword flew towards James but he didn't catch them. The bone-shattering hex hit him right in the chest breaking at least 6 or more ribs instead of shattering 1.
"SHADOW!" Triss yelled seeing here friend laying on the ground and making no move to get up. She ran over to him and dropped to her knees at his side. She cut off what was left of his shirt and gasped at the bruising around his ribs and the bloody gashes in his side and shoulder.
"Shit!" said Triss prodding the large bruise. She stopped when James gasped at the pressure.
"I'm not taking that potion again, ever," James gasped.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!?!" a voice screamed. Snape was standing at the entrance to the pitch looking furious. Before Triss could respond Snape had grabbed her by the neck and was screaming at her. Triss could only gasp for air, trying to block old memories.
Neither of them saw James move but in a matter of seconds Snape was pinned to the ground by a large black panther. Snape tried to stand but a menacing growl stopped him from moving.
"Shadow, let him go," said Triss recovering from the shock of a professor trying to strangle her.
The panther stepped off of the flabbergasted professor and slowly walked over to her. "Change back and I'll get you cleaned up," said Triss. Slowly the panther shifted back into James's school form. Before he could drop to the ground Triss grabbed him around the waist with his arm over her shoulder and slowly lead him off the pitch and back to the school.
Review Responses:
Sexyxbabi3: Thanks.
Death's Shadow: Thanks. I do plan on going threw all 7 years but I'm trying to change the events from those in the books.
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ER: Of course Dragon would take her in. He's already got two teenagers running around in his house so what's one more? Plus I'm not really sure if Justin will abuse her yet anyway.
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JaimyeToranPotter5569: Thanks.
Wytil: Opps. That still sucks though.