The next day James found himself sitting in a comfortable chair in Snape's privet rooms. "What happened last night?" asked James looking at Snape.
"Initially the Headmaster blamed you but that theory didn't last long. He then tried to blame Ms. Crew but Lockhart shot that down. You would think the man was in love the way he defended her," said Snape chuckling.
James had tears of mirth in his eyes. "That's priceless! I could have such fun with that," said James wiping the tears from his eyes. He laughed for another couple of minutes before sobering. "What does Dumbledore have against me anyway?" asked James.
"I'm not sure. I think he senses your power and thinks you're not on his 'side'. He thinks you're a threat to his power and he wants to show you whose boss," said Snape.
"Yeah, giving me detention with you every night. Scary," said James sarcastically. Snape chuckled a bit. "I'm serious though. He's acting like a chess master playing his pawns. It's damn annoying," said James sighing and leaning back into his chair.
"You really should be careful around him though. He is a very powerful wizard," said Snape.
"That's the point. He is very strong for a wizard but in elven standards he is a squib. That's why he doesn't live in that realm. Triss is easily twice as powerful as he is in Wizardry and almost as powerful as me in the Elven arts. That's why he doesn't like her, she, his granddaughter, is more powerful than he could ever hope to be and she can live in the Elven realm," said James running a hand threw his hair.
"What do you mean by that?" asked Snape.
"I mean that he is jealous of her because she can do things he can't, even thought she is his descendent. During the summer she and I stay in an Elven forest because our guardian is an elf. Some of the Elven world over laps with this one and we can easily enter that because the power coursing about it doesn't bother us. Dumbledore can't travel there because the power surge would kill him, but there are those born with the power infusion to enter the realm, like Kat," said James.
"What else lives in that realm?" asked Snape pouring him self a cup of tea and setting on in front of James.
"Elves obviously. Pretty much every magical creature you would find on this plain and some you wouldn't. There is a large colony of Werewolves; they are the exception to the 'No humans' rule. I think there is still a good-sized colony of Vampires there but I'm not sure. There are a lot of Dwarf colonies. They can also travel to and from this world with ease. I think the old charms teach, Flitwick, is a Dwarf. Goodness knows he's old enough to be one. I've only met the man once but he feels older than even Dumbledore," said James chuckling a bit.
"What do you know about…my parents?" asked Snape a bit sadly.
"Well, your father, my grandfather, was a full blooded elf. His name was Sheaf Snape, the last of Slytherin's true heirs. When he was 19 he was drafted to help in the war against Grindelwald. The war had even spread into the elven realms at that time. He was injured and sent to the elven healers. His healer was a 17-year-old girl named Andréa Norton. They slowly fell in love and were married not to long later. 15 years after the war they had you, Severus Alexander Snape.
"By the early 60's some jackass thought he was going to become the next dark lord and attacked the Snape family, who were temporarily living in the human world after a minor accident. I don't remember exactly who it was but he came and killed Sheaf and Andréa. He tried to kill you but a bunch of wizards killed him before he had the chance. They thought you were a muggle and sent you off to a muggle orphanage in the London slums of all places. I always thought Wizards were idiots but that took the cake," said James.
"How do you know all this?" asked Snape, eyes a bit watery.
James pulled out his black book and scribbled in a title. A minute later a large volume landed on his lap. "Wow," muttered Snape but James ignored it. He opened to the index and wrote the name 'Snape'. He pages flipped to page 673.
"Here," said James handing Snape the book. It pretty much said exactly what he did with maybe a few extra details.
"Where did you get this?" asked Snape.
"I own the most extensive library in the world Professor. Any book you could ever wish for you will find. On last count I think there were a couple hundred billion in there, but that was a while ago," said James. Snape's jaw, once again, became dangerously close to hitting the floor. "Yes, you can have access to the potions text," said James seeing the Professors questioning gaze.
"How do you get hold of all of this stuff?" asked Snape.
"Technically, my guardian got hold of all of it but the library has a charm on it that any book that has ever been created resides there. All of the ancient texts are there as well. Most of it isn't in English but the books have a language select, kind of like a computer except it's only on one subject…"
It wasn't uncommon to see Snape and James walking around the castle talking. James was slowly educating Snape on the elven realm and their origin. Snape had been make an effort to get closer to his only son and James let him.
Dumbledore started to get a little suspicious but when he asked Snape, Snape said that he was trying to keep him out of trouble. Dumbledore had believed him. There had been no more attacks but for some reason Mel and Ginny kept disappearing and turning up at odd moments.
Quidditch practice was becoming even more grueling than usual with the Gryffindor vs. Slytherin match on November 25, the following day.
"Why did I ever decide to join the Quidditch team?" asked Dray flopping down on a couch in the common room while nursing a bruise on his chest. "Montague is even worse than Flint was," he groaned tenderly rubbing the bruise.
"What's your point? You were the ones getting to hit the Bludgers towards us. You and Derrick are a force to be reckoned with but I swear if you hit me with another one of those damn Bludgers I will kill you," said Triss growling at Dray. Dray gulped.
"Chill out you two. Triss, there will be no killing of one of our beaters. We need him to protect us from Gred and Forge, the terrible twins," said James sitting down on one of the armchairs.
"You make them sound like goblins Shadow," said Triss sitting down on James's lap.
"Same difference," said Dray.
James and Triss chuckled. "Seriously though, they will try to get us in the game. It was part of the deal. Plus, the Gryffs are supposed to be good this year with their new seeker. Chris Reeves, I think was his name. Potter had a few rules bent so he could get on the team even though he is a first year, like Snape did for you," said Triss looking up at James.
"Yeah, but I'll still beat him," said James.
Finally it was the day of the match. Montague had made the whole team get up really early so they could get one more practice in before the match. Dray had steered clear of shooting Bludgers at Triss for fear of castration.
Now it was breakfast time and all of the Hunters, bar those in Gryffindor were sitting around James, Triss, and Dray. "Looking forward to the match?" asked Gin.
"Yeah, the Gryffs are supposed to have a good line up so it should be a good game," said James taking a bite out of his sausage.
"Cage, Summers, Malfoy! Get out to the pitch!" yelled Montague gathering the rest of the team.
"Good luck guys!" said Mel as they walked out of the hall.
"Welcome to the first Hogwarts game of the season! Introducing the Gryffindor line up! Wood, Spinnet, Johnson, Bell, Weasley, Weasley, and Creevey!" Lee Jordan, the announcer, yelled.
There were several boos from the Slytherins but they were drowned out by the cheers from Gryffindor and the other houses. "Now for the Slytherins! Montague, Derrick, Malfoy, Cage, Summers, Adams, and Pike!" James, Triss, and Dray flew out on to the field followed by the rest of the team.
It looked like Snape was refereeing and he flew out on to the field. "I want a fairly clean game," he said throwing a pointed look at both captains. The two captains shook, or tried to break, one another's hands.
Snape nodded to James and released the Snitch and Bludgers before throwing the Quaffle into the air, signaling the start of the game. Triss had gotten hold of the Quaffle first and was speeding rapidly towards the goals on her new nimbus 2001. With in the first 10 minutes of the game the score was 30-0 Slytherin.
An hour into the game James had seen the Snitch. Reeves had seen it as well and they both dove. The Snitch had sensed the two of them and dove as well. 15 feet from the ground Reeves pulled out of the dive but James continued and was just wrapping his hand around the Snitch when he heard a gut-wrenching scream. He pulled out of the dive and turned to see Triss falling from over 200 feet in the air.
James didn't think twice before kicking his broom to take off after her. He new he wouldn't be fast enough on just the broom and when he got close enough he ported himself underneath Triss while holding a shielding charm so that everyone else saw him pick up a lot of speed on his broom before jumping to Triss.
A few seconds later James felt the hard earth connect with his body, crushing his ribs with the pure force. Not even thinking about his own injures James sat up to look Triss over. Before they hit the ground James had cast a charm so she would be protected from the impact.
As far as he could tell Triss was fine aside from a large bump on her temple. She groaned and looked up at him. "Ow!" she said as he prodded the ever-growing bump.
"Hold still," said James holding his hand over her temple. With a small silver glow the bump disappeared. Suddenly a hand grabbed James shoulder and pushed him backwards before hitting him twice in the face and once in his ribs. He heard several screams and a few curses all the while still being pummeled before everything went black.
"Do you think he'll be alright?" asked a fuzzy voice.
"Of course. I just wish I could have had a go at Lockhart before Mel, Snape and Triss had gotten hold of him. I doubt he will ever mess with us again," said a voice James faintly recognized as one of the twins.
"Why did he attack James in the first place?" asked another voice.
"Something about thinking James was attacking Triss. What a load of bull. He just risked his life for the girl. Jumping under her from 50 feet in the air to break her fall, insane I tell you," said the other twin.
"How bad were his injures?" asked a third voice James recognized as Snape's.
"He had several fractured ribs, a broken nose, and his left arm was dislocated and broken in several places," came the voice of Madam Pomfrey.
"Hopefully my 'dear' Grandfather will be smart enough to fire that waist of air," came Triss's sarcastic voice.
James tried to sit up but flopped back down as a dizzy spell came over him. "I think we woke him up," said Dray's voice.
"How long did it take you to figure that out?" asked James rubbing his temples.
"Good to know your alive Shadow," said Triss sitting next to him on the bed.
"What happened?" asked James sitting up on his pillows.
"One of those damn Bludgers was being possessed and chased me around until it was able to knock me off my broom. Next thing I knew I had you healing the bump on my head and then you being jumped on by Lockhart. Somehow you had exhausted your magic again and you were knocked out rather fast because your body wasn't healing it's self.
"By then Mel had pulled Lockhart off of you and was giving him a piece of her mind, Snape then joined the fray by braking Lockhart's nose then I got to…play with him," said Triss smiling evilly.
"What did you do to him?" asked James.
"Let's just say that he'll have a hard time walking for the next few weeks," said Triss smiling innocently.
"Ouch," said James, wincing at the thought of what Triss had done to Lockhart. "When am I aloud to leave?" he asked as an after thought.
"Because your reserves are so low and you aren't healing your self normally you will be staying the night," said Triss.
"Why? I'll be good as new in a few hours. It's not like this is the first time I've had a set of broken ribs," said James.
"Yeah, but wouldn't it look a bit weird for a student who fell 50 feet to break another's fall up and walking around after getting pounded by a teacher," said Gin.
"What's your point?" asked James. Triss smacked him on the back of his head.
Everyone left James to rest not to long before curfew. Triss had found Jewel and sent her up to the hospital wing to keep James company. Evans had stopped by with the twins earlier in the day and she congratulated him on winning the game. She had also told him that she had found a baby sitter for the twins during the day.
Evan's old friend and Professor, Minerva McGonagall had volunteered to watch 'the little darlings'. Apparently they had already started doing a lot of accidental magic during the summer and Evans hadn't felt it safe for the girls to be around the other students. One of the more resent cases of accidental magic was when the two of them gave Lockhart a monkey's tail and Beavers teeth.
James had laughed at that for several minuets but sobered up in time for Evans and the twins to leave. Now it was just passed curfew and James was already board. Suddenly he picked up on lots of footsteps heading towards the hospital wing. James shut his eyes and pretended to be asleep when the doors banged open.
Potter, Evans, and Dumbledore walked in with Snape and a professor that Harry recognized as Vector carrying a stretcher with a stiff body on top. Upon closer inspection James recognized it as Ron Weasley.
"What happened?" asked Madam Pomfrey walking up to the group.
"There has been an attack. He's been petrified," said Snape as he and Vector set the body on the bed.
"Did anyone see anything?" asked Pomfrey.
"No, Lily found him while going on her rounds. He was staring at a window when she found him," said Potter.
"Does this mean the chamber has been truly opened Albus?" asked Snape.
"I'm afraid it has Severus," said Dumbledore.
Review responses:
Athenakitty: Yeah, I think James decking Filch would have helped Filch's personality just a little bit. Of course there will be a fight with ol' Voldie, how could there not be.
ZeonReborn: I don't think you'll find many more holes but you can try. My Beta readers do a good job in pointing them out most of the time. Yeah, I know they sell knives in stores, especially in Florida. Lest time I checked they had a knife display case in the food store down the street from my house.
Wytil: Only as good as the others : - ( O'well, I'll have to try harder then. I've read a few stories like that as well but most of them I didn't like for some reason or another. Yeah, Dumbledore did try to control Harry's life by leaving him with his aunt and uncle and in this story by making Lily give James up. In my mind that makes him a bit of a bastard. Had I been in Harry or James's place I would have electrocuted him.
Gual1: Thanks.
ER: Is it just me or do very few like Dumbledore?
JaimyeToranPotter5569: Well, I want Sev to be a little apologetic. He may look like a bad guy but inside he has a heart of gold coughnotcough. Ron, he is kind of like the Draco Malfoy in J.K.'s version, except Draco didn't have any younger siblings hanging out with Harry's crew in J.K.'s version. I'm still thinking about the Headmaster prank so you're out of luck in that department, sorry.
Sierra-falls: What's your point? I was extremely calm when I was 5 and did have someone die right in front of me and didn't flip. Sometimes it is best to stay clam and not waist energy on panicking. What do you mean by the teenager aged thing? I read back through my first chapter and saw nothing of the like. If anything it's a typing error.