Lone Child
Chapter 26: Divination, dreams and tears
'Dodge, parry, duck, dodge, drop, roll, spin, flip, kick,' James thought as he fought with Triss. Today's lesson was on Broadswords, the weapon James hated most. Unlike Oriental or Elven swords a Broadsword was very heavy and hard to control, but it could pack a punch.
An Oriental or Elven sword was light and could cut a person with a Broadsword to pieces before they could even make one blow if given the chance. However a Broadsword could crack most non-enchanted swords in half with the amount of force one hit would have.
The biggest reason James hated the sword was how it slowed his movements down to almost human speed, he didn't like it. Triss was much better and faster with a broadsword, the problem was she depended on the force a blow would have. Even at the slow rate James was moving she still couldn't get a strong hit on something that was moving.
"Wow," Dray said from the stands where he and Kat were sitting. They had finally convinced James and Triss to let them come out and watch one of there sessions. "This is better than Dueling."
"So long as they don't kill each other," said Kat with her hand covering her eyes. "Is it safe to look yet?"
"It's been safe to look. They aren't just randomly striking; all of this is very well planned. If you know what to look for you can almost predict who is going to hit where and when," said Dray.
Kat slowly uncovered her eyes and dared a look. She just managed to see Triss catch James with her blade and cut him from his right side, across his abs and into his back while he was spinning. Kat yelped and covered her eyes again.
Several minutes later James tackled Triss and made her loose her sword. "Do you give up?" he asked tickling her sides.
"Y-yes," squealed Triss trying to wriggle out of James's grasp.
James stopped tickling her and helped her stand up. "I hate Broadswords," said James. Triss smirked.
"That was so cool you guys," said Dray walking up to them.
"Thanks, maybe next time you will see us at our full potential," said James. Dray stared. "Do you have any idea how heavy these bitches are?" asked James handing his sword over to Dray.
Dray could hardly hold the sword in the air. "How much does this thing weigh?" he asked.
"Little more than a hundred pounds. That is a training sword though, the real ones aren't that heavy but damn near. I don't like using those, too heavy," said James.
"That's because you depend too much on your agility, we'll work on that tomorrow," said Triss slinging her sword over your shoulder.
"You, Tigress dear, depend too much on the shear force of the hit. Even as slow as I was moving you could hardly ever get a good hit on me," said James taking his sword from Dray.
"No good hits?" asked Kat eyeing one of the bigger bloody wholes in his shirt.
"None of them are anymore than a centimeter deep. A good hit from you sword would break all bones within a 5 inch radius of the hit and give me a good 3 inch cut, minimum," said James running his hand over the quickly fading scar that had, only a few minutes before, been a bleeding wound.
"You should sell tickets to this. Do you have any idea how much money you could make?" asked Dray.
"I already have more money then I know what to do with. Ask Triss, I'm right up there with you in the money department," said James.
"Wow, I knew you were rich but I didn't know you were that rich," said Dray.
"Money isn't everything," said Kat.
"Got it in one," said James grinning at her. He'd been thinking the same thing.
"Come on, let's head in. It's getting close to the time the early birds get up," said Triss looking at her watch.
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"Why do you guys have to get up so early?" asked Dray yawning. They had just arrived to breakfast, only a few Ravenclaw students were up so far and Kat was still getting dressed in her dorm room.
"No one else is up that early, they can't see us practicing," said James.
"Plus, we don't need as much sleep as normal people do anyway," said Triss.
"Yeah, well I happen to like my good amount of sleep," said Dray.
"Quit complaining, I won't hesitate to throw you in the lake," said James. "I've done it to Triss multiple times."
"Or you could just make it rain on his head," said Triss.
"I think I'll pass, thanks," said Dray sliding a bit further down the table. James chuckled and spotted Kat making her way down to the Slytherin table.
"Sorry I took so long, my hair took forever to tame," she said running a hand over her now straight honey hair.
"It's alright, you know I could help you permanently straighten your hair right?" asked Triss. Kat's eyes lit up and the two submerged themselves in the land of 'girl talk'.
"Girls," said Dray rolling his eyes.
"Hey, you don't have to live with one so stop complaining," said James.
"Does my mother count?" asked Dray.
"No," said James.
"So why don't you want us out with you tonight?" asked Dray changing the subject.
"Werewolves are dangerous, but only the one night a month. I've been working with them for a while trying to find a cure, but I've never run with one during the full moon. I don't know how he will react to us and I don't want you guys getting hurt," said James.
"Have you forgotten what my form is?" asked Dray.
"That's just it, I don't know how your form would react if he bit you. You could get the curse yourself. No one else has ever reported being a Raptor Animagi so nothing is known about them," said James.
"I thought the curse couldn't be transferred to Animagi," said James.
"It can be transferred to Primate Animagi," said James.
"Oh," said Dray.
There was a small beeping noise and James looked at his watch. "I've got to run back up to the dorm, I'll see you later," said James jogging to the door.
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Reaching his dorm in record time James opened one of the compartments of his trunk and jumped in. The first thing he saw when he landed was a simmering cauldron surrounded by finely prepared ingredients. James picked up a container with, what looked like, relish in it.
"Add diced dragon kidney and stir 7 times counterclockwise, let simmer until it turns navy blue and becomes as thick as cream," James muttered to himself stirring the potion. He set the heat down to simmer and started putting his ingredients away. Finishing that he looked at the potion, it was light blue and about as thick as milk.
He walked over to a counter to the left of the table the potion was on and skimmed threw the page the book was opened to. "Let simmer for 10 hours," he read to himself aloud. "That works," said James shutting the book and making it disappear with a wave of his hand.
After he finished cleaning up his workstation he exited the trunk and locked it, so no one could mess with his potion. He walked over to his bed and picked up Jewel's sleeping form and the schedule he'd gotten at breakfast the day before.
'9:00- Divination.' James read. He picked a copy of 'Unfogging the Future' from his bed side table and walked out of the dormitory, Jewel hissing curses at him the whole time.
I told you to be awake by the time I got back, said James wrapping Jewel around his arm. Jewel hissed something else at him before crawling into his robes and wrapping herself around his upper arm.
James dashed up the steps of the dungeons, hoping he wouldn't be late for his first class of the day. You would think they would make the damn classroom more accessible, Jewel hissed, she wasn't enjoying the rather bumpy ride.
Feel free to find your own way. Damn, what have you been eating? Deer? You're heavy, said James.
Does that mean you think I'm fat? the snake hissed menacingly. Like every other female Jewel was very conscious of her appearance.
No, just heavy, said James. Jewel hissed at him again before loosening herself from his arm and slithering down to the ground. James never slowed his pace, if anything he ran faster.
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"Where's Jewel?" asked Triss when he reached the Divination tower.
"She's feeling fat, so she decided to get up on her own," said James sitting down between Kat and Triss. Sadly Ron Weasley had decided to take the class as well and was glaring at them. "He just doesn't give up does he?" James muttered to himself.
"Something you want to say Cage?" Weasley snarled.
"Just wondering who parented Gin, Fred, George, Bill and Charlie because I really don't see how you guys are related. You, Percy, and your parents are all have sticks shoved so far up your ass it's a wonder you can walk," said James calmly.
"Better than being an orphaned bastard," Weasley hissed.
James glared at him. "At least I don't get my ass kicked by girls." One of the newer rumors running around Hogwarts was how Susan Bones had beaten the shit out of Weasley for grabbing her ass.
Weasley snarled at him and moved in for the kill. He leapt at James, making the chair James was sitting in overturn. James used Weasleys weight against him and flipped him over his head, effectively slamming him into a wall.
Weasley slammed into the wall and fell to the ground with a sickening thud. A few seconds later he still hadn't done more than groan. "Is he alright?" came the worried voice of Parvati Patil.
"I don't know. Someone go get Professor Snape and Evans," said James kneeling over Weasley. He checked for a pulse and was shocked to find it was very weak. Jumping into Medic mode he dropped some of his mental walls and ran a scan. "Shit!"
"What happened Shadow?" asked Triss worriedly.
"He hit his head hard, he's got a concussion and his neck is broken. I think a few vertebrae are messed up too," said James.
"Can you fix it?" Kat asked frantically.
James nodded. "Triss, my energy is running low if I pass out take me to my dorm. Don't let anyone mess with me," said James seriously.
Triss nodded. Normally she wouldn't let him deplete his energy like that but if he didn't they both knew Weasley would die. Like he'd done with Evans two years before he placed both of his hands a few inches over Weasley's crumpled form. His eyes slowly turned silver and an invisible wind swirled around he and Ron.
Slowly Ron's form uncurled until he was laying flat. A small purple light formed over his temple and slowly moved across his body, healing as it went. Slowly Weasley became more aware and his eyes slowly opened.
He was shocked to see a pair of glowing silver eyes slightly above him and his magic reacted like anyone else's would, it blasted James across the room. James hit a beam on the roof with a sickening crack, dropping to the ground, out like a light.
"Shit!" yelled Triss kneeling down next to James. His breathing was steady and his heart rate was normal but he had one hell of a bump on his head.
"What is going on here?" a voice demanded. Triss looked up and saw Evans and Snape climbing up the stairs to the tower.
"Cage attacked me, flipped me over and into the wall. Next thing I know he's standing over me with the whole silver eye thing going on," Weasley yelled, quick to cover his own ass.
"Don't lie Weasley. You attacked him and he acted in self-defense. In fact had it not been for him you would be dead," Kat yelled slapping Weasley hard across the face. Most of the Gryffindors nodded in agreement, all having seen what transpired between he and James.
A lot of the Gryffindors had lost family in the war; The Weasleys were one of the handful of families that got away untouched. For Weasley to say something like that, even too a Slytherin, was very insulting and frowned upon. Add the fact that James had just saved Weasley's life and Weasley tried to get him in trouble anyway just made it all the worse.
"Ms. Granger, go to my office, Mr. Weasley, go to Professor Evan's office. Ms. Summers, no doubt Mr. Cage left directions with you. You have the rest of the day, and tomorrow if needed, to carry them out," said Snape.
Triss nodded and levitated James, Kat following slightly behind them. Evans followed soon after with Weasley and Snape tailing her. On the way too the dungeons Kat silently fumed while Triss thought of different ways to get back at 'The Weasel' as she officially named him.
Kat turned onto a different corridor that led to Snape's office and Triss continued on to the dorms. Triss didn't even bat an eyelash at the 2nd, 4th and 7th years staring at her as she walked down the corridor to James and Dray's room with the unconscious James floating behind her. On a normal occasion some of the 7th years might have made catcalls but Triss's pissed of demeanor made all of them steer clear of her.
Triss easily broke the wards James had placed on the door and walked in. With a small wave of her wand James was stripped down to his boxers and slipped into the bed. Opening a hidden compartment of James's bedside table Triss grabbed a small canary yellow bottle and eased it down James's throat.
The potion, known as the Energio potion, was a different form of the Pepper up potion. It would double, if not triple, the rate at which James recovered his energy. Waving her wand at herself, Triss changed into one of James's loose shirts and a pair of short running shorts and crawled in with James.
As of late Triss had been having trouble sleeping. The little sleep she did get was plagued with nightmares of white snake men and robes surrounding a cauldron with green flames. It was at times like these she was thankful for having her own rooms as almost every time she did make herself sleep she woke screaming. Out of desperation she had tried to use a dreamless sleep potion but that had only made it worse.
James sighed and wrapped both of his arms around Triss. Even in his sleep he could sense her distress and wanted to comfort her. Triss snuggled into the embrace, desperately needing the comfort James offered, even in his sleep. Slowly Triss drifted off to sleep, hoping that James's presence would protect her from her nightmares.
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Slowly Triss drift back into the land of the living. The first thing she noticed was the pair of arms wrapped around her. Looking up she saw James, a content look covering his face. 'I like his natural look better,' Triss thought to herself drowsily. Glancing at her watch she was surprised to find it was just after midnight.
Triss reached over and opened the curtain slightly. She was surprised to see the curtains to Dray's bed wide open with no Dray in sight. 'He's probably staying with Gin,' Triss thought. Triss pulled the curtains shut and cast a small ward on the curtain and drifted back to sleep.
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Slowly James drifted into consciousness. Looking down he was surprised to see Triss's mane of red hair. He started to loosen his grip on her but she whimpered and snuggled closer into him. James gave up on getting up rather quickly and glanced at the alarm. 4:23 a.m. shown in green letters.
'Screw getting up,' James thought wrapping his arms tightly around Triss and going back to sleep.
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So far Severus was not having a good day. After getting thoroughly reprimanded by Evans, Weasley had run to his head of house, complaining the Cage had attacked him and didn't even get in trouble. Disregarding all of the eyewitnesses stories saying Weasley had attacked Cage, Potter went to Dumbledore.
Dumbledore, being the prejudice bastard he was, called for Cage to be expelled, until Evans stepped in. After Evans and Potter's screaming match Evans called on Neville Longbottom and he had given a full account on what had transpired between Weasley and Cage. Eventually Dumbledore had relented and lowered the punishment to a reprimand from Snape, James's head of house. And reprimand he would.
Severus stomped into the Slytherin common room and into James's room, only stopping to break the wards on the door. Snape was not pleased to find that Dray wasn't in his bed but decided to ignore it for now.
Breaking several wards on the curtain surrounding James bed Sev got another surprise. With a growl Sev's temper snapped. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING! GO BACK TO YOUR DORM NOW!" he yelled startling Triss. Triss looked up at him like a deer caught in the headlights and bolted from the room, not looking back.
The sound of Sev yelling woke James as well and the sight of Triss running like the devil himself was after her pissed him off. He started to speak but Sev beat him to the chase. "What the hell is going on in your head boy? Not only are you fighting in classes you're fucking your friend, a girl not even 13! Are you insane? What would happen were she to become pregnant?" Snape demanded.
That really pissed James off. "How dare you! You accuse me of fighting in class then of screwing my best friend? I was attacked and I acted the way I was trained to act. As for Triss, I would never violate her like that. She deserves only the best, she's gone threw more and lived than anyone else I know. Compared to Triss what Kat went threw was a walk in the park.
"Get out of my room and don't ever make anymore assumptions about me or my friend," James hissed. He wanted nothing more than to be able to rip his sad excuse for a father to pieces but held himself back. Snape didn't move, just stared in shock. James walked past him in search of Triss, throwing a pair of jeans on as he went.
The first place he looked was her room and was not surprised to find her huddled up in a corner sobbing. "Triss? Hey, it's alright," said James sitting down next to her and pulling her into his lap. Triss latched onto him like a lifeline and buried her face in his shirt.
"Shhhh, it's alright. No one's going to hurt you while I'm around," James whispered to her, rubbing gentle circles on her back. Triss didn't let up on her tears, even with James holding her. She'd heard what Snape said and it only served to make her more upset than she already was.
Triss had thought that James might be mad and hit her, or do what her father use to do when he was angry with her. Triss shivered at the very thought, slowly she tried to calm herself down but panic hit her in waves and after a few minutes she couldn't breath.
"Triss, it's alright, concentrate on breathing. Calm down, you know I won't hurt you or let anything happen to you," James whispered. Just from her ragged breathing James could tell she as having a panic attack. James eased down the walls of her empathy talent just enough that she could feel the concern and will to protect coming from him.
Slowly Triss started taking deep breaths and stopped shivering. 10 minutes later Triss was totally calm and James brought her mental barriers back up. "I'm sorry," she whispered to him.
"Nothing to be sorry about. If I should be mad at anyone it would be Snape. In fact I'm rather pissed off at Snape. He had no right to say any of the things he'd said. How do you feel about turning him into a big spider and leaving him in Weasley's bed. Double pay back," said James.
Triss giggled. "Sounds like fun," she said.
"Okay, we can do it tonight, just the two of us, like it use to be before the rest of the crew showed up," said James.
Triss grinned and together for the first time in over two years they planned out a prank, just between the two of them.
Review responses:
ZeonReborn: Who died rather violent deaths? Last I checked we were on the subject of brothers and cops trying to run me over. . .Kata Malfoy: Thanks. Evans and Potter don't like Lupin because even after all of those years Remus still believed Sirius to be innocent. That kind of pissed them off. 'Please continue'? Did I give the impression that I was quitting?
Anna: Bite me dear friend and Spanish partner of mine. Please ignore Anna, she's a friend of mine, but I think her mom dropped her on her head one too many times.
Athenakitty: Yes, Sirius will be cleared, but not before he beats the piss out of Pettigrew. Potter and Evans aren't really on good terms with our favorite Werewolf because of the whole Sirius thing. I could have sworn I'd mentioned Fudge being half-dwarf before. Hmmm. . . (Sits down on big rock near a lake to think.)
Insanechildfanfic: Thanks.
Wytil: Good luck. I find that if you just kind of let stories sit in your brain for a while it pretty much builds it's self, eliminating stupid stuff while it sits.
Lunawolf: I'm glad that my new chapter made you feel better. Did the Flu catch up with you? I thought I was going to die when I had it; it was pretty bad this season. This chapter measured up to be 9 pages long with out the reviews, quite a bit longer than the last. Hopefully I'll be able to keep them around this length.
Howling wolf1: I like Sev too much for Potter to disgrace his image. Knowing Potter he would do something stupid. Maybe I'll turn him into Mad Eye Moody. Was that three words or two? O'well, I'll check the books later, too tired now.
Ficfan: It should be interesting when Evans finally figures it out. At this time I'm not saying whether or not I'm curing Lupin, I might, but I might not.
Musicstarlover: Thanks. The whole Sirius thing just kind of popped into my head. If you think that is a twist just wait till you find out who the rapist was.
Virginia Madison: Thanks. I like original stories as well. I get kind of tired reading the same thing over and over again so I thought up something only slightly used. God Bless and Happy Valentines Day.
Gaul1: Thanks.
PantherGuide: Hmmm. . . Never thought of that. I might just try that. Thanks for the idea.