Lone Child
Chapter 28: Of Loons and Dementors
"It's about damn time Shadow," said Triss upon seeing Bill and James.
"Your language Ms. Summers," said Lily Evans from one of the many chairs in the den, Sara and Holly sitting on her lap.
'How many people did you invite over?' James asked.
'The rest of the crew and their families, and a few Professors, including my grandfather,' said Triss. James raised his eyebrows. 'He's starting to become a pain in the ass. I figured if I let him come and 'investigate' my living conditions he'd leave me alone. Oh, Libby and Tonks are here as well,' Triss added as an after thought.
'Okay, I guess that's fine,' James thought, ending the connection.
"Jimmy!" yelled an excited voice. James was nearly knocked down by a mass of moving honey curls.
"It's good to see you too Kat," said James as Kat slowly crushed him with her hug.
"I think he needs to breath Kat," came Snape's familiar drawl. Kat let go and took a step back.
"Sorry," she said grinning sheepishly.
"Not harm done, I think," said James prodding his ribs. "Nope, all is well."
Before Kat had time to scold James for his sarcasm he was bombarded with two hyper little girls. "James!" Sara and Holly yelled crashing into James' legs.
"Hello there! Now when was the last time I saw you two? Easter? Wow, you've grown," said James picking up his half-sisters. "Are you looking forward to your birthdays?"
"Yes!" the two little girls yelled in slightly mispronounced English.
"Careful with those two Mr. Cage," said Evans from the sofa.
"You drop them you die," Potter said, glaring at him. James grinned. James continued talking with the twins for a few more minutes before another voice drew his attention.
"Use seem rather good with children squirt. When do you plan on making me a second cousin?" said Tonks' cheerful voice.
"Not for another 10 years at the least Dora," said James.
"What about you Tigress?" Tonks asked.
"I like kids just about as much as like dwarves Tonks, what do you think?" asked Triss sarcastically.
"So I don't get to spoil any little munchkins for another 10 years?" asked Libby settling down in a chair near the one James, Triss and the twins were sitting in.
"You are still young enough to have children of your own Aunt Lib," said James passing the twins off to their mother.
"It's not the same. You actually have to raise them whereas if they're not yours you can just hand them back to their parents when you're tired of them," said Libby.
"That's cruel Lib. Plus little babies are sooo cute!" said Tonks.
"Okay, enough of the baby talk. Obviously no one here is planning on having one anytime soon so lets drop it!" said Triss. She wasn't kidding when she said she didn't care for kids.
"Did I miss something?" came an old voice from the hallway. A crimson robed Albus Dumbledore entered the room.
"Not a thing Albus," said Potter.
"Well, now that everyone seems to have arrived we came start the feast now or we can wait," said James. Minority chose to eat then.
'Why do I get the feeling this is going to be a disaster?' asked Triss looking over at the looks the Weasleys were giving the Malfoys. By then the large group had entered the dinning room. Like the rest of the house it was very elegant, decorated with glass dolphins, whales and other sea creatures.
'Probably because it will be,' said James. 'Well you're the hostess, go mingle.' James started to go sit next to Tonks at the high end of the table but was intercepted by none other than Albus Dumbledore.
Before James had a chance to do anything he was nudged into a seat in between Potter and Dumbledore. 'Triss, help!' James yelled.
'A bit busy Shadow. I don't think they'll maul you, just go with the flow,' said Triss. James looked up and was that Triss was trapped between Minerva McGonagall and Evans.
"So how has your holiday been thus far Mr. Cage?" asked Dumbledore.
"Fine, just finished the last of my homework," said James.
"I wasn't aware any work was assigned," said Potter.
"Extra credit for Professor Lupin," said James.
"What on?" asked Dumbledore.
James wanted to roll his eyes. 'Why did Triss invite Dumbledore of all people?' he thought to himself. "The Patronus charm," said James.
"The Patronus? Isn't that a little advanced for someone your age?" asked Potter.
"Are you not able to cast it Professor?" asked James turning Potters question. Potter turned a little red.
"No, I can't Mr. Cage, but I'm sure you can't either," said Potter, just barely hiding his anger.
James raised an eyebrow. "Don't judge only by what you see Professor," was James only comment.
Half an hour later dinner was over. It had been a rather tense affair and everyone was on edge. Triss slipped from her seat unnoticed and appeared behind James. "Just count this as pay back Shadow," said Triss emptying a glass of water on his head.
James sputtered and glared at Triss. Triss looked like the Cheshire cat until she saw James wolfish grin. She squeaked and broke into a run. "Excuse me, I'll be right back," said James running after Triss. James finally caught up with her in the west wing of the manor. James easily picked up Triss' small form and threw her over his shoulder.
Triss tried to get him to let go but was laughing to hard to make a coherent sentence. Everyone stared as James walked past the dinning room hall with Triss hanging over his shoulder giggling. Dray, Kat and the Twins didn't hesitate to follow the two but it took some nudging from Bill and Charlie to get the rest of them to budge.
The large group followed Dray, Kat and the Twins, all who seemed to know exactly where they were going. They arrived at a large pool house in time to see James drop Triss into the pool and get pulled with her. When the two surfaced James whipped the hair out of his face, exposing his scar, and glared at Triss. "Of course you know, this means war!"
~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&
That was how Christmas break went. James and Triss continually played pranks on each other, one of their guests often getting caught in the crossfire. When the Twins got involved things really got wild. Looking back it was a wonder they didn't blow up the manor.
The Potters, Weasleys, Malfoys, Snape, Dumbledore, and McGonagall all believed both James and Triss to be totally and completely bonkers. Triss' response was 'We do not suffer from insanity, we enjoy every minute of it.' James was sure none of them would look at either of them the same way again.
Both James and Triss continued to have dreams, Triss's haunted with men in white masks and with snake like faces. James kept having dreams of he and Triss doing rather inappropriate things in a variety of places. Triss had opted to sleep with James, using the current snowstorms as an excuse. James quickly grew tired of having to hide his morning 'happiness' from Triss.
Once or twice Triss had caught him but wrote it off as normal male hormones. Gin had said Dray often did the same, something about all males being happy when they wake up. Slowly but surly the dreams stopped and Triss was finally able to sleep.
One storm night during a snowstorm, however, the dreams decided to return. James had been soundly sleeping when he felt Triss shift a little in his arms. He waved his hand and one of the lights in the room turned on. Sitting up slightly he gave Triss a quick look over. Her brow was covered in sweat and she was shivering slightly.
"Triss?" asked James shaking her a bit. She didn't even stir. James, slightly worried, sat up fully, bringing Triss into his lap. "Triss!" said James shaking her a bit, she still didn't stir. James placed a hand on her forehead, she was burning up. James cast a wandless cooling charm on her.
Pulling Triss fully into his lap and leaning her head against his chest James placed one hand on either side of her temple. Suddenly everything around him started to fade and a small room appeared. In the center was a large growling werewolf, ready to pounce on Sara and Holly who were curled up together in a corner. Potter was laying spread eagle on the floor, his head bleeding, while Evans cradled his head looking desperately at her two daughters.
Looking behind the wolf James saw Triss sobbing over a bloody mess on the floor. "No!" Triss cried to her self, gripping the bloodied shirt of the figure. James didn't have to look to tell the person was dead; their throat had been ripped out and had bled all over the floor.
'Who is that?' James thought to himself stepping forward. His mouth dropped as he recognized the bloodied figure, it was him, in his natural form. His long black hair was a bloody mess and his clothes were covered in blood. His exotic green eyes were staring lifelessly forward. "Triss?" asked James placing a hand on her shoulder.
Triss's sobbing figure stiffened and slowly she turned to meet James's eyes. As suddenly as it had appeared the room started to fade. James shook himself a little, clearing his mind of the images from Triss's dream.
"James?" a small voice sounded. James looked down into Triss's tear filled eyes.
"Hey, it's alright," said James pulling Triss into a hug. She lost it and started sobbing into his chest. "Shhh…" said James lightly rubbing her back. While Triss sobbed into his chest James's mind was on the dream. 'What in the world was that about? I know she's been having nightmares for a long time but I always thought they were about-' James stopped his train of thought right there.
Slowly Triss's sobbing slowed and her breathing evened out. James laid her back on the bed and placed a hand on her forehead, she still had a high fever. Reaching over to the table next to the bed James hit a space on the top and a secret compartment opened. James grabbed a small pink bottle. James lifted Triss' head a little and eased the potion down her throat.
Her fever went down a little but she was still rather warm and sweaty. Slipping out of the bed James threw on a pair of jeans and pulled the blanket back up around Triss. Waving his hand he cast a temperature charm on the blanket to keep her from getting to warm or to cold. Slowly James walked out to the den to think about what he'd just seen.
~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&
"Okay team! You know the drill! Everyone stick to your positions, help where you can. Ready! Break!" yelled Montague, the Slytherin Captain.
"Well, that's not something I'm used to," said James slinging his broom over his shoulder.
"What do you expect now that Flint is gone?" asked Triss from his right.
"Yeah, did you think he was going to threaten us if we lost?" asked Dray from his left.
"Just still used to having Flint around," said James.
"Anyway, I still think you were smart to drop Divination. All the professor does is predict people's deaths and the like. It's worthless," said Dray changing the subject.
"I didn't drop it cause of the teacher. I dropped it because Weasley was in there. It's enough to keep him from killing everyone during potions, I've no intention of having to deal with him else where," said James.
"That's cold," said Triss.
"You can't stand him either Tigress," said James.
"Only because he tried to get you in trouble after you saved his weasel ass," said Triss.
"Hey! Don't make fun of his last name, sadly it's mine too," said Gin.
"Sorry Gin," said Triss.
The loud voice of none other than Lee Jordan echoed through the locker room. "Well, that's our cue," said James grabbing his broom.
"Let's go kick some Hufflepuff ass!" said Gin grabbing her broom.
"Here, here!" said James, Dray and Triss hitting their brooms together with Gin's. The quartet all walked out to the field where they were met with the Hufflepuff team. Cedric Diggory, the Hufflepuff captain and seeker, shook hands with Montague at the request of Potter, the acting referee.
Potter blew his whistle and both teams lift from the ground, the Hufflepuff team gaining control of the ball. James flew up until he was about 100 feet from the ground and leveled off. Looking at the near black sky he could tell a bad storm was coming. 'This should be very interesting,' James thought to himself.
Several minutes later the clouds opened up and with in minutes everyone was soaked. 'Hey James! Ya think you could give us a little help down here!' Triss's voice yelled in his head.
'Sorry, can stop natural rainstorms. I'm stopping any lighting from hitting any of the players as it is,' James responded.
A half an hour later even James was loosing his patients. The score was 40-60 Slytherin and he still hadn't seen the snitch. It was starting to get very cold but James couldn't figure out why, he knew it wasn't the rain. Suddenly James saw why.
A group of 15 or 20 Dementors were gathered together on the pitch grounds. Looking around James saw several people swaying on their brooms. James picked Triss out of the group of airborne student's and saw that she was shaking. Her eyes connected with James's momentarily before they rolled up into her head and she fell.
James stared in horror. He was to far away to catch her so he did the next thing that came to mind. Pulling his wand from his sleeve he cast a strong suspending spell. It wouldn't be enough to stop her but it would slow her down significantly. Triss's body slowed and she hit the ground with an inaudible thump.
All around him James could see people falling from their brooms. James cast multiple spells to break their falls. Using his elemental abilities James used the lightning in attempt to scare the Dementors, it worked, the Dementors fled.
While James made sure no one else was going to fall from their brooms he failed to notice the single Dementor making it's way towards Triss. A loud scream from the people in the stands alerted James of its presents.
The Dementor lowered its self to the ground and picked up Triss's limp and shivering form. James wasted no time in launching himself toward the Dementor. James was nearly there when the Dementor started to lower its head to Triss's face.
"NO! EXPECTO PATRONUM!" yelled James pointing his wand at the Dementor. The silvery form of a large panther burst from his wand and launched it's self at the Dementor. James couldn't tell if the Dementor was touching Triss's face or not, he just prayed he wasn't too late.
The panther jumped on the Dementor, clawing and hissing at it. The Dementor let out an inhuman squeal and dropped Triss to the ground. Ignoring the Dementor that was being clawed to pieces by his Patronus James jumped off of his broom in mid-flight and ran to Triss.
He slid through the mud, landing on his knees next to Triss's still form. With out thought James scooped her up from the ground. He body was cold and limp, her face paler than death. By this time many teachers and students were making their way to James and Triss.
Dumbledore had a look of slight fear on his face, followed closely by anger at the fact that he'd let the Dementors into the school and that he wasn't the one protecting his Granddaughter. Potter was not far behind holding a crying Holly with a stunned look on his face. Evans held her husbands hand, holding a crying Sara in her other arm, as he walked to where James was kneeing with Triss laying in his lap.
James didn't see or hear any of this. His concentration was centered on the girl lying cold in his arms. ^Triss? Triss please wake up!^ said James in elven. Triss didn't respond. James now had tears pooling down his cheeks, mixing in with the heavy rainwater.
"Triss? Please wake up!" said James shaking her slightly. She still didn't stir. The group of people was now forming a large circle around the couple. Dumbledore looked sadly at his Granddaughter and the young boy holding her. The lack of response was too much for James and he broke down sobbing in Triss's hair.
"No, please no. You can be gone. Please," James cried into her neck. The surrounding people looked on in shock. Never before had anyone, including the other members of the crew, seen James cry. Even Dragon had only ever seen him tear up the one time the night his parents were killed. Now he sat on the ground in the middle of a rainstorm crying over his best friend, who, to all appearance had just suffered a fate worse than death it's self.
(A/N: Okay, I know this took a long time to come out. As of right now I'm doing revisions. When I'm done most spelling errors will be fixed and the different fonts should show. It shouldn't take me to long, a week or two to get it all fixed and loaded, I may make some story line changes (Chapter 26 mostly), but I'm not sure. If I do I'll let you know. If anyone spots anymore spelling errors let me know and I'll fix it best I can. Sorry to all of you who got frustrated with my spelling and Grammatical errors.)
Chapter 28 Review responses:
Gaul1: Thank you.
Athenakitty: Well, Kat's mad about the prank but she's one of the only people.
Lunawolf: The dream is what I call a 'Look into a male adolescent mind'. I have a lot of guy friends and I get detailed stories of their dreams and so on, must of which I really didn't need to know. With having guy friends comes the knowledge of how to scare them, castration is in the lead. One of the other things is biting them; only problem is they bite back. No, Snape isn't abandoning James; they're just not getting along at the moment.
Wytil: Until now the story hasn't really messed with my grades but because the finals and what not are coming up I've got more homework. Add that to the fact I have to get a good grade in Spanish, which is currently a C, and I've got no time. The only real homework free time I have is on the weekends, which I use to sleep. If I'm not asleep I'm doing stuff for my parents or being physically dragged out with my friends. Hopefully everything will calm down after the FCAT.
I-hate-cliffies: Ooookay. . .
Musicstarlover: Thank you. Yes, James and Triss will get together but not yet. As I've been saying, you'll see why soon.
SS2 Megami-sama: *Smirks* No offense taken. Lol!
Insanechildfanfic: Thanks.
Howling wolf1: Thanks. Yes, James has got something for Triss but they won't get together for a while yet, you'll see why soon.
TheAlphieParadox: I should start updating faster soon because school and the like is winding down. I can't wait for this summer!
Star Eyed Unicorn: Thanks. Yes, Remus is going to play a good role in this story. As some have already figured out he's going to become rather close with (Harry) James's crew. I'm still not sure if I'm going to cure him yet, but we shall see.
ERMonkey, Queen of Insani: Well, that's what one gets for having close guy friends. This was another part that was my late beta reader's idea, but o'well. Most people seemed to have enjoyed or ignored it so I'll just leave it at that.
Anna: Once again. Bite me. Why don't you reread the chapter and use your brain? It was a dream.
Phoenix catcher: Thanks, glad you like it. I actually spent several months thinking up the characters and story line, not to mention how many different versions of this story I started before finally settling on one of them. I think I'd been thinking up the story for more than a year before I started writing. (Wow! I surprise even myself.)
Quicksilverwitch: Sevvy is still in James's good books, just not as well as before. What secret? I don't remember anything about a secret. And no, nether James nor Triss is going to smack anyone around, yet.
Abby: Not to be rude or anything but, bite me. Each of these chapters I come up with in a matter of hours, more than I can say for a lot of people. Yes, I've noticed that I have a tendency to use the wrong version of a word, but I'm not used to typing on a computer yet. I have about 6 binders full to the brim of hand written works, all of which are limited to spelling errors and little else. I intend to go back and fix the mistakes when I have time, which I don't have now. In fact I remember stating such in an A/N as well as several review responses. As for my language skills, they work for me thank you very much. And by the way, to me this is a hobby, not a job.
PrinceHarry: Thank you Lee. Nice to know I'm loved.
Dark Artist: Thank You! My first real bit of constructive criticism! Okay, the only excuse I have for the first Chapter is that it's the first real thing that I've written. I re-wrote the first chapter about 6 or 7 times, going from James being a 'super child' type, to him having autism. The only thing I really didn't want to change was the name. I know the chapters get sappy or wrong in some places, but that's what I get for using a hormonal teenager as my beta. (I fired her.) Yeah, I know I've got no subtlety but that I just can't help. Dragon isn't really a tool so to speak, he plays a bigger roll than anyone sees. For the James being 5 part, he is five but he's not. You'll see what I mean later. Giving you a little spoiler, James didn't really understand what was going on, but pretended he did and came to understand what was happening over time with a little help. I'll get into why he was the way he was at that age during 4th, and some of 5th year. Don't worry about the comments; I was starting to think I was the only one that did constructive criticism. As for quitting, I promised to many people I'd finish to quit now. Hopefully my next story will be better.
Crazy-lil-nae-nae: Thanks.