Lone Child
Chapter 32: Going back again
"This is not good," said James, looking up at the Dark Mark.
"You can say that again," said Triss. A few seconds later several ministry officials burst into the clearing.
"WHO WAS IT? Which one of you cast the Dark Mark?" an official James recognized as Bartimus Crouch asked.
"It wasn't any of us," said James. "There is no way any of us would know how to cast it."
"Go search the woods Crouch. I'll take it from here," said Tonks, walking into the clearing.
"What happened out there Dora? It sounded like all hell broke loose," said James.
"There was a Death Eater attack. They started targeting muggles and two elves showed up. One of them looked like he got a bout of curses, but he seemed to recover really fast," said Tonks.
"Death Eater attack my ass. He-who-must-not-be-named and his followers have been gone for almost 10 years. And those people were NOT Elves. The Elves died off decades ago," yelled Fudge's extremely annoying voice.
"What I want to know is why that blond guy looked like Evans," said Tonks, turning the conversation.
"You picked up on that too?" asked Sirius, walking into the clearing with Remus, Potter and Evans, Elizabeth and a teenager James didn't know.
"How could I have missed it?" asked Tonks.
"Care to offer an explanation Lily?" asked Remus.
"Why is everyone looking at me? I don't have a clue," said Evans, her skin slightly pale.
"I found something!" yelled Crouch, stumbling back into the clearing. In his hand was a very familiar wand.
"What the hell?" James asked, checking his pockets. His wand wasn't there.
"James, if I'm not mistaken, that's yours," said Triss.
"No shit," said James. "How the hell did it end up over there?" James asked.
"This is your wand Mr. Cage?" Crouch asked.
"Obviously," said James.
"Finite," said Crouch, pointing his own wand at James's. A shadowed form of the Dark Mark came out of the tip.
"No way," said James.
"Mr. Cage, you are under arrest for the illegal casting of the Dark Mark," said Crouch, pointing his wand at James, and firing a stunner. James step-sided it.
"Like hell I am. I am a minor for starters, and there is no way in two hells I would know how to cast the Dark Mark," said James.
Crouch went to fire another stunner at James, but Triss pulled his wand out of his hand. "That is enough of that," said Triss, pocketing the wand.
"I couldn't agree more," said Fudge, staring angrily at Crouch, who paled a few shades. "I, for one, seriously doubt Mr. Cage fired that spell, as he was with all of these other people at the time. Mr. Cage, you and your friends are free to go," said Fudge, still glaring at Crouch.
'Wow! I'm impressed. Fudge actually acted with intelligence,' said Triss. James suppressed a chuckle at her comment. Fred, George, Gin, Dray, Mel, Kat, and the boy James didn't know all followed he and Triss back to their tent.
Once inside and settled James broke the silence. "May I ask who you are?" James asked the new boy.
"Roman Lupin, but everyone calls me Rome. I'm Remus Lupin's son. I'm transferring to Hogwarts from Jersey Academy of Magical Arts, I'll be in 4th year with the rest of you," said Rome, shaking James's hand.
"Nice to meet you. I'm James Cage, as I'm sure you already guessed," said James.
"Yes, Mel and Kat talk about you all the time," said Rome.
"Kat?" James asked.
"Kat is staying with us for the time being. Snape is preparing for you know what," said Mel. James nodded, he should have guessed.
"What happened out there?" asked Fred.
"A bunch of Death Eaters attacked the campground. Most of them got away, but there was minimal casualties," said James.
"Anyone you know?" asked George.
"My Aunt's whole family, with the exception of Elizabeth, the little girl Evans was carrying. I'm guessing Evans is going to take her in. If not, I'll pull some strings," said James.
"How did the girl get away?" asked Rome.
"I helped her," said James.
"How? It seems everyone knows something that I don't," said Rome, looking slightly confused.
"Can you guys explain it to him please? I have some medical stuff I need to take care of," said James. It was then that everyone noticed how bad he was shaking.
"What happened to you?" asked Kat, looking really worried.
"Nothing to worry about, I'll be back," said James, walking into what everyone assumed was the bathroom.
"What happened to James?" Mel asked, turning to Triss.
"Ten plus Death Eaters held him under the Cruciatus curse for about a minute and a half. It took a while for everyone to get to him and start taking out Death Eaters," said Triss.
"He should be dead. No one could survive being held under the Cruciatus curse like that," said Rome.
"James isn't normal," said Triss shrugging.
&&&&&&&&&
"I don't know about you, but I'm not ready to go back to school," said Triss, flopping down on a seat on the Hogwarts Express.
"Your not the only one. We're fearing the howler we're going to get from mom when we get to the school," said Fred.
"Why?" asked James.
"Our O.W.L. scores didn't beat Bill and Charlie's," said George.
"You guys got 10 O.W.L.s each," said Triss.
"Bill and Charlie both got 12 or higher," said Fred.
"O'well, you only really need your O.W.L. scores if you're going to work for the ministry," said George.
"I take it you don't plan on it," said James.
"Us? Yeah, sure. We'd end up blowing up Ministry Headquarters," said Fred.
"I can already hear mom yelling at us," said George, cringing as a very familiar voice echoed through the train station.
"Speak of the devil," said Triss.
"Guys, hide us," said George.
James rolled his eyes and pulled his trunk out from under the sink. "Hop in," said James, opening the trunk to the training compartment. Fred and George jumped right in, knowing anything was better than facing the wraith of their mother. Triss followed the Twins, and James followed Triss.
"Wow!" Fred and George said in unison upon seeing the training room.
"Oy Triss! Think we should give them a demonstration?" asked James.
"I see no harm to it, your choice in weapons Shadow," said Triss, walking over to the case where James stored a bunch of his potions. She grabbed her protection potion and downed it in one gulp. "Damn that stuff is nasty. Isn't there anyway to make it taste better Shadow?" Triss asked, making a face at the taste.
"Sorry, that's as good as that stuff gets. The only help I can offer is pinch your nose when your swallowing, it blocks out a lot of the taste," said James. "Catch." James tossed Triss a specially crafted double edged long-dagger.
"You would think that you would tire of these things," said Triss, plucking her green handled dagger out of the air.
"Want to go for two?" James asked, motioning to the dagger's twin.
"Why not, just increases my chance of beating you," said Triss, catching the other dagger thrown to her.
"Keep telling your self that Trisstessa dear," said James. Triss growled at him for the use of her full name but he only grinned. "Fred, George, you may want to step back. I'm placing up a barrier so you don't end up on the business end of a flying dagger," said James.
Fred and George nodded quickly and gave James and Triss about 30 feet of room. James snapped his fingers and a glowing white ring surrounded he and Triss. "Are we using magic?" Triss asked.
"If you want to," said James. "I think those daggers should conduct your magic better than your wand even."
"Good. Whenever you are ready to start," said Triss. James counted down from 3, and they were off. Triss, true to form, made the first move, a left side uppercut and a right side low-cut. James jumped back, missing both and launching his own attack.
Triss jumped as James dropped and tried to kick her feet out from under her. "Missed me, missed me, now you gotta kiss me," Triss taunted.
"As much as I'm sure you would love that Triss, no," said James, kicking on of Triss's daggers out of her hand.
"Reducto!" Triss yelled, pointing her other dagger at James. James took the curse in his right shoulder, and hissed as it burned the skin. Pulling a complex combination of different moves, James quickly disarmed Triss. Triss growled playfully and jumped on James in the form of Tigress.
James didn't shift. "Triss, something's wrong," James gasped out. Triss immediately shifted back. The burn on James's shoulder was bleeding badly, and not showing any signs of healing.
"Oh my god! What happened?" Triss asked, lightly prodding the burn. James hissed in pain.
"Something sucked down my power level. I'll be fine in a few hours," said James. Triss pulled him up and James lowered the shields, allowing Fred and George to walk up to them.
"What happened?" Fred asked, concerned.
"Just a minor energy malfunction, I'll be fine in a few hours," said James. "We should have left the station by now, you're free to go back up. I need to clean this," said James, pulling off what was left of his burned shirt.
"I'll help, you guys go back up," said Triss, pulling James over to the medical portion of the room. Fred and George shared a look before disappearing up the stairs.
Triss sat James down on a stool and look closely at the charred excuse for skin. Walking over to a small refrigerator that James had stored in the room she pulled a small bottle of smoky blue potion out of it. She pulled a few towels, some gauze pads, and an Ace bandage out of a cabinet and set them down on a table next to where James was sitting. "This is going to sting," said Triss, pouring the potion on James's charred skin.
He flinched, but didn't say anything. Triss wiped off any potion that ran away from the wound and placed the gauze over the burn and wrapped it with the bandage. "Good as new," said Triss kissing the bandage. James laughed.
"Thank you mommy," James said sweetly. Triss smacked him. "Oy! That was a compliment woman," James said, ducking another swat from Triss.
"As the only trained Medi-witch here, I demand you go up and lay down. That thing is gonna be a bitch," said Triss. James rolled his eyes, but complied. The two stepped out of the trunk to find the compartment empty, but neither really cared, it wasn't often they got any time to themselves.
James lay down across on of the seats on his left side, with Triss curled up in front of him. Slowly both of the teenagers drifted of to sleep, on doctor's orders of course. This was how a surprised Lily Evans found them a few hours later, though their position had changed a little. James was still on his side, but now had his arms wrapped tightly around Triss's waist. Triss was now facing away from James, and her arms were wrapped loosely around his.
"Shhh! Don't bother them," came George Weasley's voice. Evans blushed at being caught spying and pulled the door back closed, leaving the two kids alone.
&&&&&&&&&&&&
"And now Dumbledore makes his speech," said James, looking up at the standing Dumbledore.
"Welcome and Welcome back students! As I'm sure some of you have heard, Hogwarts shall be hosting some guests this year. In one week's time, select students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang shall arrive at Hogwarts. I expect you all to be on your best behavior. Also, we have a transfer student. Mr. Roman Lupin will join the 4th years by request of his father Remus Lupin.
"Also, we have another guest. Young Ms. Elizabeth Dursley shall be staying at the school for the time being. She is Professor Evan's muggle niece and I expect you to show her courtesy. Now for Mr. Lupin's sorting," Dumbledore announced, sitting back down. Like the first years Rome sat down on the three-legged stool and had the sorting hat place on his head. After a minute or two the hat called out 'Gryffindor!'
"Well, there's another one of our group in with the Gryffs," said Dray. James nodded, watching Rome. He sat down next to Kat at the Gryff table, a little too close to her for James's liking. By law Kat was his sister, and he treated her like it, even if their father didn't acknowledge him.
James nearly blew a blood vessel when Rome gave Kat a peck on the lips. "I'm going to kill him," James growled, eyes trained on Rome.
"Why?" asked Mel, looking at James in confusion. Then it dawned on her. "Kat didn't tell you her and Rome were dating did she?" asked Mel.
"As a matter of fact she didn't," said James.
"Well, they've been going out for a while now. Please, don't go big brother on her, Dray did that already," said Mel pointing the unhappy looking Slytherin.
"She's right, he checked out, but that doesn't make me any happier," Dray ground out.
"He doesn't check out till he passes my test," said James. Dray smirked at him.
"Oh come on! Leave Kat and her boyfriend alone. This is Remus Lupin's son. The same Remus Lupin that you cured of being a Werewolf. I doubt he's going to try and make her do anything she doesn't want to," said Triss.
Dray and James stared at each other. "I'll kill him!" they said in unison. They hadn't even thought about Rome trying anything with their surrogate sister.
"I'm so glad I don't have any older brothers," said Mel. James and Dray looked at her like she was nuts. "Shit!" Mel exclaimed, smacking herself on the forehead. "I just jinxed myself," Mel said, banging her head on the table.
Triss nearly broke down laughing. "Oy! Don't think your not part of the little sister thing," said Dray.
"Please. The only one who has any sort of control over me is James, and he damn sure won't be playing big brother on me if he values his life and body parts," said Triss. Dray looked at her in horror.
"You wouldn't," he said.
"She would," said James, erasing all doubt.
Review responses:
Mistress of Hogwarts: Have you ever been around a person that is obviously stronger than you and felt threatened? That's kind of what everyone is thinking about James right now. They think he is showing off his power and are threatened by how much stronger James is, without even using his full power. Snape didn't disown James, they just aren't getting along, and no, James isn't jealous. As far as he cares Alex and Emma are still his rightful parents, because no one else wanted him.
MiakaChan5: Thanks. It's nice to know my story is worth the wait for the chapters. I hope to be able to pick up on the posts again soon. For some reason my teachers are piling on the work instead of cutting back. It's annoying.