Lone Child

Chapter 35: "I plead the 5th!"

Not even 5 minutes after classes were over James was cornered by Mel, Gin and the twins. "Look, if you're going to yell at me for the damn tournament thing, save it. I didn't enter my name," James said before the others had a chance to say anything.

"No James, that's not what we're here about. All four of us know you wouldn't do something like that then lie to us about it," Mel said, her face completely serious.

"It's about Triss. Something bad is going on," said Fred, his face much like Mel's.

"What are you talking about? What happened?" James asked, his eyes wide with concern.

"Whatever Dragon was doing to keep Triss out of her dad's hands isn't in effect anymore. Her father is withdrawing her from Hogwarts at the end of week, sending her to a school in America. That's what she was tripping about last night and this morning. Pomfrey said she's been hallucinating because of an allergic reaction to one of the ingredients in the Dreamless Sleep potion she was given after she fell down the stairs," Ginny said in a rush.

James couldn't believe what he'd just heard. "Excuse me, I have people to visit," James hissed, taking off in a run toward the hospital wing. He entered to find Triss curled up in a ball, sobs racking her body. "Tessa?" James asked. James had adopted the pet name when he and Triss first met, and only used is in extreme situations.

"James?" Triss asked, looking up. Her eyes were puffy and red from crying. "They're sending me back. Dumbledore is sending me back to him. I don't want to go back to him. Please don't let them take me back to him," Triss begged, throwing herself on James.

"Shhh… It's all right Tessa. I'm not going to let him take you back. You are my soul bond and I would die before I let anyone cause you harm," James whispered in her ear. Triss continued to sob into his shirt, but did calm down some. Some half an hour later the two were interrupted by a very unwelcome guest.

"What, may I ask, are you doing with my daughter?" Triss stiffened. Standing to James's right was a man of about 40 years old with graying auburn hair and blue eyes, he was Brian Rockton, Triss's father.

"I really don't think that is any of your business," James hissed.

Brian glared at James. "As her father it is my business young man," he growled.

"As she is my soul bond, I'm telling you it's none of your god damn concern sir," James sneered. Brian gaped. "As I'm sure you are aware, once a child becomes bonded, no matter the age, their parents no longer have any claim over said child. If need be I will have it state be the Ministry of Magic state this as fact. Now, I suggest you get the fuck out of my school," James hissed. Brain looked stunned, but he did turn around and leave.

When he looked back down, Triss was staring at him in awe. "What?" asked James.

"You made him leave," Triss said, staring at him.

"I told you, I would die before I let someone cause you harm," James stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Triss continued to stare at him. James was about to ask why she was staring, but was silenced by her lips on his.

&&&&&&&&&&&

"So what's got Dray's knickers in a knot?" James asked, sitting down next to Mel at the Slytherin table. Kat was over at the Gryff's table, being a little to friendly with Rome in James's opinion, and Dray was at the other end of the table talking with some other pure blooded snobs.

"I'll tell you later, it isn't safe to say anything here," Mel whispered in his ear.

"So how did you get Triss off the hook?" Fred asked from the other side of the table.

"Remember I told you we were bonded? They cannot remove Triss from my presence unless the bond is legally and willfully dissolved. If need be I can have it stated by the Ministry of Magic," James responded.

"So is Fudge being less of a moron that usual?" This came from George.

"Surprising isn't it? It seems he'll do just about anything to one up Dumbledore, even side with me." The group laughed at this comment.

"Hey, where's Gin?" Triss asked, noticing one of the youngest members of their group was missing.

"With Luna at the Ravenclaw table. Nice girl, but a bit insane," George commented.

This earned him a smack from Mel. "Luna isn't insane! She just has an active imagination."

"Insane, active imagination, it's all the same," Fred said, coming to his twin's defense.

James rolled his eyes. "While you battle it out, Triss and I have other things to talk about," James said, standing from the table again. Triss followed and the two exited the hall, not aware of the glaring eyes following them.

&&&&&&&&&&

"So what do you think the 1st task is going to be?" Triss asked, flopping down on James's bed.

"From what I hear, it's something that can't exactly be good for my health. Gin said Charley is coming in from Romania, so what can that mean?" James asked.

"Dragons? No way, they're going to let you guys fight dragons? You might as well slit the other's throats. They'll never make it out alive!" Triss shouted.

"Well, the only other thing it could be are vampires, and I don't see Charley being sent over for vampires," James said.

"But it's not impossible?" Triss asked.

"In the wizarding world, nothing is impossible," James said. Triss nodded and a mischievous look came into her eyes. Before she could act on it, Mel burst into the room.

"What the fuck?" Triss demanded.

Mel rolled her eyes. "I thought you guys wanted the details on what crawled up Dray's ass?"

"Yes, don't mind her, she was getting ready to torture me in some way, shape or form, so I thank you for the distraction," said James.

"He's working on his dad's orders. He told me to tell you guys. Rumor has it, Voldemort got his body back and is preparing to call in all of his Death Eaters. Dray is to be a spy like his father, there is no way around it," Mel explained.

"Hold on, Voldemort is back? No way, James would have known," Triss yelled.

James, however, hadn't heard this. 'How in two hells could he come back without my picking up on it? There is no way!' James thought furiously. His thoughts were interrupted by Mel.

"James, didn't you say your powers were acting up? Do you think Voldemort could be playing parasite again?" Mel asked.

James shook his head. "No, Dragon has a block on my power. It has been confirmed by a certain cat I know," said James, throwing a look at Triss. Triss suddenly found her feet very interesting.

"Well, it could just be a rumor, but we can't be too careful. Now, you two go back to whatever you were doing before I came in," Mel said, turning and leaving the two alone.

&&&&&&&&&

"P-professor Potter? James Cage has been called down to the Great Hall," on of the third year Hufflepuffs stuttered. Potter, his face looking extra sour, dismissed James to follow the Hufflepuff boy.

James almost couldn't stop himself from groaning as the Hufflepuff started babbling to him. "Why me?" James growled under his breath. James was almost dancing for joy when the boy left him alone at the Great Hall. Inside James was met with a very welcome sight. Standing in the hall next to a not so happy looking Albus Dumbledore was Aberforth Dumbledore Ollivander.

"Hello James! It seems you are the first to arrive," Aberforth said when he spotted James. James pulled the old man into a hug, having missed the man's friendly face. "Oh no!" Aberforth said suddenly, looking up at James. "You've gotten taller than me!" Aberforth yelled jollily, patting James on the shoulder.

"Well, think of it this way Aberforth, I'm only going to get taller," James said, his eyes dancing with amusement.

"Well, I haven't laughed like that in ages. Tell me, how is young Trisstessa doing?" Aberforth asked. I heard my dear brother tried to send her back off to her father, but was once again shot down by you. Is it true you are now a couple? Aberforth asked, switching over to elven.

Triss is doing well. She nearly had a nervous breakdown when she found out she was to go back to her dad. I'm still pissed at Dragon over that. And finally, yes we are a couple, one of the other things I'm going to drown Dragon for not telling me, James responded.

What didn't Dragon tell you? Aberforth asked, concerned. He knew Dragon was being a bit of an ass at current time, but Aberforth had never known him to hold back information from James. If anything, he gave him too much information.

As you are well aware when I found Triss we formed a Soul Bond, but not in a friendly way. Apparently we've been destined to be with each other since the age of 8, longer if you count those time turner trips, James commented.

What time turner trips? Aberforth demanded.

'Shit!' James thought. No one was supposed to know about that little detail. A few years ago Triss and I got our hands on a time turner and used it to get in more ours of training. We haven't used it since before Hogwarts, but time turners to add to your age, James explained.

Exactly how old are you now? Aberforth asked, his voice calm and steady.

Just over 15. Triss is just under 15, says the Ministry documents anyway, James answered.

You better be glad I like you, other wise, I would have to toss you out the window for even thinking about using a time turner, Aberforth growled.

I plead the 5th! James yelled.

Aberforth shook his head sadly. "That's the last time I let you go hang out in Florida for the summer," Aberforth muttered, causing James to grin. It was then the two noticed that the rest of the Tournament Champions had arrived, along with several Ministry officials and a reporter. All were staring at them.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer," James growled, moving to stand next to the other champions.

"Now that we all have arrived and caught up with one another, I will tell you why you are all here. For your own safety, Mr. Ollivander will be checking all of your wands to make sure they are fully functional. Mr. Cage, please present your wand," Dumbledore ordered, holding out his hand.

Abet reluctantly James pulled the black piece of wood from his sleeve, gently placing it in Dumbledore's hands. James didn't even have time to react before there was a loud crack and Dumbledore fell backwards, dropping his wand in the process. The black wand rolled right to James's feet, leaving everyone in the room, with the exception of Aberforth and James, staring on in shock.

"It seems, James, that your wand doesn't like to be handled by others. Can you pass it to me please?" Aberforth asked. James picked the wand up and placed it in Aberforth's hands. Nothing happened. Aberforth inspected it for a few seconds before he gave his report.

"The wood and its core are in perfect condition. It looks the same it did as the day I made it. Black holly, with a Phoenix and Daricorn core. A special order, as his wands kept splitting down the middle," said Aberforth, absorbed in the qualities of the wand.

"Mr. Krum, your wand," said Dumbledore, having righted himself. This seemed to snap Aberforth out of whatever trance he was in and without another word, he handed James his wand back. James slipped it right back up his sleeve, ignoring the stares the other people in the room were giving him.

Soon enough Aberforth had inspected all of the wands and the reporter and Ministry officials made their rounds. The reporter, a woman named Rita Skitter, made a B-line for James. "Excuse me, Mr. Cage, can I have a word? Thank you. Now, I've come to understand that you are an orphan. How does it feel to not have the support of a loving parent?" Rita asked, not even letting James get a word in.

Smirking, James picked up his wand and wrote in big, smoky letters, I PLEAD THE FIFTH! NO COMMENT! Once James was sure Rita had seen what he'd written he cleared the letters and walked away, grinning like a cat that got the cream.

&&&&&&&&&

The next morning, James was surprised to see by none other than Rita Skitter, an interview from him. Summing it up, the article basically made James sound like some crybaby on Jerry Springer. With out so much as a word, James stood up and headed for the Owlery, it seemed Ms. Skitter would wake up to a nice big Howler.

&&&&&&&&&

"Welcome, everyone, to the first task of the Triwizard Tournament!" That was all James heard of the opening speech. The 1st task was only minutes away from starting and, as far as he knew, no one in the group of Champions had been told anything about what they were supposed to be doing. Triss had volunteered to keep James informed of the happenings outside while James went and completed the still unknown first task.

At current time James was standing in the middle of a small stone room. James recognized the room as one of the 5 closed off parts of the dungeons. Thanks to help from Jewel, James had discovered that, in the closed parts of the dungeons, there was only one way in, and one way out. According to Jewel, you couldn't go out the door you came in, and in the door you came out.

Because of the current surroundings, James guessed Triss was right, and it was vampires. There was no way anyone at the Ministry was stupid enough to let dragons loose in the Hogwarts dungeons. 'Well,' James thought, 'I could be wrong.'

This earned a laugh from Triss, who had been listening in on his train of thought. 'No worries love, this will be a piece of cake for you,' Triss thought to him.

'I know love, but I still don't like the fact that the point of this hasn't been explained,' James growled.

'Well, love, if you'd listened to the opening speech, you would know what you were doing, and that the first task starts in 3-2-1, NOW!' Triss yelled in his mind, her voice in unison with the announcer's.

With that, Triss cut their connection, and James cautiously walked out of the first room and into the next, watching for any sign of something that may want to eat him. James was going on the 6th room when something flashed out of the corner of his eye. James quickly found the source of the flash, a silver medallion seemingly floating in mid air.

'Okay, I now know what it is I'm looking for, but not what it is that's guarding it,' James thought. As if in answer to his question the medallion moved, and with it came a body.

Now attached to the medallion was a bad, Hollywood excuse for a vampire. It had pasty green skin, slimy black hair and pointed ears. It hissed at James, showing its fangs. 'Great, I now get to play with ugly, animated vampire dummies. Bloody hard task this is turning out to be. They probably don't even bite,' James thought, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

The 'vampire', not sensing any fear from James, attacked. James, having had Triss pull the same move countless times, flipped the vampire over his head, taking its medallion in the process. The vampire didn't seem at all happy about that arrangement, and it's once pure black eyes turned a wolfish yellow.

James slipped the medallion in his pocket and waited for the vampire to attack. It did. Moving almost as fast as James in his top form, the vampire jumped it him, fangs first. James pulled back his fist a punched the thing in the teeth. Under any normal circumstances, the vampire's teeth would have fallen out, but this one's teeth just inflexed with James's fist, almost like…

"Plastic!" James yelled, dropping to the ground as the vampire swung at him. 'You would think they would be just a little more creative! Plastic fangs! Ugh!' James thought furiously. With that, James kicked it up a notch, always enjoying a good fight. Several hits, and a few scratches later, James because bored. Pulling his wand, James yelled, "Decollo!"

The vampire stopped mid step and fell to the floor, it's head rolling away from it's body. 'Jewel, tell me how the hell I'm supposed to get out of here!' James yelled.

'Go down the corridor, to the left and straight down. You will come to a door, go inside, got down and take the first right door. You should came back to the main hallway where some Ministry officials will be waiting for you,' Jewel answered.

'Thanks,' said James before setting off to follow her directions. Sure enough he was met with a several people. It seemed none of the other champions had come out yet. Upon exiting the room, James was pounced on by Poppy and her apprentice, the same woman that had been covering for her in his first year. James couldn't seem to recall the woman's name.

As soon as Poppy had deemed him healthy, Minister Fudge came over. "Life size, reanimated, Hollywood vampires with plastic fangs. What the hell were you smoking when you came up with this?" James demanded. A few people stopped and stared at seem the Minister of Magic being spoke to like that, but others had seen it happen before and weren't the impressed.

"It wasn't my idea. If your going to say something, go talk to the Bulgarian Minister," Fudge growled.

James glared at him and sat down to wait for the rest of the champions, after giving Fudge the medallion. Diggory was the next person to come out, a good 10 minutes after James had, also holding the medallion. He was shortly followed by a flustered looking Fleur and Victor. While the Ministry left to go sort out scores, the four champions sat and talked.

"Who vas the virst one out?" Fleur asked.

"I was," James responded. "Did you guys have to fight badly reanimated vampire dolls, or was it just me?"

"No, it vasn't just you," said Victor, whipping sweat off of his brow.

James was about to say something else, but was cut off by a familiar figure jumping on him. "Nice to see you to Triss," James wheezed and Triss hugged him so tight he could breath.

"You were the first one out! You won! Even going in blind, you won!" Triss yelled, obviously having had too much sugar.

"Tessa, love, where did you get all of the sugar?" James asked. Triss pointed to the sheepish looking figures of Mel, Gin and a blond girl James assumed to be Luna. "What were the final scores?" James asked, making Triss sit still next to him on the floor.

"You came out 1st, with 4 points, Cedric came 2nd with 3 points, Fleur came 3rd with 2 points, and Victor came 4th, with 1 point," said Gin.

"Well, at least it isn't a confusing scoring system…"

(A/N: I'm really, really, really sorry this took so long to get out. A lot of stuff is going on down here in lil' ole Florida. I can actually set my watch to the thunderstorms now! Anyway, I haven't been able to even turn on my computer, much less try and type with all of the lightening. I'm working nights! It's a quarter to 5 a.m. right now. Oh! A shark almost ate me today! Then I was nearly struck by lightening, twice! That's the last time I leave my house… Anyway, I'll try and get the next chapter out before July 5th, if I don't, well, I'm going on a vacation, so I'll work on it then. Oh! Last, but not least, I fixed what I could of chapters 1-27, if there are still an unbearable amount of mistakes, let me know. I'm going to bed now, night!)

Review responses:

RunningInCircles: Thanks.

SiLvErFaTeD: Thank you. I feel so warm a fuzzy!

Iced Flame: No, I write it. My beta just keeps me from running into walls, fondly known as writers block, and often times pushes the story in different directions.

Musicstarlover: I know, I'm so predictable sometimes, but I don't think any of you see the next plot twist…

Sauron the Great: Yeah, I did say 4th year, but not till the end, right after the 3rd task. It should be quite a show.

Lunarian: Oi! Give me some credit here. Triss does understand what James is going through, she's pissed at him for totally different reasons, nothing to do with the tournament or secrets. Actually, the reason Triss is mad isn't even James's fault. Jewel is James's familiar, not his pet, she's aloud to keep secrets from him. Plus, it wasn't really a bad secret, it was meant to be a surprise. I'm a fan of plot twists, so I seriously doubt this will turn out like you think it will.

Shadow Beast1: Thanks.

Serpent of Light: Thanks. Mid-July? Sucks to be you. When does school start up for you again?

Wytil: Triss isn't mad about the tournament. She knows that James would tell her if he was going to do something like that. The only person feeling really betrayed is Dray, as he and James are really good friends.

Gaul1: You'll see.

Athenakitty: No, but I may pull something along those lines.

Lunawolf: Nope, no morning sickness. I'll give you a hint, it has something to do with Dumbledore and his meddling. Don't worry, not everyone is mad at him.

I'm not the weakest link: Thanks.

Nathalia Potter: Thanks.

Insanechildfanfic: No, he doesn't loose it till 5th year, when he splatters all over Umbridge.

Jennifer: I will, no worries.

TopQuark: Hmm. What does hmm mean?

Shadowface: Thanks, all we be revealed in time.

Anna: You're so cool, thanks for the awesome review. You're like a sister to me…

Michaelrccurtis: Thanks.

Spectra2: Thanks. Yes, Lily will find out about Harry soon. My updates are really slow at the moment, I'm sorry!