Lone Child

Chapter 39: "This is Bullshit!"

"Wormtail, collect the boy!" A voice James recognized as Voldemort yelled. James felt himself being levitated, but didn't have the will power to open his eyes.

"Is he dead Master?" Wormtail asked, setting the boy down at Voldemort's feet.

"Dead? Of course not. I left the boy enough power to block a little curse like that," Voldemort sneered. Forcing one eye open, James looked at the man above him, and was surprised to find that Voldemort had a body. Everything clicked in James's mind all at once.

Voldemort had been draining his power so he could have his body back! That's why James hadn't quite been himself for a while. It was brilliant, but James was sure Voldemort had forgotten one thing, he never blocked James from locking up his powers. Working as quickly as his draining powers would permit, James dropped into a state of limbo, and started pulling triggers in his magic, stopping Voldemort from absorbing his power, and reversing the process. If all sent well, Voldemort would be powerless in minutes.

"Give me your arm Wormtail," Voldemort commanded. Wormtail held out his arm to have it roughly grabbed by Voldemort, his finger pressed into the Dark Mark on his arm. James drifted off after that, floating in nothingness for several minutes until he felt a strong kick on his side, rolling him onto his back.

"Well Cage, how does it feel to be on the receiving end?" Voldemort asked. Standing all around were figures dressed in black robes. One of them held something that made his heart nearly stop. Tied to a tombstone was Elizabeth, pale with fear and trembling. James wasn't sure she recognized him, but he was going to protect her if needed regardless of what he looked like at the moment.

"Go fuck yourself Tom. You no longer have control over my powers, link or none," James growled turning back to Voldemort.

Right on time, Voldemort let out a defining scream. "What did you do?" Voldemort yelled, holding his head.

"I took back something that wasn't yours to start with," James said, shakily pushing himself to his feet. As his powers were currently locked up, he had no advantage over the 20 or so Death Eaters that stood around him. Two of them he knew to be Lucius and Severus, both of which were standing rather stiffly.

James turned to face Voldemort. No longer was there a normal looking man. What now stood could only be called a monster. His face was pale and hallow, and his eyes were bright red. Pulling out his wand, he commanded every Death Eater to do the same. All at once they yelled "Crucio!" James could do nothing but scream as fire erupted from his blood, baking his bones and turning his flesh into ashes.

"Cedric! What happened?" Potter asked, pulling the young man from where he'd fallen on the ground.

"He k-killed him," Cedric stuttered, the cup still held tightly in his hand.

"Who killed who Cedric?" Potter demanded.

Cedric shook his head. "I-I don't know. He fired the killing curse at me, and James jumped in front of me, and shoved me onto the cup. It was a portkey," Cedric said, holding up the cup, careful not to let Potter touch it.

Potter swore quite colorfully, shooting sparks into the air to call for back up. Within minutes the maze was gone, leaving Cedric and Potter in the open of the pitch. "What happened?" Dumbledore asked, jogging up to the two.

"The man, he killed him! He jumped in front of the curse to save me. He changed though, after the curse hit, his eyes changed colors, and his hair too!" Cedric said. "He-he told me to tell Triss that he loved her," Cedric whispered.

"Professor, he said the cup was a portkey," Potter said, motioning to the cup in Cedric's hand. Dumbledore easily removed it from the boy's hand, casting a spell to render it inactive.

"Jim, take Mister Diggory to the Infirmary, he seems to be suffering from the after affects of the Cruciatus curse, much like Ms. Delacour. Professor Moody, please get me Trisstessa Summers," Dumbledore ordered, pointing to both teachers respectively. A few minutes later Triss nearly ran into Dumbledore, Moody several feet behind.

"What happened Albus? Where's James?" Triss demanded.

"I was hoping you could tell me. The both of you always seem to be at least one step ahead of everyone else," Dumbledore said, rubbing his temples.

"Albus, if I know where he was I wouldn't be asking you! I can't even get a Bond trace on him, it's like his presence is totally fizzled out, but he's still live," Triss shouted, drawing a lot of attention to herself.

Dumbledore nodded solemnly. Fudge made his way over. "Dumbledore, what's going on?" he asked.

"Mr. Cage is missing. The cup was a portkey, I'm going to have it traced as soon as possible. Mr. Diggory said Mr. Cage took a killing curse in his place, but didn't die immeadiatly, and Ms. Summers says she believes him to still be in the land of the living," Dumbledore explained, looking older with every word.

"Killing curse? Why the fuck didn't you tell me?" Triss demanded.

"I didn't want to up set you by letting you know that Mr. Cage is most likely dead," Dumbledore said solemnly.

Triss shook her head in the negative. "Remember when he showed you he was immune to the Cruciatus curse?" Triss asked. Dumbledore nodded. "It wasn't just that curse. Any curse with intent to deeply harm or kill him, he can block to an extent. One or two killing curses are nothing more than a mild stunner to him, if that. However, his energy will only hold out for so long," said Triss.

"What about his eyes and hair? Mister Diggory said they changed color after he was hit by the curse," Dumbledore pointed out.

Triss shook her head. "I can't tell you. Let's just say it has a lot to do with Voldemort looking for him. Although, James's change in appearance didn't seem to help much," Triss muttered the last part mostly to herself.

It was quite a while later that James finally felt the curses and beatings stop. He was trying to store enough usable energy that he could get himself and Lizzy out, and that was if his powers cooperated. As it was, he was going to have to temporarily take down the block to do that, something Voldemort would defiantly feel.

To all of the wizards gathered around him, James seemed to have passed out or died, not that many could see his eyes because of his blood caked hair being in the way. Voldemort seemed to be fooled as well. Lizzy was still tied to the stone, her eyes wide with fear and horror, trained completely on James's unmoving form. With a twitch, James kept his ears open, listening to Voldemort lecture the group on how they all betrayed him, and listen to them all take their turns screaming as Voldemort cast the Cruciatus curse on each of them.

Along with the screams, James heard rustling just to the right of him, where Lizzy was. Since the Death Eaters were temporarily finished with James, they relocated to several feet to his left, leaving he, Lizzy and a certain rat alone. Turning his head enough to get a full view of his younger cousin, James was nearly sick all over himself from what he saw. Wormtail had unbound the little girl from the stone, laying her out on the ground, still bound. As she struggled, Wormtail straddled the little girl, groping her in places that she shouldn't be touched by anyone less than her husband. As James couldn't hear Lizzy's cries, he figured Wormtail had cast some sort of silencing charm.

Pulling whatever energy he had gathered together, James silently pushed himself to his feet. In his fury he nearly jumped when his claws popped out. After not having used them in nearly a year, James had forgotten about them. Anyone who had been watching would have seen James blur as he rammed into Wormtail, knocking him off of the crying Lizzy, and pushing his titanium claws through the rat's chest. Whatever charm Wormtail had cast over the area was broken, and Lizzy's crying became audible, as well as the rattling of Wormtail's last few breaths. "Rot in hell you mother fucker," James hissed, spitting on the body, as he used what was left of his strength to make his way to his cousin.

The group of Death Eaters watched in nothing less than amazement as the teenager killed one of their rank, even the lower rank, in his condition. Most people would have been dead or severely injured after being held under the Cruciatus curse for so long, plus being beaten and tortured with several other curses, but there James was, crawling towards the crying little girl.

James had hardly reached the girl when he felt himself tossed recklessly into an angle headstone, breaking it in half. Several seconds later he found himself staring up at Voldemort, whom was pointing his wand down at the teenager. "Impressive Cage. If you're this much fun every time we torture you, you may just live for a while," Voldemort said, grinning malevolently at James. "Avery, take them both down to the Dungeons. Do not touch either of them," Voldemort hissed, pointing to James and Lizzy.

Avery cast a stretcher charm on James, and grabbed Lizzy roughly by the arm after undoing the bonds holding her feet, and took them both to a large, spooky looking house not far from the graveyard.

"Jim! Albus!" Lily yelled, bursting into Dumbledore's office. Sitting around the room was Triss, Dumbledore, Potter, Fudge, McGonagall, Sirius, Remus, Libby (A/N: James's aunt, Dragon's sister.), Tonks, and a few other aurors. It had been a little over two and a half hours since James disappeared, and they were waiting on feedback from some of the contacts they had, mainly Snape and Lucius.

"Lily! You shouldn't be running around the castle in your-" Potter started, only to be cut off.

"Lizzy is gone!" she stated simply, hysteria in her voice.

"What do you mean Lily?" Dumbledore asked, standing from the seat behind his desk.

Lily looked ready to start screaming at him. "I mean she is gone! All of her friends said the last time they saw her was when she left to find me, and she never did! No one has seen her since before dinner!" Lily cried.

"Are you sure she isn't just hanging out-" Potter started, only to be cut off again.

"Yes, I'm sure! I asked everyone! I even tried a minor tracking charm, she isn't here!"

"Shit," was all Triss had to say. She had a growing bad feeling growing in her stomach, and she knew with unexplainable certainty that James and Voldemort were right in he middle of it all.

"I'll go inform the rest of the team and have them search the grounds," said an auror named Shacklebolt, who was looking rather uncomfortable. He left the room, Remus and Sirius glaring wholes into his back the whole way.

"I need to go inform a few people about what's going on, I'll be back in a little while," said Triss, excusing herself from the room. Whatever protection James had but up in her mind to tone down her empathic abilities was long gone, and all of the feeling in the room was giving her a huge migraine.

"Damn it James, you better be okay," Triss said to herself, jogging up the stairs to Gryff tower.

James was only half conscious when he felt himself dropped on a cold, stone floor. Lizzy was dropped next to him, with the rest of her bonds cut. With much effort, James managed to push himself into a sitting position against one of the stonewalls. Looking around, he was surprised to see he wasn't the only one, besides Lizzy, in the cell.

Sitting near the opening of the cell was a very familiar face. "Dragon," James breathed, hardly able to talk. His throat was raw from screaming, and James knew it was only a matter of time before he couldn't talk at all.

Dragon didn't seem to be in the best of shape either. He had a dark purple rim around his right eye, contrasting greatly with his pale skin and hollow cheeks. He also seemed to have lost a lot of weight, James was sure that he could see every bone through his skin. The older man's hair was now more gray than black, and one of his legs seemed to be resting at an odd angle. If James hadn't been able to see the rising and falling of the man's chest, he would have though he was dead. He didn't react at all when James called his name again.

"Are you alright?" Lizzy asked, drawing his attention away from the older man.

"I'm fine. Do you know who I am?" James asked, still wondering if the girl recognized him.

"Yes. You're James Cage, and you saved my life again. Are you absolutely sure you're okay?" Lizzy asked again.

James nodded, Lizzy looked skeptical. "Seriously, I'm fine. It looks worse than it is," James lied. If anything it was worse than it looked, and it looked really bad. "Liz, do you still have that wand I gave you?" James asked.

"Yeah. They never though to check for it, everyone still thinks I'm a muggle," Lizzy growled sourly. She really didn't like being thought of being what she wasn't.

"Excellent. Give it to me, we're getting out of here," said James, pushing himself to his feet. Lizzy handed the wand to him, and helped him the best she could as he tossed Dragon over his shoulder. "Do you thin there is anyone else in here?" James asked, looking around the dungeon to the best of his ability.

"No, this is the only cell here. I saw on my way down," said Lizzy. James nodded, hoping she was right, though he doubted anyone who had been brought here was still among the living.

"Liz, hold onto the wand, tightly. Ready?" James asked, Lizzy nodded. "There's no place like home." With that, the three people disappeared.

And reappeared in none other than Dumbledore's office. Upon landing, James stumbled under Dragon's weight. He dropped Lizzy's wand, stabling himself. The only people that were still in the room after meeting with Dumbledore were Lily, Potter, Triss and Dumbledore himself. "A little help would be nice," James growled, stumbling under Dragon's weight again. Lizzy and Triss both acted, helping James lower the older man to the floor.

Everyone else seemed to be frozen. Lily, Potter and Dumbledore were all looking at him in slight horror, whether it was because of his appearance or the blood and bruises that now graced his body. "God James, what happened?" Triss demanded, checking Dragon's weak vitals.

"I'm not sure. We found him in the dungeons of the old Riddle house, he didn't respond to me," said James, swaying a little on his feet. Lizzy was doing her best to stable him, but gladly allowed Potter to take over after he'd snapped out of his shock.

"Sit down Mr. Cage," said Potter said, sitting James down in a chair.

Lily also snapped out of her stupor. "It's him," she half said, half giggled before dropping in a dead faint.

"Fuck," said James, resting his head in his hands, blowing a stray strand of his now shoulder length hair out of his eyes.

During all of this, Dumbledore had whispered several spells, sending messages to several different people. It was only minutes before Poppy made an appearance, whisking Dragon and Lily away, James Potter in toe.

Lizzy had opted to stay, saying she was fine with the exception of a small cut above her left eye. James still had his head resting on his hands, his hair hiding his face. Triss took a seat next to James, fighting the urge to drag him off to the hospital wing. Just by resting her hand on his back she could feel the spasms of his muscles, an after affect of the Cruciatus curse, something he shouldn't have been affected by.

A few minutes after that, Sirius and Remus made their way into the office, carrying a rather beat up Snape between them. Sirius and Remus set their old classmate down in one of the chairs before sitting down themselves. "Now that everyone is here, do you mind explaining what happened?" Dumbledore asked James.

James sighed, and sat up pushing his hair out of his face. Everyone who wasn't used to this form of him was shocked. Gone were the soft, rounded features of the James Cage they were used to. James's features were now much sharper, and more defined, a costmary trait of the Snape family. His nose was, like his face, very sharp, and defined, but lacked the customary hook. His eyes had changed from their normal blue, to stunning emerald green, accenting his long, dark hair.

"Very well," said James. For some reason, he'd known he was going to have to tell all of them the truth since he'd met them. "When I was born I was adopted by Alex and Emma Keller. At the age of 5, our house was attacked. They killed my dad right off the bat, and they started torturing my mother. I wasn't going to have that, and I jumped on them. Sometime in the middle of all of that, they killed my mom, and I took out Peter Pettigrew's eye," James explained.

"So that's what you meant when you asked Peter if he was still sore about his eye in the shack," said Sirius. He had been wondering about that comment for years.

"Yeah. After I took out Peter, Voldemort came after me, fired a killing curse at me, but it bounced off my shields, killed him or as close to killed him as possible. The impact of everything set my house on fire, and I somehow managed to get myself to Dragon's house, the man that came here with me. He explained to me about the power that I have," James continued.

"What powers would those be?" Dumbledore asked.

"Shapeshifting, Will wizardry, Elementalism, Healing, Porting, Telepathy and Parseltongue, I can also see magic as well as trace it. The problem is, I only have enough energy to use one of these powers to it's full potential." Triss made a mental note to talk to Dragon about that in the future. "After meeting Triss, and over my years here, I kept Voldemort at bay, and righted some of the wrongs that went along with his down fall," said James, tossing a look at Sirius. "By the way, your rat is dead."

Sirius looked at him in awe. "When, how?" he asked.

"I'm getting to that part. Anyway, I wasn't kidding when I said I didn't enter my name into the cup, I'm guessing it was a set up. In the middle of the fourth task I came across Krum holding Cedric and Fleur under the Cruciatus curse. He was under the Imperius curse, but I didn't have time to trace it, so I did the next best thing, I blasted him into the side of the maze. Fleur was to hurt to go on, so Cedric sent up sparks.

"Both of us went on our way, and met each other at the end of the maze. Cedric was being chased by the Lioness, and after dealing with that, we decided to take the cup together. It was a portkey. When we landed, a spell was shot at Cedric, and I blocked it, and pushed him back onto the cup with a message for Triss if I didn't get back. After that, Voldemort told me that he was tapping my powers, and had used them to get his body back. I put a stop to that, and while he still has a body, he isn't as powerful as he could have been. Almost everything after that is a blur, up until I killed Peter," James continued, running a hand through his hair. He wasn't sure if he should tell them the real reason for going after Peter, as it would be embarrassing to Lizzy.

"Why did you killed Mr. Pettigrew, and how?" Dumbledore asked.

Sensing James's hesitation, Lizzy continued on with the story. "Peter went after me while the others were busy. James used those claw things in his hands, and put them through Pettigrew's chest," Lizzy explained, motioning to the three knife like mark coming from the knuckles of each hand. Through all of the blood, you could almost see the titanium ducts that the claws came out of.

"All I remember after that is finding Dragon, and using Lizzy's wand as a portkey to get us out," James finished. All through the story, James voice had been scratchy and he'd had to clear his throat more than once. All Severus could do was stare at him in disbelief.

"Severus, have you something to ad?" Albus asked.

"Every Death Eater that arrived at the meeting tonight, held him under the Cruciatus curse with Voldemort for bouts of at least 6 minutes each. The Dark Lord also let some of the lesser-brained Death Eaters at him, they beat him shitless. Lucius and I both thought he was dead after that display," Severus said, flinching at James's ruffled condition.

"Well, I'm not dead, but know I know why my muscles aren't working," said James, trying to make a shaky fist, he wasn't able to.

Triss had had enough. She could feel how far and above her Soul Bond had pushed himself, and knew that when the adrenaline of what had happened had warn off, he was going to crash and burn, and she really didn't want that to happen in Dumbledore's office. "Guys, I'm sorry to spoil your conversation, but James is in need of serious medical attention, if no one could tell," Triss growled, daring anyone to contradict her.

Dumbledore nodded, vowing to investigate further. "Very well. I take it you won't be taking him to the hospital wing?" Dumbledore asked.

Triss nodded. "I can work better without Poppy hovering over me. Plus, his body is going to be very sensitive to spells, something I would rather not risk. Have a good night," said Triss dismissively. "Oh, don't tell anyone James is back, I have a feeling he has a card he wants to play, that he won't be able to if you reveal him." James nodded, but didn't say anything, his voice having failed him.

Using Triss as a crutch, James was lead out of the office, Triss casting invisibility charms the whole way. "I guess it's too much to hope that this night is over," Remus stated tiredly.

"Right, so let me get this straight. James not only killed Voldemort 10 years ago, but he has held him off since then. Tell me, how is it that Voldemort was draining James's powers?" Sirius asked, trying to connect everything he'd been told.

"You saw the cut on his forehead, that was bleeding?" Severus asked. They all nodded. "It's the mark left by the killing curse Voldemort hit him with. They are linked through it, though James told me he had sealed it off."

"And how exactly would you know any of this Severus?" Remus asked.

"Well, incase all of you morons hadn't figured it out yet, James Cage is my son."

"WHAT!?"

"Lily? Lily, you need to wake up now," Potter whispered into his wife's ear. Lily stirred a bit, before opening her eyes.

"I just had the strangest dream Jim. I dreamed the 4th task came around and Lizzy and James Cage disappeared, only to reappear in Dumbledore's office," Lily whispered, a bit flustered.

"It wasn't a dream Lils, though I'm not sure that kid was James Cage. He looked like Severus," Potter commented, trying to cheer his wife up a bit.

"My eyes though," Lily said with a slightly dreamy smile. A dark look crossed her eyes. "I am going to kill them," she said allowed, dropping back into a dead faint, leaving Potter totally confused in the land of the waking.

Review responses:

Miss random: I know, I'm so evil… MUHAHAHAHA!

LizaGirl: Cedric will be fine, he's not in trouble or anything. He will, or did (Don't know, haven't written the chapter yet) tell everyone what he saw. No crying please, James and Cedric tied, they both won equally.

The Wizened Wizard: Sorry, I didn't get back to ya in the last chapter, I didn't get the review before I posted. As far as Dragon goes, I won't say anything, because it should come up above.

Sauron the Deciever: Kill Cedric? Nope, sorry, can't do that one. I didn't kill him because he's one of my favorite characters in the books, regardless that he's dead. You can ask anyone, I ranted for days when JK killed him. Thank you, I'm trying to stay away from the book plot, while still keeping it recognizable. I'll still have the deal with Umbridge, but after this it's more or less my plot. I don't even think I'm going to be using Grimmauld Place as HQ.

Billdude21: I'm trying, with all this stuff going on around me, I'm going to try to post every two weeks. I really can't promise more than that at the moment.

Kensa: Thanks.

Homicidal Virgin: Thanks. Hmmm…

Michaelrccurtis: Working on it, I promise!

SiLvErFaTeD: Thanks.

Camarts: Thanks. I still think my grammar needs some work, but it's good to know my way of wording is working.

Wytil: Ugh, I really don't like school at the moment. You're right, you would think they'd be more flexible. I don't think I'd ever live in Miami, to much crap like drugs going on down there. On the way back from the keys, we watched a kid my brother knew in high school get busted for doing a drug run from Miami. Plus, to live there you almost have to speak Spanish, something I don't feel like doing.

Sweet Sakura Curls: Thanks. I'm not going to kill James if that's what you're asking. Afraid I can't say anything else without spoiling the thickening plot…

Gaul1: One would hope all of your questions had been answered above.

Raffy: Thank you!

The wise Sir Ivan the Shadow Lord: I try to respond to everyone if it can be done in time. I've had times when I get reviews from a month before right after I post a chapter. It's rather annoying. I don't have a problem with typing, but the class is kind of useless, as I've already taken it anyway, and I type faster than the teacher does when he isn't breathing down my neck. Stupid teachers…and I don't mean that generally, my dad is a teacher, but this one is a pain in my ass.

Shikatanai: I can see your point there, most 5 year olds don't have that kind of presence of mind, but you have to admit, James is special. If it helps any, just think of James as one of those genius kids who can do math most adults can't do at the age of 4. I'm working on another story at the moment that starts with Harry at a young age, so reviews like this help me tone down the intelligence bit. Constructive criticism got to love it.

Musicstarlover: Kill Cedric? No, I don't think so. He is so cute and loveable in the book, I just didn't have the heart to kill him… As far as the trip goes, I decided to go ahead and skip it. A few friends and my self are going to save up and do an exchange program to France in our senior year. That should be fun, one of my friends speaks French fluently, so he (all of my friends are guys, don't ask why, cause I don't know) is going to help me learn it through the school, and much tutoring. I have family in Australia, so I can probably go stay with them and go diving off of the reef if I asked. My aunt Andy also just moved to New Zealand with her husband and baby, so I also have family there, Andy's father-in-law owns one of the major sheep ranches or something of the like. Andy said it's not really worth it, and the only food they have there is lamb, yuck! The other thing this means is, no plane, though my friends keep saying that if the plane were to start to crash, hell would open up and stop it, just because if I died, the apocalypse would start and the devil would be out of a job. So nice to know I'm loved.

Mick: Thanks. I tried to drag everything out a little more, but I couldn't. I went through this chapter no less than ten times trying to extend it more, and bring in more detail, but I couldn't so sorry if it's a bit disappointing. The next chapter will be better, if I have to re-write it 100 times, it will be better. Plus, the next chapter is when the real fun starts… MUHAHAHAHAHA!

Leeanna-Marie-Malfoy: Don't say that, because I could very easily kill James, and continue that story. Triss's mad go with revenge or something. Maybe I should do an alternate from that point on. Hmmm…

Japanese-jew: I know, I have a bad habit of writing the wrong form of a word. My sister and I are going to sit down and go over this story for mistakes again, she's better at picking them out than I am. I might, but I'm not sure, extend the first part of the last chapter a little. I felt as if I rushed this chapter a bit too much too, but I really can't do much more without changing the whole idea I had, as it was I went through at least ten times trying to adjust things, and this was the best I can do at the moment. It will get better though, I think I'm just having an off moment.

Aki no Yume1: Thanks. I'm tossing out chapters as fast as I can type them, I'm not even doing back up chapters anymore. Expect an update every two weeks, give or take.

Eternamente: Thanks.

Orlin: Thanks.

Chompekitas: Thanks. I try to keep to variety, because if you have the some type of style for too long, people begin to get bored and are able to guess what is going to happen. I don't like to be predictable.