Lone Child
Chapter 42: Meetings, Elves, and wards.
"Hey James! Mail!" Triss yelled from the breakfast table a week later. For the time being, the school year had been halted and all the children that wanted to go were sent home. About 20 remained, including Kat, Rome, Mel, Gin, Ron, Luna, Fred, George, Draco, Lizzy, Neville, and several others.
Evans had locked herself in her room with baby Harry and had yet to come out. James had made sure a house elf sent them meals regularly. Dumbledore had been back after the second day, looking like hell. Apparently he had tried to take refuge with the Centaurs, and they didn't take kindly to him. James had had to go and get the old man himself.
He was also pleasantly surprised to find Umbridge with the Centaurs as well.
Flashback"Any idea where he could be?" Triss asked, walking just in front of James with the human formed Jewel in the lead. Jewel knew the most about the forest, having spent much of her time there, so of course she had been the first to know about Albus's problem.
"Not a clue. This is Jewel's territory, I try and stay out of the forest when I can help it," James commented. He hadn't bothered to change back into the brown haired, blue-eyed version of James Cage, seeing as everyone now knew he was a Shapeshifter, as well as a relation to Severus Snape, though no one knew how. There was also speculation that he was related to Evans, but few dared try and guess how. Last James had checked the rumor had been that James was the result of Evan's father and Severus's mother getting together.
One of the things that divided witches from muggles was that they could have children well into their 70s, so it was perfectly plausible. To most in the castle, this was funny as hell.
"We're almost there," Jewel said, cutting the other 2/3s of the party out of their thoughts.
A minute or so later, they came to a stop in a small clearing. Triss was the first to spot the bloodied Albus, while James had spotted Umbridge. With a snap of his fingers, the woman disappeared off to some muggle hospital. If luck was on James's side, no one would find her for several more days.
"James, give me a hand over here!" Triss yelled, drawing James's attention.
Held up between Triss and Jewel was an unconscious Albus Dumbledore, looking just a little busted up. "Would it be safe to use magic on him?" James asked, looking the man up and down.
"No, it would contradict the Centaur magic," said Jewel. James nodded, and with some effort tossed the older man over his shoulder. While Albus was by no means fat, he was very tall and muscular, and muscle weighs more than fat, leaving the man at a substantial size.
The small group had almost reached the edge of the forest when they were attacked by a group of rather pissed off Centaurs. "I think it's time to run," said Triss.
"I think I agree," Jewel responded.
"Back off," James growled, ready to defend at all costs.
A tan colored Centaur came forward. "Why should we listen to you human? You are no one of great importance and you have something that belongs to us."
"He's my grandfather, so back off!" Triss growled.
"We can not kill them. All of them have very powerful auras," spoke another one of the Centaurs.
The tan one nodded. "Very well. Leave, but do not enter the forest again," the centaur ordered, stepping away.
James nodded in thanks, dropping down some of his guard. He had been ready to port out, thinking the Centaurs wouldn't back down with out a fight. He'd been wrong.
End flashback
Dumbledore, while still suffering from dehydration, was better than he had been, and was currently under the watchful eyes of Poppy. Jim Potter had left with Sirius and Remus, going to recruit new Order of the Phoenix members and gather old ones.
Kat, along with Snape and Gin, were all locked in the dungeons doing potion research. Every so often the castle rocked with an explosion, but the three always assured them it was no big deal.
The twins, Ron and Draco were neck deep in the twin's prank research and everyone else was brushing up on some things. Minerva McGonagall, under orders from Albus, was to teach them to become illegal animagi. She was probably going to be shocked silly at how many of the group had already managed it.
Snape had been in and out of the castle, answering summons and meeting with Lucius. Lucius, being within Voldemort's inner circle, had provided them with much information, including Voldemort's horribly weakened state. Rumor had it that, even with the unicorn blood still running in Voldemort's veins, he wouldn't live through an honest fight.
Lucius had confirmed this, sort of. As of that time, Voldemort was living off of a form of Basilisk venom, something that would kill him if he didn't find another source to feed off of, but was still a strong duelist.
"Alright, so what's the plan?" Sirius asked. It was the first real Order of the Phoenix meeting in years. In the room there were at least 50 people, including James, Triss and the rest of their group. At first the adults were reluctant to let them in, but Triss, with a few select comments, put them in their places.
Probably the strangest thing about the whole meeting was that it wasn't just witches and wizards, there were muggles and squibs as well. One of them, of course, was Triss's father, Brian Rockton. He looked about as happy to be there as Triss and James were to have him there. Add to the fact that he'd been glaring daggers at them the whole time, didn't help.
At Triss's threat of spending the rest of his life on the couch, James agreed not to do anything to the older man, but that hadn't stopped him from getting the twins in on something. Let's just say, Brian's not going to have a pleasant evening.
"We need more people," said Ron. That was, of course, rather obvious. All in all, the final count of order members was 56, against a countless number of Death Eaters and Dark Creatures.
"The werewolves and ex-werewolves have taken our side, as a sort of payment for the cure of Lycanthropy. We've had no luck with the Giants, and the Elves won't even so much as look at us, much less talk to us," Remus reported.
"Mr. Cage, do you think you could sway the Elves any?" Jim Potter asked.
James shook his head. "No. They don't fight wars with humans. I might be able to get out a few friends of the family, but that's it. I'd have to talk to the Giants. I've only ever met one or two, not including Hagrid and his girl friend."
"The dwarves are in!" an older voice squeaked. Professor Flitwick, ex-Hogwarts professor, was sitting on top of a stack of books, watching everyone carefully.
"That still won't be enough," said Brian.
"No shit. Triss and I will try and pull some strings, but I can't guarantee anything. I can get snakes and the like with ease, but so could Voldemort. The spiders in the forest have our back, no doubt, but the Centaurs are neutral. We can probably rule out a lot of groups, like Vampires. They, like elves, don't dabble in human affairs when they can help it.
"Most of the population of Ireland would come if I called, I'm related to half of them, and that half have friends. Problem is, a lot of them are muggles," James thought aloud, ticking things off on his fingers.
Several people looked doubtful. Arthur Weasley was the first to voice his crossed thoughts. "I don't think muggles would be much help. They can't even do magic," he said.
"I take it you've never seen a gun?" Kat asked. Most nodded. "Think of a concentrated severing hex that can't be blocked. Wizards have a really bad tendency of underestimating muggles. Truth is, that if a war sprung up between us and them, they would win."
"This has to stop. We can't think of muggles as 'us' and 'them'. That's thinking like Voldemort, which isn't very good. The only sides than can be taken at this moment in time are the light and the dark, and even then there are shades of gray," said Mel, taking the words right out of James's mouth.
"What do you mean, shades of gray?" Kingsley Shacklebolt asked, looking at the girl as if she were insane.
Draco took over. "Do you know what the Killing Curse was originally made for? When it was made?" No one knew. "It was made during World War II when Grinde-what's-his-name started became favorable to curses that were very painful, incurable, and deadly. A healer, Betty Somers, came up with it after she had to watch her own husband die after being subjected to such curses. It was meant to be a way to end it painlessly and fast for fatally injured people. The dark side got hold of it, and exploited it.
"Here is an even better example. The most basic levitation charm, 'wingardium leviosa', was designed by Hitler, who was a wizard, as a torture device to levitate people he was going to kill over a building to scare them before dropping them to their deaths. If those spells aren't gray, than I don't know what is," Draco explained.
"You know a lot about that kind of thing for a supposed light wizard," Shacklebolt growled. Only a few saw it, but the man's hand was on his wand.
"Shacklebolt, I swear to every god I know, if you fire a curse at that young man, I will rip you apart myself," Sirius said almost casually, but with an edge to his voice.
Shacklebolt glared at the younger man. "And you'll have a one way ticket back to Azkaban. I always said you were a fucked up fag," he growled.
"You would know, wouldn't you?" Sirius growled. For those of them that had known Sirius since he'd first been found, their minds clicked to one of his worse injuries. Sirius, knowing full well that the group was catching on, continued. "Huh? A prison guard that rapes the prisoners cause he has nothing better to do? Or is it that your wife wasn't giving you any?" Sirius taunted.
Shacklebolt, thoroughly embarrassed and angry, jumped at Sirius, knocking the man back and flipping his chair. It took 5 minutes and James and Remus to hold Shacklebolt back. In that time, Sirius had curled himself into a ball in the corner of the room, muttering to himself like a mad man. Mel was trying to calm him, but was having very little luck. From an outsider's point of view, it looked like Sirius had taken on several injuries, including a bloody nose.
Shacklebolt had faired better, having only a black eye from where Sirius had kicked him, while James and Remus pulled Shacklebolt away. Around the room was a stunned silence. While at least 15 of the people in the room had known about what had happened to Sirius, the rest didn't. Jim Potter looked the most shocked out of all of them.
Never, in all the time he'd known Sirius, which had been a long time, had he seen him act like that. Even after Snape had kicked his ass for nearly getting him killed had Sirius acted in such a way. The guilt from just standing by when Sirius was put in Azkaban rose, and Jim almost couldn't stop himself from breaking down and begging his once good friend for forgiveness.
Shacklebolt, even with James and Remus holding him back, was still going for Sirius. Ginny, in full redheaded furry, slapped Shacklebolt, hard. "Get out!" she growled, her eyes turned from soft brown to hard, nearly glowing amber. She, like most of the small group, had come to see Sirius as a family member, and the day she let someone off for hurting him, was the day hell froze over.
Shacklebolt didn't seem affected at all, and it took a word from Dumbledore to get him to leave. "He's going to say something to the Ministry," said Fudge.
"Let him try. Everyone in this room has a very powerful binding charm on them. If he tried to say something, it won't come out as being about us," Tonks said, looking gloomy, if not murderous.
"She's right. Plus, if Dumbledore has his way, both Mr. And Mrs. Umbridge will be in Azkaban before the week's end," said James.
"A little help over here would be wonderful!" Mel yelled. Sirius, who still seemed to be suffering from a panic attack, was using the young woman as a teddy bear, holding her tightly as he rocked back and forth.
"Triss, Poppy, that would be your area," said James. The last thing James need at the moment was for Sirius to lash out at him for being male, something he really couldn't help. After almost 20 minutes of the three of them being unable to calm the dog animagus down, Remus took it into his own hands.
Grabbing the larger man's chin, Remus looked him straight into the eyes. "Sirius, snap out of it!" he ordered. As if he'd been slapped, Sirius looked away, and then shook his head.
"What happened?" he asked.
"Episode," was Mel's one worded answer. Sirius frowned. "Ol' Kingsley attacked you, not that you didn't provoke him, but still. Come on, you're going home, now." It was well known that when Melanie Crews put her foot down, she wasn't going to budge on her decision. With that said, she and Remus escorted Sirius out of them room, going back to their shared home.
Triss shook her head, sitting back down in her seat next to James. No one, it seemed, was very happy about the goings on in their group. "Anyone else with Order compromising secrets?" James asked, more in jest than anything else. No one said anything. "Good. Potter, Evans is in the Order, correct?" Potter nodded. "Then, why is she not here?"
Potter gave him a look. "She's down stairs with the twins and Harry," he answered.
"Next meet, she is too be here, Lizzy can watch Harry and the twins," James said, tossing a look over to the younger girl. She scowled and glared at him, but didn't argue. She knew that he would fill her in on the meetings, so she wasn't missing anything.
"Easier said than done," Severus commented. He was sporting, yet again, a swollen nose, and it didn't take much brainpower to guess where it had come from.
"I agree with Severus, for once. We tried to get her to come to this meeting, but she would have none of it," said Potter.
"I will speak to her," said Dumbledore, having one of his, as James called, old person moments, where he aged several hundred years in a few second.
Severus looked rather amused at that. "Good luck, guess who she's really mad at?"
"I'll make sure to keep a cold steak on hand Severus."
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
"Howler," Triss commented, looking up at the tawny owl flying towards the breakfast table. Sure enough, clutched in the bird's talons was the flame colored letter. The owl swooped down and dropped the letter on James's plate. "Open it," said Triss, setting down her fork and turning to face him. James rolled his eyes and pulled the letter open. Shouting immeadiatly filled the air.
"JAMES CAGE! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? NOT INVITING ME TO THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX MEETING! I SHOULD SKIN YOU ALIVE! EXPECT ME ON MONDAY!" the howler yelled. James and Triss both paled.
"Who was that from?" Draco asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Trinity," James choked.
Everyone looked at the table looked at him in confusion. "Who is Trinity?" Kat asked.
"Let's just say, she's not a person to be messed with, and she's just a little spoiled. She's also in love with James," said Triss, glaring at her plate.
"No worries love, I can stand her either. Especially after the whole condom incident," James said with a shiver.
"Condom incident?" This had come from Jim Potter, who seemed very interested in the conversation. Next to him was his wife, who wasn't looking up, but obviously listening.
James shook his head, this was one of the more embarrassing events of his life. "Trinity is a princess, for lack of a better word. When she turned 1000 her father gave her permission to choose a husband. I, at the time, was six, and visiting the realms with Derek. She saw me and 'fell in love' at first sight. On my seventh birthday, not long after my arrival, her gift to me was a box of elven condoms.
"For a reason unknown to me, elves can…mate…earlier in their lives than humans, and marriage contracts can be formed and executed while still in infancy. She, of course, was to choose me as her husband, and tried to consummate the marriage. At that age I had no interest in girls, and was then chased all through the kingdom by her, wielding the box of condoms the whole time. She's popped up at Dragon's a few times since, but Triss has always been able to rescue me," said James, giving his soul bond an affectionate hand squeeze.
Draco shook his head. "Gin, I think I'll be needing a body guard, along with every man in this castle," he commented, diving back into his eggs. Few heard it, but Evans snorted.
"Alright, I have to go to the library, I'll see you all in a bit," said Triss, standing up.
"You sure you don't want me to come?" James asked, looking up at Triss's standing form.
Triss reached down and gave him a light kiss on the cheek. "Yes, I'll be fine. Why don't you do something constructive, like ward our rooms from Trinity?"
"Will do love," said James, as Triss left the hall.
"So when are you going to pop the question James?" Fred asked, stuffing a buttered roll in his mouth.
"The question?" James asked, though he had a feeling on what the twins meant.
The twins shook their head at their younger friend's naivety. "Well James, when two people love each other very much."
"You and Triss."
"The male in the relationship normally, at a serious point in the relationship asks for the female to join him in holy matrimony, where upon the temporary insanity of love shall be cured."
At this Mel snorted into her oatmeal, trying, and failing, to hide it as a cough. "None of your business," James answered easily. The issue had already been well covered. They weren't going to get married until they were out of school and Voldemort was dead.
"Fine, don't tell us, but you are aware that we expect to be invited to the wedding?" Gin asked.
"Yes. Now, while you all go run around, I have to go word the castle against the destructive force of Trinity," James growled, rolling his eyes.
"We'll see you later then James," said Kat, poking the still laughing Mel in the ribs.
"Later."
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
James had been building ward for the better part of the day now. Triss had come down to check on him once, and to bring him lunch, but he'd been too busy to chat much with her. Building wards strong enough to block the powers of elves was power draining, not to mention nearly impossible. One wrong move and he would have to start all over again.
Triss, knowing this, had gone off to hang out with Gin, Kat, Mel and some of the other girls close to her age. James had a feeling they were plotting something but wasn't stupid enough to ask what.
Jewel was hardly around anymore, preferring to rally some of the more deadly snakes within the vicinity of the castle. According to her, if asked, most of the forest would come to his aid. This put James at ease, at least, more ease than he'd been at since Voldemort's reappearance.
James only had a few more spells to cast when he felt a familiar presence behind him. Muttering the last of the spell he needed, James sighed when he felt all of the spells come together. Now that everything was together, he was tired. "Did you need something Evans?" James asked, shrugging back into his shirt. He was very sweaty, so the white cotton shirt didn't make much of a difference.
Evans started to say something, but James, having a feeling on what she was going to say, cut her off. "Look Evans, I know you don't like me, and I really don't get along that well with you. If you've come up here to try and cut me down some more, you're wasting you time. I accepted a long time ago that you didn't want me as you son, and I'm well past over it. I have my own family, so as far as I'm concerned you're just a professor that doesn't like me for some unknown reason. Now, if you don't mind, I'm tired and I have several guests arriving tomorrow morning and I must prepare." With that, James spun away from the older woman and walked into his room, mind set on getting a shower.
(A/N: Hey guys. A lot has happened since I posted my last chapter. First off, I'm on my school's wrestling team. I have practice almost everyday from 3:30 to 6:00, depending on what type of mood coach is in, so this sets me at getting home around 6:30. Since I've been wrestling I've have my nose broken, I've pulled many muscles, and have more bruises that I care to count. All in all, by the time I get my homework done I'm so tired all I can really do is go to bed. Finishing this chapter was actually a bit of a stretch, but I didn't have practice today because I'm sick. Anyway, on to the story matters. This story, I'm sorry to report is almost over, 2 or 3 more chapters at the most. Don't worry, I have other stories I plan on posting. Here is my question for you guys, what kind of story would you guys be most likely to read after I finish this one? Right now I have a couple in the Harry Potter category that I'm working on. The first one is a Harry Potter/Underworld cross over. I give a brief summary of the movie, so you won't have to have scene it to read the fic. The other takes place after the fifth book, staring Dumbledore's 16-year-old great-granddaughter. This one is a bit darker than what I normally try to write, and doesn't center around Harry at all. Thanks for any input, and feel free to give me suggestions for writing other stories.)
Wytil: I did forget to describe him didn't I? I'll make sure to go over his appearance when he is discharged from his Ministry position.
Pheonixelemental: I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet. Most likely, but I'm not sure, James won't be going back as a student, as it is quite obvious he is more advanced than everyone else.
Athenakitty: Umbridge will get a taste of her won medicine. No, James doesn't hold anything against Harry, but I don't know if Harry's going to hold anything against James in the future. I'm righting as I go at the moment.
Maxennce: Thanks. You have no idea how surprised I was when I checked my e-mail today and found I had 20 or so unread reviews. It really made my day. You'll see about Umbridge and her husband.
M'Lady: I know. I wouldn't forgive her if she were my mother, but James character is a little different, so I'm not sure if they'll make up or not.
Sweet Sakura Curls: Thanks. Remember, Harry is the baby. James is the older one.
A-man: Thanks.
Musicstarlover: From what I've heard, the 6th book isn't going to be more than 700 pages long. Also, in every story that I've written, all unpublished, Umbridge is the bad person. She always will be the bad person, too. I really don't like her, and this is reinforced by the fact that, while I was reading the book, I had a teacher that acted so much like her, and looked so much like her that it was unlaughably funny.
Gaul1: My only comment is, good luck.
Japanese-jew: It might be even shorter if Voldemort doesn't get his tail from between his legs and fight! J/k. I'm not sure yet, but I think the story is almost over. All Voldemort has to do is go kaboom.
SiLvErFaTeD: Ummm…I think that was cool, not coo, so thanks…
XHidden: Thanks.
TheWiseSirIvanTheShadowLo: Thanks. I try to keep my characters as light as possible. Everyone always says I'm such a dark person, and I try not to let it rub off on my writing. No one wants to read anything that has you wanting to kill yourself, so of course, James isn't dark.
Shadowface: I'm working on it as you read.
Szihuoko: I already have an idea about what I'm going to do there, so don't worry, it'll be good.
Dark Catalyst: The best advise I can give you is to read other's stories and ask readers for advise. I know one of the reasons this story kept going was because of all the ideas I was getting from readers. My only real reason for writing this story was that I wanted to make Umbridge explode. I was so mad at her after the fifth book, and I came up with this story that a lot of people like it seems.
Jennifer: Will do.
Sheyne Black: Don't think I'm stereotyping or anything, because most days out of the year I'm a redhead, but most redheaded woman are hot heads. I admit I can be a bitch and a half a lot. Guess what Lily is? A redhead. So, of course she is going to be a big hotheaded bitch. Don't worry, Umbridge will get it, don't worry.
Shinobi8: I've actually been thinking about doing that, but many people would protest that she's to young. I think I may have a vote.
VanaelAndVanwaelMordae: Yes, I know all of you readers are thirsty for words, so I'm working on it.
Anna: Nice Anna. I would have loved to see Coach catch you typing reviews when you should have been doing your work. Then Semrad, ever the asshole, would come after me because you were reading something I wrote, and some how he would just know it was me.
goofynut730: I'm trying to come up with as many explosions as my school whipped mind can handle.
SRAndrews: I will. I've never been one to give up stories. Thanks.
Drache5824: Thanks.
Gohan00: Thanks.
Chris: Love you too Chris.
Raven-warrior05: Wow, you must have been up all night. Glad to know you like it.
Clutchy: Will do, and thanks. Hey, question. Are you the person that asked to be accepted onto my yahoo! Messanger? If you do, then you're on, so you know.
Anna sissy: Yeah, I'm pretty sure I did. Otherwise, second year would have had no point. Check the end of chapter 19.