Chapter 13: I Narrowly Escape Life in Azkaban

(James)

I sat tapping my foot against the floor repeatedly. I knew it was a sign of weakness but I couldn't help it. I couldn't sit still.

The door opened.

"Hello, James," the man said.

I flashed a smile. "How do you do?"

"Very well, and yourself?"

I shrugged. "I've seen better days but still not bad."

"Listen, let's cut to the chase. What were you doing with the ingredients?"

This was the twenty-first time they asked me that. I'd been counting. Over the course of three days they'd come in and out. Different officers all trying to ask me about 'the ingredients' which I could only assume were the contents in the box. Nobody, however, told me what these ingredients were or what they were for. I seriously had no clue what they were talking about.

"For the twenty-first time I don't know!" I snapped. I tried to pretend Alice was here attempting to calm me down. It sort of worked. "I really don't know what you're talking about."

I had tried to tell them that I had done this all for Scone but the charm he had placed on me before our deal was still intact. I couldn't talk about him in connection to the package.

"Don't play games, young man," warned the officer, "Or I'll lock you in the cells downstairs."

"Might as well," I said carelessly.

Truthfully I don't think I could actually handle being locked down there. I wasn't claustrophobic but I couldn't stand being trapped, whether it was in a large room, or a tiny box. Not to mention it was dark down there and other criminals who had not yet been sent to Azkaban were in those cells.

"How about you just talk."

"How about you let me call my father again and I'll consider it?"

"You already got your phone call."

To my surprise at the Ministry they had phones. They offered me a call to anyone. So I called the Burrow. My mom had answered and when I told her what had happened she said I deserved to be punished. She told the officer to contact her when they were ready to arrest me. Not if, but when. I just wish I knew what was wrong with my parents. Why were they being so mean? Why did my mom sounds like she thought I deserved to be punished? Did she hate me that much?

"I tried to tell you-"

The officer leaned close so close that his onion-breath was all up in my face. I resisted the urge to punch him. I had already tried to do that once and got handcuffed to the table where I had been sitting for the past three days. They only let me go for bathroom breaks. They brought me food but I had refused it. Mostly just to be rebellious, I was sort of regretting that now.

"Don't. You must know what you did was illegal. Tell me everything right now and I may be able to keep you out of Azkaban."

My face paled. Azkaban? I knew what Scone wanted to do wasn't right, or good, but illegal? I had said that once but I was joking! I hadn't known it was actually against the real law.

"Ah, I see that's caught your attention."

"I…" I tried to work around the charm but it wouldn't let me talk. I was rendered silent by it. I tried to mention anything that would get Scone in trouble. I sighed. "I really can't tell you."

"Deal's off. We're contacting your parents and we'll ship you off to Azkaban in the morning. For now you can stay in the Ministry cells."

I should have been scared. I should have begged for forgiveness but all I said was, "Oh, now you contact my parents."

The officer slammed the door shut. Then I heard voices outside the door. One was a voice I would recognize anywhere, a voice I was relieved to here. Alice's. The other was my father. Around two seconds after I made this realization they both stormed into my little prison.

"Alice!" I shouted trying to stand but I ended up getting pulled down by the handcuffs. She came to give me a hug instead.

"You are such an imbecile!" Alice scolded. "I know why you did it," she said more quietly. "And I forbid you from doing it again, understand? Ugh, you could've gone to Azkaban!"

I was sort of used to getting what I wanted as a Potter and realizing I had almost just been sent to Azkaban, regardless of my last name, scared me. The Potter name meant nothing? Was black white? Was wrong right? Was down up and up down?

"Are you even listening to me?" demanded Alice.

"Yes," I sighed. "I hear you loud and clear, Ally. I'll listen this time I swear."

"Mmhmm," she mumbled.

"I'm serious. These three days have made me a better person. I shall never do wrong again."

"Oh, stop being an idiot."

I grinned. My father walked over to me and the smile slid off my face. It's not that I didn't love my father. Deep down I did. But he had become some sort of sociopathic monster. That was not my father. I wasn't sure what Code had done but there was no way that thing was still Harry Potter.

"James."

He only needed to say one word. Just one word and I could tell his voice sounded less robotic. More emotional. It sounded like him.

For the first time in two years I let emotion that wasn't anger creep into my voice while speaking to him. "Dad?"

Harry nodded. "It's me, James. It's me."

I hugged my dad. I hadn't realized how much I missed him. How much I needed him. I figured it was best to get all these feely emotions out while it was just Alice here to witness them. Dad or no Dad I was still a bad boy who had to maintain my rep.

"What happened to you?" I whispered.

"I owe you all an explanation but not now. When we get home."

And so with Alice and Dad, I left the Ministry.

"I know you're all probably really confused right now," Harry said. "I just want to say I'm sorry that I caused that."

The entire Potter Weasley family sat in the sitting room. The parents occupied most of the couches. All my Aunts and Uncles looked tense and worried. All except for Uncle George who looked like he was trying hard to care, but couldn't. The kids were lined up with their back against the wall or couches. Fred sat with Roxy, an arm around his sister. Next to them was Lucy and Frank, whom I was ninety percent sure were dating. Teddy was sitting on the arm of the couch next to Victorie. He had a troubled look on his face as if this was only one of his many worries. Molly and Dom were by the fireplace, seemingly completely calm, which I knew meant they were just trying to be strong. They were terrified on the inside just like the rest of us. Lily and Hugo sat next to each other, close together drawing strength from each other.

Then there was Albus. Rose and Louis sat near him but there was quite a bit of distance between them. Al looked forlorn and disappointed. He looked troubled and worried and all the things that a fourteen year old shouldn't look. I made a mental note to talk to him later.

Dad stood at the front of the room, standing. It was like he was giving a speech, which I suppose was true. He was giving us all an explanation that we so desperately needed.

Dad took a deep breath. "Two years ago during the summer Ginny and I went on a business trip in Australia. The details are a bit fuzzy but what happened is Ginny and I were drugged. Nothing magic related at all. It was a drug called Scopolamine. It's used to strip people of their free will. Basically a muggle version of the Imperius Curse."

He paused for a minute to let that sink in. I was shocked. How could Harry Potter, the man who survived the killing curse, the man who killed Voldemort twice, be effected by a simple muggle drug?

"I wish I could say I tried to fight back, but I didn't because I couldn't. It's different than the Imperius Curse in that way. It wasn't like I was awake, not until the drug started to wear off a little. But even then I'd just be dosed again before I could fully recover."

"Then how do we know it's really you, Harry?" asked Uncle Percy, a hint of suspicion in his voice.

"I'm getting to that. After I… I hurt Angelina- which I am so sorry for by the way-"

"No hard feelings, Harry," she said. "That wasn't you."

"Right. Anyway after that Lily came and told me she believed Hugo was in danger. I knew that of course. I was the one who wrote the note saying him and James were staying at our house. I convinced everyone it was true. And after that there was a little part of me that knew what I was doing was wrong. I'm not sure how this drug works but maybe it was my love for Hugo that overcame it. Either way I came to my senses and after making sure Angelina was okay I went to save Hugo and the kids."

"Well, who did this to you?" asked Uncle Ron, horrified.

"Ryan Code."

Everybody in the room was silent for a second. Then I stood up. "I told you so!" I shouted triumphantly. "I freaking told you so! I'd like to say-"

Before I could finish my speech of victory Alice pulled me down and hissed at me to shut up.

"I think it's time for everyone under the age of seventeen to go upstairs," Aunt Hermione announced.

I saw Dom and Molly grinning in their little corner. They were seventeen as of a few months ago.

I stayed firmly seated. "Go on, James," said my father.

"I'm seventeen in a week!" I protested.

"Which means as of now you are still sixteen," Dom said. "Sorry, Jamie, you'll have to sit this one out."

I heard Harry whisper something to Alice, but all I caught was the word Invisibility Cloak. Great, did that mean I couldn't even eavesdrop using the Cloak?

Alice put a hand on my shoulder and led me up to the room I shared with Fred and Jackson.

She sat on Jackson's bed and I sat on mine. "What happened to Jackson, Jessica and Harold anyway?"

"Charlie and Jessica got a divorce. The kids live with her," I replied absently mindedly. I was thinking about my father and what I had just heard downstairs.

"Oh, that's too bad," she said sounding concerned, maybe even too concerned.

"Yeah, real tragedy."

"Would you like to talk, James?"

"I dunno," I muttered, tracing the stitching in my blanket, not making eye-contact.

She rose and joined me on my bed. "What's up?" she asked.

I didn't respond. I knew she knew what I wanted but apparently she wanted me to work for it.

"Well, what do you want to talk about?" Alice asked, a small smile playing on her lips.

I shrugged.

"So you don't want to talk?" her voice showed more amusement with every word.

I sighed. "You know what I want. I want you to ask me questions."

Alice knew that I hated feelings. She knew that I hated when they were my feelings even more. I didn't want to talk, I never did. But now I suppose I understood that sometimes it was unavoidable. Somehow it seemed more bearable if I wasn't just pouring my heart out, but instead Alice asked me questions about how I was doing.

She nodded. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," I mumbled, still not looking up.

"I'm not going to do this with you if you don't stop being a coward," Alice said bluntly.

I sighed again and made eye contact.

"Good. Now tell me are you okay?"

"Sort of. Better I guess now that I know my Dad doesn't just hate me. And that I have proof Code is evil."

"Don't be too confident about that, Jamie. Don't go announcing it. Most people are getting bored of calling you an attention seeking prat and there's no need to start that up again."

"Right. I'll keep that in mind."

"Okay, good. Now how do you feel towards Harry right now?"

"Angry, annoyed. Why couldn't he fight it? How could he do that to me? He made me feel like I didn't have parents."

Alice put a hand on each of my shoulders. "You cannot blame Harry for this. Feel annoyed, feel angry, but do not direct it at him. Channel your anger into something else. Change it from anger to determination. Then use that determination to win the Four House Tournament."

I nodded. "I can do that."

"Are you mad at anyone else right now?"

I had to think for a minute. "I'm a bit mad at all my Aunts and Uncles who didn't believe me. I guess I got to thank Uncle Ron. He stuck with me through the end. And Uncle George."

"That's everyone who you're mad at?"

I knew what she was hinting at. "Of course I'm mad at the guy who arrested me. And of course I'm mad at Scone. But I'm not going to do anything to either of them."

"What about Code?"

She'd got me. And I certainly wasn't about to lie to her. "I want to find Code and torture him the same way he's been torturing me all these years. I want him to suffer. He tried to hurt my family. That's where I draw the line. If I see him again, Alice, I won't hesitate. I'll use the killing curse."

"James, you can't. That would really send you to Azkaban. Even if you could somehow prove that Code came after you first killing someone is illegal."

"I don't care Alice!" I shouted. "I won't just kill him, and I don't care how illegal it is. I will torture him like nobody in the history of torture has ever been tortured!"

Alice hugged me and I tried to resist the urge to jump up and go find Code right this second. From what Al had said they'd just left them lying on the floor of the Malfoy Manor… he'd probably still be there…

"Jamie, nothing would be more torture to him then to be locked away in Azkaban while you live your life. That's how you'll torture him okay? Focus on that."

Although I didn't like it and it didn't sound hardly as satisfying as tearing him limb from limb, I nodded.

Alice tightened her grip around me. "You'll be okay James. I'll make sure you'll be okay."

It was an hour and a half before the parents called us back down. I had been so busy talking with Alice I completely forgot about listening to their conversation. I guessed they spent the time making sure my dad was really himself.

"Where's Mum?" asked Lily looking around at all the adults.

I looked around too and noticed Mum was indeed missing. "She's not sober yet," Aunt Hermione explained. "It won't take too long but for now, just to be safe…"

She didn't finish her sentence. I wondered what they had done to my mum. Had they locked her in a bedroom? Somehow if they had, I didn't think I minded. Not because she was still dangerous but because it's what she'd done to me the past two summers. Pay back.

While Aunt Hermione answered some questions the kids had, Dad put a hand on my arm. "Can I talk to you James?"

I resisted the urge to look at Alice and nodded. "Yeah, sure."

My Dad grabbed his coat and I did the same. I tried to ignore the butterflies in my stomach. I was James Potter, I didn't get nervous. But then why were my hands sweaty? Why did I feel the urge to run into my room and lock the door? It's not like I was scared of my Dad but… well I didn't know what I was feeling exactly. All I knew was that I had been waiting for this moment for a long time. For my Dad to admit he had been wrong. To hear that I had been right all this time and everyone else had been the fools, not me.

"James…" Dad began.

I smiled and waited. Dad didn't say anything for a minute. With each passing second the wide smile became more into a frown.

"I-"

I sighed and shook my head. "No, Dad. I don't need to hear it. It's not your fault Code drugged you. And it's not like I did anything to… I dunno, make it easier for you. I should've known there was something wrong."

"There was no way you could've known, James. Don't blame yourself. And for the record I'm proud of you."

I frowned. "Why? All I've done is fail. I didn't catch Code, I let him terrorize my family, and I just got arrested. How could you possibly be proud of me?"

Dad turned me to face him. He put his hands on his shoulders and looked me in the eye. "I've been away, locked in my own mind. Me and your mother. We left you and Albus and Lily all alone. You took care of your siblings while I wasn't there. You watched over them and protected them. And from what Al tells me you also managed to stop Stonewell from invading the school."

I shrugged. "Fred did that. His quick thinking is the only reason Lorcan is alive and I'm not a murderer. Did Al leave that part out? I was prepared to kill Lorcan to save Alice and right before I did Fred stabbed Stonewell."

Harry nodded slowly. You were protecting the ones you love James. I could never be mad at you for that."

I looked up at him. "Even if I killed?"

Harry looked down and bit his lip. "I'm not going to tell you killing is ever okay or necessary, but I would understand. There's certain situations where death is unavoidable and as I understand it your choice was to kill Lorcan or watch all three of you die."

"You'd be proud of me for killing?"

Harry shook his head again. "I'd be proud of you for not giving up. Sometimes the worst thing you could do is nothing, and sometimes it's nearly impossible not to give in just declare everything as over. You never did that James. Not once. Not with Code and not with Stonewell. And apparently not with Cassidy."

I sighed. "Al told you about that too?"

Harry smiled. "Don't change the topic. So what's the story?"

I shrugged. "Al and I liked the same girl. She picked him."

"You're not going to get every girl, you know."

"I know but, well, I really thought she was the one."

"Have I ever told you about Cho Chang?"

"No but Uncle Ron has. Said you acted like a complete dork around her," I grinned and made a stupid face, "'H-hi Ch-cho I-I was wondering if you wannagoonadatewithme?"

Dad laughed good-naturedly. "Yeah, I was pretty dorky around her. Point is I thought she was the one."

"What happened? She picked someone else?"

"Sort of. One day I'll tell you the full story but point is, for now, she wasn't. Your mom was. And she was there in front of me the whole time, and I didn't see her until much later."

"James, Harry!" called Alice from the back door. "Grandma Weasley says dinner's ready."

Harry and I walked towards the house.

"And neither did you," Dad whispered, but I was too hungry to think about what he meant.

After dinner I called a meeting. I needed to know what had happened when I was arrested.

Alice, Albus, Hugo, Lily, Frank, Lucy, and Jacob- who'd be spending the remainder of the holiday with us- sat in my room.

"So," I said. "Is someone going to tell me what the hell happened or not?"

Albus, with help from Lily, told the story of how they went to save Hugo. When they were done we all turned to Hugo.

"What happened while you were in your head?"

"I…" Hugo looked at all of us and took a deep breath. "I didn't know who I was. There were these black-eyed monsters chasing me and so I ran into this building. Lily was in there. We figured out that the only way for me to survive was to remember stuff. Then the monsters started to attack us and we ran. Lily told me about how "the Hugos" controlled everything in the world."

Jacob snorted.

"I'm not kidding!" Hugo insisted. "They were all me but each their own emotion. And so when we ran we bumped into Ambition- one of the Hugos. He killed Lily and I had to fight him. Then there were more of them. More of the Hugos. I fought them off too, I used a stick off a tree branch which I turned into a wand somehow. Once I killed all the Hugos-"

"Whoa," I said. "Slow down. You killed yourself?"

Hugo grinned sheepishly. "Well, I didn't really kill them so much as I sent them back where they belonged. I don't exactly understand but there's a part of the mind where all your emotions belong, and then there's a spot where your memories belong- where I was. Except Code had released the emotions lose where the memories were which messed a ton of things up. So when I "killed" them, I was really just sending them home."

"Are they all home now?" asked Lucy curiously.

"I think so. I'm not sure… I don't even know what's going on or how it works. My head hurts when I think about it."

"Don't think about it then," Lily told Hugo. "Just focus on the rest of the story for now."

"Right. Once all the Hugos were out of my way Code started chasing me. I ran for a while but he caught up. He used a spell that disconnected me from my body, and asked me where the wand was. He kept telling me that I was weak and powerless. And, uh, that's when I remembered it was my head. So I just charged back to my body and I kept thinking really hard that I wanted to leave, and then I was in the basement of the Malfoy manner."

"You have no idea what this wand is?" Alice asked.

Hugo shook his head. "Code mentioned something about how there was no chance disarming Lucius would keep him from getting the wand."

"But Lucius is in Azkaban," Jacob pointed out. "When did you disarm him?"

"I really don't remember," Hugo complained. "I wish I could."

"Well, don't worry about it, Hugh," Frank said. "We'll figure it out."

We all nodded in agreement. "We'll do this together," I declared. "We'll find every book we can about Legilimency and figure out how Code's doing this. Albus and I are getting trained in Occlumency by Flitwick. Once we learn, we'll teach you. We might even figure out some Legilimency of our own and invade Code's mind. But whatever happens we're one. Got it? We will not give up until we find answers. And we will find answers!"

Everyone nodded in agreement. "But the real question," Lily said, "Is do we tell the parents?"

We all looked at each other. Then everyone turned to me. Of course. It was my call. "We'll talk to them about it. At one point I have to ask Dad about that day at the each where I supposedly drowned Code's sister… yeah, we'll talk to them but there's no need to tell them exactly what we're doing."

Nobody questioned me. I couldn't help but feel a little nervous. What if my decision was the death of us? I'd already proven I had poor decision making, losing to Code all the time, messing up with Tantibus last year, managing to get myself arrested… who's to say I wouldn't mess up again? But this time, if I did, it wouldn't be just me going down, it'd be everyone.

"Everything will be fine, Jamie," Alice whispered to me.

I looked at her and shook my head. She nodded.

It was weird how we could have a whole conversation with just our eyes. Our conversation went something like this:

Fine, Ally, really?

Well you know what I mean.

But it's not going to be fine. It will never be fine.

You're right. It will never be fine. But it will work out.

Yeah. I guess it will work out.

Don't give up, Jamie.

I won't. Even if things don't work out I wanna go down fighting.

I know, Jamie, I know.

You'll be there with me right? Even if things don't work out?

Until the very end.

Suddenly Louis burst into the room. "Game of Quidditch out back!" he shouted and then ran back downstairs.

My cousins followed. Before he could leave I grabbed Hugo by the shoulder.

"Quidditch!" he argued.

I shook my head. "I want to know what you left out of that story."

Hugo sighed defeated. "How'd you know I left something out?"

I rolled my eyes. "Because I'm a freaking genius. Now spill."

Hugo stared at me for a long time. It seemed like he was wondering how far I'd take this. Like he was trying to think of a way out of it. Apparently the determination on my face was enough to give him his answer. Finally the young boy sighed. "Grandpa Weasley."

"You saw Grandpa Weasley?" I asked trying to keep the hope out of my voice and failing miserably. "Is he okay?"

Hugo shut his eye tight, trying not to cry. I put a hand on my cousin's shoulder. "I understand it's hard to talk about, Hugh. I know you miss him a lot. I do too. But we have to deal with it somehow. So talk to me. Or if you really don't want to, and you have some other way to deal with it, tell me to go and I will."

Hugo wiped away a tear that had escaped. "He's dead," Hugo said barely in a whisper.

I brought Hugo in for a tight hug. We didn't say anything for a long time. We just sat there. For a minute I wasn't James Potter, the attention seeking prat. I was just a kid trying to get through a tough time. I let the responsibility leave me. I let myself go and let Hugo's support comfort me just as much as mine was comforting him. Just for a second. And in that second a single tear escaped.

Then I was James Potter again. Not a kid, but an immature adult who never got the chance to be a kid. The one who had to be strong, a role model. The one with the weight of the world on his shoulders and no one to lighten the burden.

"He may be dead but his memory's always with us," I told Hugo, the slightest hint of a break in my voice evident. "He may be dead but he'll never be gone."

Hugo nodded. "He saved me. I saw him, when I was in my head. He gave me strength. If it weren't for him I never would've figured out how to escape. And Code would've won."

This time my voice was completely steady, no hint of the little kid inside me who still wanted to grieve, just the man who knew better. "See? He'll always be here saving our butts, just like old times."

Christmas came and went at the Burrow. I got a few nice things. Pranking equipment from my Uncle George, new Quidditch gear from Al and Lily, new robes from Uncle Percy and Aunt Audrey- gee, what would I do without them?- and a ton of other cool stuff.

It was on Christmas night that my Message Book started to flash. When I opened it and put in the password I saw a giant message from Brianna.

When I said message me soon I didn't mean a week! We have a project to do in case you've forgotten. If you do not respond to me immediately I will-

Relax, I wrote back before she could finish her threat. I'm here. Sorry I was a bit busy being arrested…

I wasn't actually that mad you, don't have to lie… but I have a feeling, you being you, you're not lying.

I'm not.

How about you flow over to my house tomorrow and you can tell me more about this arrest.

I was about to respond when Hugo burst in the room. He tried to close the door but Louis' body slammed it open. Hugo fell to the floor and Louis jumped on top of him. They began wrestling and yelling. Something about someone's Transfiguration notes.

I smiled and picked up my pencil- yes pencil, I really hate quills- I'll be there bright and early.

My plan was to get up early enough that I would catch Brianna totally off-guard. Maybe even wake her up with a nice bucket of cold water. Unfortunately when I arrived at eight O'clock she was awake and ready to start our project.

I couldn't help but stare as she led me up stairs to her bedroom. Her house was so calm. And peaceful. Much different from the Burrow where you couldn't take ten steps without bumping into someone. And there was no way it would be silent.

"Different from your house I guess?"

"Way different," I replied. "So you have any siblings?"

She smiled, a little. "No." She was silent for a second before continuing, "I have two cousins, though. They're staying here right now, for the holidays, but they won't bother us."

"Only two?"

She nodded.

"And they won't bother us?"

She frowned in thought for a minute. "Kyle might," she concluded. "He's five but he's really interested in magic. He'll probably ask to help us with our assignment." I nodded. She paused for a minute and then said, "Anyway enough about me, I hear you got arrested?"

I smiled a little. I was about to explain to her that I was physically incapable of telling the story when I realized I hadn't exactly tried to tell it yet,

"Well," I began slowly, "I was Nightlock Alley-"

No words came out of my mouth as I attempted to say 'receiving a package.'

"Yeah?" she prompted.

"I was at Nightlock Alley and a police man thought I looked suspicious. He took my-"

Again I was unable to say the word 'package.'

"Why do you keep stopping like that?"

"I can't say it," I replied.

"What?"

"I'm physically incapable of telling half my story."

She thought for a moment. "Can you write it down? Or act it out?"

"I'll try," I said and she handed me a pen and paper. I tried to write down 'package' but I couldn't. I shook my head. "Nope, can't write it."

"Do you see the word you're trying to say in this room somewhere?"

I looked around Brianna's room. Similar to her personality it was very mysterious. The walls were a darkish green colour which matched the bed-sheets yet the curtains were wide open. The desk was black but it had bright, odd symbols painted on it. And the walls had various pictures of people, some of whom I recognized from the muggle movies I watched. Others I assumed might have been family. And one wall was totally covered in writing.

Her room was very organized. The closet which was open had clothes hanging in it, a basketball on the floor, and a box. The desk had various small boxes on it and a neat stack of papers, and a framed picture of a young Brianna and a boy who looked sort of like her but a little older. The dresser, which was also black had a pile of clothes on top of it and a jewelry box. But there was no package.

"It's not here," I sighed. Then I turned to her wall. "I got to ask, what do those words mean?"

The words seemed to be categorized by color. There was words like Always and There's no need to call me sir, Professor in orange. Pudding and I learned that from the pizza man were written in red. I know what it's like to be afraid of your own mind was written in green.

She smiled. "Oh Jamie wouldn't you like to know."

I flinched a little and she noticed. "Right. That's Alice's name for you. I'll call you… Jay. Okay?"

"I don't really have a say in this, do I?"

Her grin widened. "Nope."

I continued to stare at her wall trying to figure out what the hell they meant when I realized something.

I went up to the wall and found the word Professor written in orange and pointed to it.

"Professor?" She questioned. I shook my head and jabbed my finger at the P. "P? Oh, you're trying to spell out the word."

I found the letter A and pointed to that. She nodded and wrote down P A. That went on until I spelt package.

"You were in Nightlock Alley getting a package?" she guessed.

"Yes!" I exclaimed. "And the police man arrested me."

"Because of the package?"

I nodded.

"Did he find out what was in the package?"

I nodded again.

"What was in the package?"

I shrugged, Scone's threat that bad things will happen if I talked looming over me.

"You don't know? You were receiving a package and you don't know what it was? Why? Because it wasn't your package? It was someone else's?"

I nodded, little reluctantly this time, scared we were treading close to dangerous territory.

Then I mentally slapped myself. I was scared of Scone? So what if I was treading on dangerous territory? Isn't that what I used to live for? Had losing Cassidy to Albus completely shattered my confidence?

Brianna looked at me for a second that made me feel like she was examining every inch of me, inside and out.

"Can I tell you something Jay?" she asked.

"What's that?"

"You need to become a better person."

I didn't get surprised easily, but now I was genuinely shocked. "Excuse me?"

She shook her head. "We have got to fix you, James. You're broken! And I will not tolerate a broken James Potter."

"I'm broken?" I reiterated, still not understanding what was going on.

"Yeah, and apparently really thick too. Listen, Jay, you're a lot different than you used to be. You're not the same James. But I'm going to help you fix that."

"How would you know what the old James was like?" I wondered seeing as we had been friends for about two months.

"Oh, James, haven't you learned? I know everything." She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear as she said it. She had a grin on her lips and she looked so casual but she spoke with such authority that I couldn't help but totally believe her.

"Okay," I responded.

"Good. Now let's get to work."

A/N: Hey guys! A day after I said. Not bad right? Yeah, I was a little busy yesterday but I made time today to edit the chapter and post :)

1: Next chapter will be updated on March 25th or 26th. If it isn't there will most likely be an explanation posted no later than 3 days later as to why I can't manage to update.

2: I just want you to know the drug Code gave Harry, Scopolamine, is real. Really rare but real. I learned about it on Criminal Minds. They mentioned it under a fake name and so I looked it up and found the real thing.

3: I'd like to thank Dalton Dragon and Sir Manayaz for reviewing. You guys are awesome! I love reviews :)

4: QotC: So Harry was telling James that it's all right to kill someone. Do you agree? Is it ever okay to kill a person? If so under what circumstances? Personally I think there's a lot of reasons, justifiable reasons, a person could kill someone. Like if anyone hurt my family, I would probably kill them. Not gonna lie I might go all Ryan Code on them. Hunt them down and make them pay. But only if they did it on purpose. Like a murder with no reason. Or if it was necessary to save someone I loved. Oh and while we're on this subject, is there anything you think is worth dying for?

What was in the package Scone asked James to get? Why did Scone want it? did the experience of almost getting arrested actually change James? Will Harry and Ginny be okay? What will happen now that the adults know about Code? Will James really torture Code if given the chance? How did Grandpa Weasley die? Why is Brianna so interested in James?

"Under the right circumstances, everyone is capable of murder," Sam Winchester, Supernatural, 2.5.

-Monkeywoman14