Chapter 25: I Witness the Pummeling of a Life Time

(James)

"Tell me or I'll hit you again!"

I had been taking a walk when I heard the shout from around the corner. I ran whipping out my wand, prepared to hex the owner of the voice. But when I rounded the corner I saw something odd.

Jace Corner sitting atop a boy in a Slytherin tie that was unrecognizable due to the amount of blood and bruises on his face.

"Jace?" I shouted uncertain, horrified and confused.

He completely ignored me. He punched the boy again. "Tell me!"

I dived for Jace and tackled him to the floor, off the boy. The Slytherin got up, gave Jace a terrified glance, and scrambled away.

"What the hell was that?"

Jace's eyes were wide with fury. He tried to push me off him, fists flailing, but despite his best efforts I kept him pinned to the ground.

"What the hell was that?" I repeated.

"Why would you do that?" Jace snapped. "I almost broke him!"

"Yeah, literally. If we didn't have magic you might've done permanent damage to his face."

"Yeah, well, the prat deserved it."

Jace finally succeeded in pushing me off him, but I kept a firm grip on his arm to keep him from walking away. At first he didn't look at me. He spent a good minute looking at the ground. Finally when he couldn't take my eyes on him any longer he said, "He started it all right? Would you just stop looking at me like that?"

"He started it? Compared to him you scratch on you, Jason, and your hands are stained with his blood."

It was true. Jace had a bloody nose and that was it. There might've been a bruise on his cheek as well but I wasn't sure. His hands were stained with blood and would probably be sore from the amount of hitting they'd done.

Jace's eyes narrowed. "You're pulling the full name card, really, James?"

"I could get you expelled for this, you better give me one good reason not to," I warned.

Jace sighed. "That was Paul Wright. Not only did he hex the crap out of Max- again- but he also had information on Joe."

"Paul Wright?" I repeated incredulous. I gazed at Jace, short, skinny and a midget even for his age. "How the hell did you overpower a fifth year?" He looked down and didn't answer me. I closed my eyes, hand over my face. "Tell me you did not attack him from behind."

Jace looked slightly ashamed. "I had to."

"No, you really didn't. Just because someone does something bad to you doesn't mean you can do something bad to them."

Jace's narrowed eyes returned. "I'm not a kindergartener, James. Don't talk to me like I'm five."

"Don't act like you're five and I won't have to."

Jace snorted. "Could a five-year-old beat up a fifteen year old?" he asked cockily. "I didn't think so."

"Don't disregard rules like a five-year old."

"You're not the boss of me!"

I raised my eyebrows. "Still acting like a five-year old? Well, then I'll give you a five-year old punishment."

"What are you going to do, tell a teacher and get me in detention?"

I shook my head. "No, if you're going to act like a child I'm going to treat you like one." With a flick of my wand Jace had a bonnet on, was wearing a bib and had a pacifier in his mouth.

Jace took out his wand and attempted to undo the spell. "Aw sorry, Jacie, that's complicated magic. Much too complicated for a baby. In fact you're too young to do magic at all." I plucked his wand out of his hand.

Jace glared at me and I just smirked back. "I warned you," I said. He attempted to punch me which I deflected easily.

"People are going to see me," he whined.

"I know," I replied grinning. "That's the point."

I held Jace's had as we walked through the corridors all the way from the dungeons to the Gryffindor Common Room. Jace was laughed at along the way and he glared at me the entire time. I found the whole ordeal amusing.

When I was younger Teddy would use this spell on me all the time. He'd say I was acting like a child and would treat me as such until I learned to behave. I had to admit as much as I'd hated it, it'd been very effective. I silently thanked my older brother for the idea.

When we arrived at the second year dorm, which was currently empty, I sat Jace down on his bed.

"Are you ready to behave?"

Jace crossed his arms against his chest and pouted.

"I don't want to have to give you a time out…"

"You wouldn't."

I grinned at him shutting the door and magically locking it.

I returned half an hour later. "I hoped you learned your lesson."

"I learned that you're a prat," Jace replied.

"You are quite right," I admitted. "But you're being more of one right now." I paused for a minute and looked Jace in the eye. "Now tell me why."

Jace ignored my question. "Could you please remove this?" He asked gesturing to the baby attire. "I tried, but it won't come off."

I nodded, magically removing the bib, bonnet and pacifier.

"Thanks," Jace muttered quietly looking at the floor again.

I took Jace's hands and led him to the bathroom. "Look at your reflection. Look at the bruise on your cheek. Look at the blood on your hands. Look at the dried blood from a nosebleed… Jace this isn't you. What's wrong?"

Jace looked at the mirror and then burst into tears. I held him until the sobs stopped. "I'm sorry," he mumbled into my shirt. "It just got out of hand. I didn't mean to hurt him… I didn't want to hurt him."

"I know you didn't, kiddo. But I'm only asking why you did it."

Jace sniffled. "He was bullying Max. Again. I hexed him from behind and told Max to run. He didn't at first, he stayed to help, but he realised I didn't need any and told me he'd get a teacher."

"Did he ever come back?"

"I don't think he found a teacher in time. And it's a good thing too. I petrified Paul from behind and took his wand. He was on the ground and I jumped on him and started punching. I told him to leave Max alone. He said he wasn't going to listen to a stupid second year. I told him shove a sock in it.

"I just… I kept punching him over and over again. I was so angry I couldn't stop. I wanted him to pay for what he did to Max. I wanted him to suffer."

"I get it. You're in pain and you wanted nothing more than to transfer it to someone who deserved it."

Jace nodded, looking ashamed. "And then… he started talking about how I'd be punished for this. He said that even though Lucius wasn't here anymore that his cause wasn't totally gone. That there was one other person who'd make me and Max and all the other dirty scum pay."

I frowned. "You think he was talking about Mr. Joe?"

"It's the only thing that makes sense, right? Lucius and Mr. Joe were partners." Jace looked down nervously. "That's not really what got me the angriest though."

"No?" I replied, a little shocked. That alone would've been enough to get me angry. "What else?"

Jace looked nervous. "I have a theory," he mumbled.

"Yeah? And what's that?"

"Well… the Carrows, Amycus and Alecto, were the ones who made Hogwarts into a living hell during the war. Your mom and my dad were in their sixth year when it happened."

He stopped and so I gave him some encouragement, "Continue."

"And… and they were sent to Azkaban after the Battle of Hogwarts. Last year, right before school started, it was reported the Amycus died. Except they never found the body."

Understanding where this was going I nodded vigorously. "Keep going."

"And Alecto is a Metamorphagus. They found out that's how he escaped Azkaban. He never actually died. It was his cell mate. He morphed into his cell mate, beat him up so he was unrecognizable and said that it was Amycus Carrow. Then when the guards came to collect the body he outsmarted them, posed as one of them and left."

I was so excited I grabbed Jace and gripped him in a death hug. It wasn't until he tapped out like a wrestler that I realised I was literally crushing him. "You are a genius! How did you figure this out?"

He grinned cockily. "You said it yourself, I'm a genius." We both laughed and then he added, "Max and Dylan helped a lot too."

"Well, you guys did a great job," I said ruffling Jace's hair.

"There's something else too. Amycus Carrow has a daughter. She'd be Teddy's age now. Her name's Megan Carrow and she's a Metamorphagus."

I nodded urging Jace to continue.

"I think… I think its Melissa Young. She came to Hogwarts last year and we couldn't find any proof as to why she did, but Megan disappeared at the same time Melissa appeared."

"Who helped you with that theory?" I asked, impressed.

"Lorcan and Lysander. And Dylan."

"As proud of you as I am, that doesn't totally answer my question though, what about that discovery made you angry enough to beat up Paul?"

Jace's fists clenched at the memory. "The Wrights and the Carrows are related. Amycus would be the Wright brothers' uncle. And when he was talking, no bragging, about how Mr. Joe- I mean Amycus Carrow-" he spat the name like the very words made him sick "-would torture all the muggle borns… I just couldn't help myself. I just thought of all the muggles and muggle-borns and wizards and good people who were lost in the war and I couldn't handle it."

Tears formed in Jace's eyes. I put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "It's okay Jace. It's over. It's over now."

He looked at me hazel eyes watery and said in a voice so quiet I could barely hear him, "It was over. But now it's starting all over again."

I kept my hand on his shoulder because it's all I could do. I tried not to think about Trelawney's Prophecy and how that could be me doing the torturing this time.

Thinking that Jace might not be okay on his own, I brought him to the Ravenclaw Common Room to his brother. Perhaps he could help in ways I couldn't.

We stood in front of the Door.

"What is the meaning of life?" it asked.

"What kind of question is that?" I demanded. "That's not a riddle!"

"Kindness?" Jace tried.

The door didn't grant us access. After about five minutes of trying to answer I pulled Jace away. "Forget it I've got my own way in."

So far I'd found one secret passage into each of the Common Rooms. Getting into Slytherin's involved taking a jump in the lake. Gryffindor's was climbing to the top of the tower and touching a certain roof tile. Hufflepuff's was crawling into one of the cupboards in the kitchen. And Ravenclaws was… well, I didn't like to talk about Ravenclaw's. But apparently we needed it now.

"Uh… James? This is the girl's lavatory."

"Yeah, I know," I grumbled. "Go in there and see if there's any girls."

"Are you crazy?" Jace questioned. "I can't go in there!"

"You're a kid, they'll think you just got confused. I'm seventeen they'll think I'm a pervert."

Jace mumbled about how I was insane, but went into the washroom nonetheless. He came out seconds later. "All clear."

I walked into the washroom and went to the second stall. Taking a deep breathe I stepped into the toilet. "Uh, James? That's a toilet."

"Yes, I know it's a toilet," I snapped. You have to step in here and flush it."

"You're not going to fit," Jace said.

"It's magic, of course I'll fit." And then I disappeared down the drain and appeared in seventh year girl's dorm toilet. I stepped out completely dry and Jace followed me.

"The awkward part in when someone's in the bathroom. Or the shower," I said. "We got lucky."

"What happens if-" Jace began. "You know what, I don't think I want to know."

"You really don't."

I closed the toilet seat and cracked open the window.

"Uh, James-"

"Would you stop that?" I hissed, trying to stay quiet so no seventh year girls would come in. "Yes, I know this is a window with a giant drop."

I used to be big enough to fit through here, the last time I used it in fourth year, but apparently I grew. I had to charm the window bigger in order to fit. "C'mon," I told Jace when I was standing on the thin ledge outside.

"Am I going to die?"

"Are you a Gryffindor or a Ravenclaw with all these questions?"

Jace looked very offended and climbed out the window easily "A Gryffindor. I'm not my brother," he said as if being a Ravenclaw were an insult.

"Each house is just as good as the rest." I wrinkled my nose. "Except Slytherin. Most of them are pricks."

"Are you James Potter, head Marauder, or a professor? Cause right now you're sounding like a professor."

I scowled. "Would a Professor lead you onto the top of a tower on a thin ledge with a drop that would most likely kill you?"

"Probably not," he replied.

"Call me a Professor and I'll dangle you off the ledge."

That shut Jace right up. We crept along the ledge until we reached the second year boy's dorm. We entered through the bathroom window again.

Dylan and another Ravenclaw who was there, looked pretty shocked when two Gryffindors emerged from their bathroom.

"Jason? James? What are you doing here?" Dylan asked.

I looked at Jace. He looked back at me with begging eyes. "I'm sorry, Jace, we had a deal. I won't tell any teachers, but your brother should know."

Dylan raised his eyebrows. He turned to his friend. "Uh, Grant, do you mind giving us a minute?"

"No, problem," said Grant exiting the room.

As the door closed Dylan turned to us. "What's going on?"

Jace stayed silent waiting for me to explain. "Jace," I said, "Take some responsibility and tell him yourself."

He nodded and looked at Dylan. "I sort of beat Paul Wright into a bloody pulp."

"You beat up a fifth year?!" Dylan exclaimed.

"Yeah, pretty badly. Like so badly if we didn't have magic I would've permanently damaged his face," Jace said echoing my words.

"I'm going to leave you two alone," I said slowly inching towards the door. "Jace, I hope you've learned your lesson. Dylan, don't be too hard on your brother. Not that it totally justifies what he did, but he had his reasons."

I left the boys dorm and headed to the girls' to do what I really came to do.

I barged into the fifth year dorm without knocking. Luckily no one was changing or anything but there were three very annoyed looking girl there.

"What are you doing, James?" asked Cassy.

"Get out," I said simply. "Except you," I added pointing at Melissa Young.

"What?" came three very annoyed voices.

"Seriously, Cassy, friend of Cassy, get out before things get ugly." I glared at Melissa.

Realization dawned on Cassy's face. "James…" she began.

"Cassidy, get out," I repeated more sternly this time.

Cassidy grabbed her friend's arm and left the room. Melissa turned to me. "What the hell-"

"Incarcerous!" I shouted. Ropes shot out and bound Melissa. "Tell me your real name."

"Melissa Young!"

I smiled. "Next time you're going to make a fake identity you shouldn't keep the first letter of your first name the same."

"What are you talking about?"

"Affligo!" I shouted.

I could see the pain evident on Melissa's face. I'd struck her with a spell that made you feel as if you'd been punched. If she wasn't bound by ropes she would've been doubled over gasping for breath.

"Answer the questions and no one gets hurt," I lied. Answers or not she was going to feel pain tonight. Physical pain that would make up for all the stress and anxiety she'd caused me and my family.

"I am answering the questions," she moaned. If I wasn't totally onto her, I might've felt sorry.

"Answer with the truth!"

"I am!"

I sighed impatiently. "Affligo!" I shouted again.

Again she doubled over when the invisible fist punched her. "What is your real name?" I asked calmly.

"Melissa Young!" she shouted back.

"It's not!" I yelled, losing my tempter. "You're Megan Carrow, the daughter of Amycus. I know you are. She's a Metamorphagus. And so are you. There's no other explanation."

"You're crazy," she said shaking her head. "I'm Melissa Young!"

"You're Megan Carrow!"

"No, I'm not." This time however she had a small smile on her face. I hated it.

I punched her, with my fist this time. She'd have a good black eye soon. To my surprise she started to tear up. As her big brown eyes grew watery I tried to resist. She wasn't innocent. She wasn't. At all.

"Why would you do that?" she croaked. I could hear the tears in her voice. "Please untie the ropes."

For second, just for a second, I doubted myself. I had no proof. Besides the word of Cassidy and a theory from some preteens, I had absolutely no reason to believe she was lying. What if Melissa Young was a real, innocent person, whom I was beating up? Perhaps Cassidy was right and she was a Metamorphagus but that didn't mean she was the same one we were looking for…

I shook my head and unbound the ropes on Melissa. "I'm sorry, I just thought-"

Before I could finish my sentence Melissa had me in a headlock, wand against my throat. "James, James, James," she said in a sickening playful voice, "Don't you know to never underestimate your opponent?"

"I was right," I growled. "I knew it."

Melissa sounded amused. "Clearly you knew nothing considering the situation you're in know."

"Well, you forgot one tiny detail," I said, smiling triumphantly. I kicked Melissa in the knee and grabbed her wand while she gasped in pain. She had grabbed my wand while I was in the headlock so now we each had the other's wand. "The Great James Potter doesn't succumb to defeat easily."

We stood facing each other on opposite ends of the room. We held our wands out in front of us, but neither of us were making any moves quite yet.

"Why are you doing this?" I questioned angrily. "Why get mixed up in this mess? What's your motive?"

Melissa frowned for a second. "I thought you of all people would understand that James."

"Enlighten me."

"Because my father told me to," she said simply. I frowned trying to understand how that related to me. "Blind obedience to your family? Ring a bell?"

"I'm not blindly obedient!" I snapped.

She shrugged. "You'd jump off a bridge if your Dad asked, just to please him. Oh- I mean if he was alive." She gave this totally fake apologetic smile.

I couldn't help it, I covered the ground between us in one leap and punched her. She tried to grab her wand from my hand, but I danced out of her reach. "I wouldn't let my father- or anyone- control me."

Melissa wiped the blood from her nose, smiling. "It doesn't matter. I didn't mean you had a blind obedience- just that you expected everyone else to."

She really knew how to push my buttons. "What are you talking about?!"

"Alice, for example. She just follows you like a blind puppy because you tell her too. Same with your brother- he's always been so desperate for your approval, he'd die for you. You've tried with your cousin Fred, but he isn't as easily blinded as the rest of your family. He has a mind of his own and you fight about it a lot."

"Stop talking like you know me!"

"See, but I do, James. I do know you. And your family. You see that was sort of my assignment. Learn what I could about you, drive you insane, but most of all keep you busy and distracted."

"How do you think Code's been managing to exploit your weaknesses even when he's not hear to study you? That's been my job." She grinned. And then suddenly she wasn't Melissa- or Megan, I mean- she was Alice. And then she was Lily. And Albus. And Jacob. She changed back. "The ability to chance into the people you trust most helps when gathering information."

Then it all made sense. All the little things Code shouldn't have known. Details about my home life. How I spent so much time with Hugo and Grandpa Weasley. When he broke into my mind and tried to confuse Hugo and me into staying there he'd used memories of us with Grandpa Weasley. I hadn't known why until now.

Or how he knew with absolute certainty that if he kidnapped Jacob's sister, Jacob would come to Preston Castle and Lily would accompany him? It must've been Melissa giving him this information the entire time! She posed as my friends and asked me questions. She probably posed as me before as well. She gathered tons of information and fed it all to Code.

"You said your family made you do this?"

She nodded. "My father. And we're not working for Code like you think. He's working for Filch."

My eyes narrowed. "Why are you telling me all this?"

She shrugged. "You're not going to live to get the chance to tell anyone."

"Incarcerous!" I shouted.

Melissa changed and was Lily. Lily was much shorter than Melissa and therefore the spell missed. I'm not sure how strong it would've been if it had hit her, anyway, seeing as this wasn't my wand.

"You know, James, I don't understand why you hate me so much," said Melissa. It was eerie listening to that girl's voice come out of my sister's body.

"I hate you because you're ruining my family's lives! You're evil!"

"You think I'm evil, James?" asked Melissa, using my sister's adorable face to give me a puppy dog pout. "I haven't tried to attack you once, despite what you've done to me. Don't you think an evil person would've done that?" Tears formed in her eyes as he shook her head. "I'm not evil. I'm just following instructions. I'm just trying to do what I told was right."

If she hadn't taken the form of my sister, maybe I would've been able to be stronger. But she had. And I couldn't stand there and watch Lily cry. So I approached her. "I'm sorry, Lily," I said. "I mean, uh, Megan. I-"

My wand was taken and my arm wrenched behind my back within seconds. Why did I fall for that again? How could I be so stupid?

"I've always liked you better than your brother. You've got backbone. You've got guts. He's just a carbon copy of your father. Always trying to please someone whether it's you, your father, his professors or Cassidy. That's why I tried to make it look like we had an affair. So Cassidy would break up with him and get together with you. Their relationship is sickening, James."

"I never asked you to do that. I never wanted that."

"Incarcerous," she said. Now I was the one bound in ropes. "You didn't ask me."

She closed her and changed her appearance. She was now me. "I know it makes me a bad person, but I just wish they would break up. I can't stand watching Albus with her, Ally. I just can't."

She changed back to herself. "Ring a bell?"

"I told Ally that…" I muttered. "For once she seemed really understanding about my love for Cassidy… that was you?"

"Yes, it was me, James. I've always liked you. And that was one thing I could do to help you." The amount of sincerity in her eyes and expression was off-putting. She wasn't lying and that was slightly scary. "I wish I could do more. But my loyalty is with my family. It has to be."

"No, it doesn't, Melissa. You can change," I urged. I ran a hand through my hair. "Look, I wasn't going to tell you this but you've been figured out. My friends and I have discovered that Mr. Joe is your Dad, Amycus Carrow. Don't follow him, he's only going to get caught."

Melissa smiled sadly. "Oh, James. You're so naive. You think your eleven year old friends discovered who my Dad is? He left them clues. This is part of his plan. He told my idiotic cousin his plans with the intent of him bragging to Jason. He's been waiting for this."

"He… I… this was planned?" I mumbled. No, it couldn't be. She must've been lying. But it made so much sense. Why had Mr. Joe just suddenly let his guard down? He had planned this. He wanted this to happen. "So me coming to find you, that was also part of the plan."

Melissa shrugged. "He figured you'd come after me. I was expecting it. But if you didn't I had instructions to come after you. In fact I would've been on my way to find you very soon. You showed up just in time."

"Just in time for what?" I asked warily.

"The last task starts in five minutes," she reminded me. "You need to go."

"That's it?" I repeated incredulous. "You were going to come find me and kidnap me to remind me about the Four House Tournament?"

She shook her head. "You're going to lose that competition."

"No…" I said slowly. "I'm not."

"Yes," she said firmly. "You are. You're going to stay out of everyone's way. And I'm going to pose as you and send up red sparks declaring my defeat."

"And what's the point of that?"

"So they think you're out."

"What's the point of that?" I asked again.

"Don't ask questions."

I nodded, shutting my mouth.

"You understand the instructions?"

"I understand. What if I don't follow them?"

She glared at me. "Oh, trust me you will."

For some reason, I nodded again. "Yeah, I will."

A/N: Hey guys! Hope you enjoyed that chapter.

1: The next update will be August 3rd-7th.

2: What'd you think of Mr. Joe being Amycus Carrow? Or Melissa Young being his daughter?

3: QotC: Favorite quote? One of mine is "Don't frown someone could be falling in love with you smile," Lydia Martin Teen Wolf.

4: I'm going to camp on the 9th. My goal is to finish updating the book by then. Then there might be a short hiatus before the next book. Not long, possibly a month, no more than that. I'll give more details later.

5: Predictions, questions, comments... review! And or PM me :)

Are all Jace's theories right? Did James make the right decision approaching Melissa? Is she telling the truth that she's only following her family's orders? Why did James listen to Melissa? Why is it so important that everyone thinks James is out of the competition? What's going to happen in the maze? Is Hugo okay?

"He who hurts a sinner, gazes upon that sinner and sees himself," Anonymous.

-Monkeywoman14