Chapter 6 – The Cloaked Stranger
As the weeks went on James got into the routine of life at Hogwarts. On his first weekend he had received a letter from home, which had made him very home sick. The minute he had finished reading it he had rushed up to the Owlery to find his owl Atticus and wrote a reply. However he was very economical with the truth. He didn't want to tell his parents he wasn't enjoying it there as he knew they would be disappointed. His dad especially had told him that being at Hogwarts would be some of the best years of his life. Right now the thought of spending seven years at the school filled James with dread. He had told his parents that he was settling in well, was making friends and was enjoying classes, which was partially true.
Now he had spent a few weeks at Hogwarts he was finding lessons easier. He had finally mastered the basics of Transfiguration and was now up to the standard of the majority of his classmates. In Flying once he had managed to get the hang of the practise brooms he was now flying proficiently like he did at home on his own broom and in Herbology he had managed to not nearly kill anyone else.
In Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor Payne was no longer unfairly punishing any student who wasn't in Slytherin, no doubt because Professor McGonagall had had words with him after Polly went and complained. However the points he had given out and taken away in the first week had remained meaning Gryffindor were still bottom of the House Cup.
James had managed not to annoy Polly in the past few weeks though they were still not on speaking terms. And Greta still hated his guts and took every possible opportunity to let him know so. In one Flying lesson she had tried to jinx his broom to throw him off however Madam Hooch had spotted her casting it and gave her a week's detention which only made Greta hate him even more.
It was now nearly the end of September and summer was truly over, the temperature had dropped and it seemed to be raining every day as James made his way to his first lesson of the day – Potions.
James was already at his desk with his things out when Noah came rushing in out of breath.
"I thought I was going to be late," Noah panted. "I had to go the long way round as Peeves was throwing dungbombs in the corridor again."
"Don't worry, Slughorn hasn't started yet," James replied just as the professor was getting up from his desk.
"Today we will be brewing a Remembering potion," a gleeful sounding Professor Slughorn announced to his class of first years. "As you'll remember, no pun intended," he said with a little chuckle to himself but no one else seemed to be laughing, "we made a Forgetfulness potion a few weeks ago so now we going to create it's direct opposite. This one is a little more complex and takes many months to fully brew and will require us to work on it for the next several weeks."
Potions was one class that James was still struggling with, though Professor Slughorn seemed to have not noticed or was so blindsided by James being the son of Harry Potter that he chose to ignore his failings and kept making excuses for him. But James was glad that Slughorn had them making this potion in pairs so he was working with Noah who was a lot better at Potions than he was.
"If you start by crushing the black salt and I'll chop the honey weed," Noah said, taking control of the ingredients preparation, which James was pleased of.
"Look how many stages there are to this!" James exclaimed as he read through the instructions in his textbook. "No wonder it's going to take us months. Though knowing Polly she'll probably finish it by the end of the day," he said sarcastically as he looked over to Polly who was working with Madeline Wells, another girl from Gryffindor.
Polly was by far the best student in Potions class in their year. In fact Polly was by far the best in most of their classes and she was quite happy for everyone to know this which annoyed James. Polly seemed to take delight in especially making James aware of how well she was doing compared to him.
"I'm surprised anyone wants to work with her," James fumed as he continued to watch Polly and Madeline work.
"What do you mean? Everyone wants to work with her because they know they'll get top marks. If she had asked me to be her partner I would have dropped you in a second," Noah retorted and James wasn't sure if his friend was joking or not.
James moved on to the preparation of the next lot of ingredients as Slughorn moved around the classroom.
"Excellent work there Potter," the professor said, completely ignoring Noah's contribution, but luckily Noah wasn't bothered as Slughorn moved on to the next set of students.
"Oh dear Cooper you seem to have melted your cauldron… again," Slughorn said as he viewed Seth and his partner's efforts.
"My parents are going to kill me," Seth said despondently after Professor Slughorn had moved on. "That was my third cauldron and I've broken two telescopes and my Herbology textbook was eaten by a plant. It's costing them a fortune."
After preparing what seemed like a hundred ingredients they placed them all in their cauldrons to stew and then had to leave them till their lesson next week for the next part of the potion. As the students were packing up Slughorn came over to James and Noah again.
"Good work today boys," Slughorn said as he inspected the contents of their cauldron. "Potter I just wanted to let you know we will be having our first supper meeting on Friday night at seven o'clock in my chambers. I look forward to seeing you there," he said and immediately turned and left before James had any opportunity to make an excuse and decline the invitation.
"What's this?" Noah asked and James started to go red, having not mentioned to anyone about the Slug Club because it was not actually something he wanted to be part of.
"Oh it's nothing, just some gathering Slughorn is having with a few of his students. I don't think I'm gonna go though."
"Why not? Just go and butter Slughorn up and we'll definitely get top marks for our potion," Noah joked.
James packed the last of his things away and turned to leave but was met by the furious face of Polly who was standing in front of him.
"How comes you've been invited to the Slug Club?" Polly asked, sounding seething. "You're one of the worst students in the class."
"You know about the Slug Club?" James replied feeling very awkward.
"Of course, my auntie was a member. It's for Slughorn's most bright and gifted students so I ask again, why have you been invited?"
"You'd have to ask Slughorn that one," James replied, not wanting to get into an argument.
"I don't think I need to ask the Professor that one, it's pretty obvious why you've been invited and it's the same reason why he always gives you better marks than your work deserves. It's because you're the son of the 'oh so amazing' Harry Potter," Polly fumed in a mocking tone. "Your father might have been a great wizard but you certainly aren't and it's not right that you get treated like royalty because of him."
Polly turned and stormed off in a huff. James had been planning to not attend Slughorn's supper. But now his mind had been changed. He was going to go and what's more he was going to gloat to Polly about it afterwards.
It was now Friday afternoon and James had to just get through one more lesson before Slughorn's supper tonight, which he was dreading. He knew Slughorn would make him the star guest and no doubt everyone in attendance would want to ask him about his father. To put him in an even worse mood his last lesson of the week was double Defence Against the Dark Arts with Professor Payne. And though Payne no longer unfairly deducted points from Gryffindor, it was still James' least favourite lesson. This was not just because Professor Payne managed to suck the joy out of any topic but so far in class they hadn't properly learnt how to defend themselves from anything. Professor Payne had taught them about lots of dark creatures and practices but not one spell to protect themselves. And today was no different.
"Inferius – a dead person or creature reanimated and controlled by a dark curse," Professor Payne said as he wrote the word 'Inferius' on the blackboard in his usually screeching style. "The dark curse is an extremely complex spell and only a handful of wizards have ever been known to have achieved it."
Professor Payne continued to teach them about the Inferi, about the rumoured uses of the spell throughout history and of Voldemort's use of them. It was the first time James had heard anyone at Hogwarts use Voldemort's name. He knew during his father's time at the school nobody said his name as it was supposedly cursed, but Voldemort was long dead and no one had anything to fear from saying his name anymore but it was still odd to hear. His father rarely spoke about Voldemort and out of respect for him his mother didn't either. His father had defeated Voldemort but James had to read about it in books.
"Former headmaster Professor Dumbledore and Harry Potter encountered the Inferi in a cave where Voldemort had hidden one of his Horcruxes," Professor Payne said as he informed the class and James, who's attention had been wanning, suddenly started listening intently at the mention of his father's name.
But it didn't seem that James was the only one who suddenly paid more attention when his father was mentioned. Suddenly James felt that the whole class was looking in his direction and he started to slide down in his chair, wishing he was invisible.
"What's a Horcrux?" a boy from Slytherin asked.
"A Horcrux is a way to achieve immortality by hiding part of your soul in an object or living thing. Unless your Horcrux is destroyed, you can never fully die," Professor Payne replied and James was glad the attention returned to the professor.
"How do you create one?" another boy from Slytherin asked.
"It's a very complex process that involves… murder," Payne said and was met with stunned silence from the class before he turned the lesson back on topic and continued with the subject of Inferi.
James began to think about his grandparents who had been murdered by Voldemort and could see why his father didn't like to talk about everything that had happened to him.
As the class ended James started to make his way back to the Gryffindor common room to get ready for his supper club.
"I wonder just how you make a Horcrux?" James overheard Greta saying to her friends Nancy and Edward. "It would be cool to live forever. I'll have to ask my father and find out."
James knew he was asking for trouble even before he spoke, but thinking about the fate of his grandparents, who he had never got to meet, he was filled with rage at Greta's nonchalant attitude. "You think it would be cool to murder someone do you?!" he fumed and Greta looked a little stunned.
"I'm sorry, we were having a private conversation Potter," Greta said sardonically and briefly turned to James before turning back to her friends and ignoring him.
"How would you like it if someone murdered a member of your family just so they could live forever?!" James said back in fury.
"Well it would be a terrible tragedy and a waste, but I mean if someone killed a muggle would anyone care?" she quipped, knowing full well her words would enrage James even more.
"James come on leave it," Noah said, seeing things were about to escalate and had to grab James before he lunged at Greta.
James looked around and could see everyone in the corridor staring at him waiting to see what he would do next. He had felt like ever since he arrived at Hogwarts people had been staring at him and he was getting sick of it. Sometimes he wished he didn't have the surname Potter.
Noah had taken James back to the Gryffindor common room where he had chance to calm down after venting to Noah about Greta. Though Noah hated Greta just as much as James did, he didn't think it was wise for James to start a fight with a girl. Especially one whose father was a teacher. James was sure to be expelled if he ever did strike out at her.
James had now showered and put on a smart shirt and tie and reluctantly made his way to Slughorn's chambers, deliberately being late and hoping he had missed most of the small talk that would have likely been happening as everyone initially gathered. He hoped he had timed it perfectly so he could just get straight on to eating dinner. He was starving.
When he arrived he was glad to see the room seemed full already but Slughorn insisted on introducing him.
"Everyone I am pleased to welcome the son of Harry Potter, James Potter to our club. Potter take a seat here," Slughorn said pointing to a chair and immediately sat in the empty chair next to it. "Come on sit down. Sommers get Potter a drink," Slughorn barked the order to one of the other guests who looked put out at having to play server at a party he had been invited to. "James is one of my brightest first year students," Slughorn continued with a beaming smile and James felt a fraud and immediately wished he hadn't come.
The next ten minutes had been the most excruciating of James' life. Slughorn had insisted that James tell everyone about himself though he hadn't been able to get a word in edgeways. Every time he had tried to speak, Slughorn had taken up the conversation and told everyone about James instead, or more accurately told everyone about James' father.
"You know I taught Harry Potter a lot of the magic he knows. I'm sure he talks about me a lot. He was very fond of me," Slughorn said and James couldn't recall one incident where his father had ever mentioned him.
James was grateful when dinner was served and what a dinner it was. He had thought the feasts provided in the Great Hall had been magnificent but this was something else. For starters it was soup, but the soup was a swirl of colours like a rainbow and tasted truly delicious. Every mouthful was a whole new flavour and every flavour was more tasty than the last. The main course was the most succulent roast beef James had ever tasted with buttered potatoes, roasted vegetables, a rich gravy and the biggest Yorkshire puddings he had ever seen. And then to finish it off there was a trio of desserts – triple chocolate pudding, maple and toffee tart and an 'any flavour' cheesecake, a cheesecake which had been enchanted to taste of the favourite flavour of whoever was eating it. After finishing his last mouthful of his desserts James was actually a little glad he had come tonight. The food had been amazing.
"So James, how has your first few weeks at Hogwarts been going? Are your teachers treating you well? I hear Professor Payne was living up to his name and being a bit unfair in his first week with the house points, not that I should complain with Slytherin sitting atop the table," Slughorn said with a sly smile.
"Er yes it's all been going fine," James replied annoyed that the conversation was back on him. "I actually had a lesson with Professor Payne this afternoon. He was teaching us about the Inferi."
"Oh the Inferi, they're ghastly creatures," Slughorn noted as he helped himself to another large spoonful of the triple chocolate pudding. "What else has he been teaching you?"
"Well he told us about Horcruxes today."
"He did?" Slughorn said as the colour drained from his face and he seemed to freeze as the spoonful of pudding that was intended for his bowl dropped onto the table with a big splat. "Well it's getting late. Maybe it's time to call it a night," he suggested as he immediately stood up and waited for everyone else to follow suit.
Everyone looked a little taken aback about the abrupt end to the evening but reluctantly began to get up from the table.
"Well thank you everyone for a wonderful evening. I look forward to the next one," Slughorn said rather hurriedly. "If you'll excuse me I must be getting to bed," he said before departing to his bedroom and left everyone to see themselves out.
"Do you think everything is OK?" one of the guests asked as everyone looked at each other a little bit confused.
"Come on let's all just go, it's been a long night," Henry Easton, the Gryffindor prefect said and James did not need to be told twice and quickly sneaked off, worried that someone might try and start up a conversation with him about his father as they made their way back to their common rooms.
James hadn't realised it but he had been at the supper club for hours and it was now nearly midnight and the corridors of the school were deserted.
As he walked along the torch lit hallways he had an odd feeling like he was being watched but at first he put it down to the portraits which were literally watching him as he went past. A few even commented as he walked by, usually along the lines of 'aren't you Harry Potter's son?', which made James quicken his pace. Suddenly he thought he heard footsteps behind him and turned expecting to see another of the supper club's guests following but there seemed to be no one there. He paused and listened intently but heard nothing and carried on, putting it down to his imagination.
As the corridor split off in two directions James had to momentarily pause to get his bearings. He was still getting use to the layout of the extremely large castle but walking around it at night only made him disoriented and he couldn't remember the way back to the Gryffindor common room. He debated waiting for Henry or one of the other Gryffindor's who were in attendance tonight to help him back when he heard footsteps again coming from behind him. He turned but as before no one was there.
"Hello?" James called out but was met with only silence. "Is someone there?"
Still nothing. James started to walk back down the corridor from the direction he came in, listening carefully and feeling apprehensive. Suddenly he heard the footsteps again only now they had quickened. Whoever they belonged to was running and running away from James. Instinctively James started to run too, following the sounds. As he rounded the corner he saw a cloaked figure disappear into the shadows at the end of the corridor and James raced after them. He could still hear the footsteps and kept pace as he turned down one corridor and then into another till eventually he met a dead end and the cloaked figure was nowhere to be seen. He turned around and looked to see if he had missed a door off the corridor which the person may have slipped into but the only doors that were there were locked.
As he furiously yanked at the last door to see if it would open a voice yelled out to him.
"What do you think you're doing?! Why are you out of bed at this time of night?!"
As the figure approached, their face lit by the lantern they carried, James could see it was the caretaker Filch, his face looking grotesque by the candle light.
"I should have guessed. Like father like son hey Mr Potter," Filch moaned as James saw Mrs Norris at Filch's feet.
"I was having dinner with Slughorn tonight and got lost on my way back."
"Likely story. Now let's get you back to your dorm and the headmistress can deal with you in the morning," Filch said and gave James a hard shove forward.
James knew that McGonagall would not give him any punishment for getting lost after attending Slughorn's supper club but he had a feeling of dread in his stomach. Just who was the cloaked figure who had been following him? And why?