One-Ear

(One-Shot)

Disclaimers: I don't own anything apart from some DVD's/books for this series.

AN: This is a short standard prompt for "The Houses Competition" set in 'Marauders' Era' time. As I am old (ish), my views of them may vary from the young ones, including the fact that I am TeamCharlus/Dorea, have Sirius/James as distant relations through Black blood, as well as TeamTrans (as an ally). I do not accept any new stuff by Rowling.

House: Gryffindor

Class: Prefect

Category: Standard

Prompt(s): [Trope] Frenemies / [First line] There's no such thing as happily ever after; just time, precious time to spend with your loved ones. / [Colour] Blue – Calm, Responsible, Sadness

Word count: 1,668 according to AO3 (3 pages)

Trigger warning: hunting/animal death mentioned (I am perfectly fine with legit hunters taking only what they need, this fic is in no way shaming good respectable hunters…just looking at the other side of things.)

Summary: In which Prongs tries to make friends with a wild stag.

There's no such thing as happily ever after; just time, precious time to spend with your loved ones.

That is what James was thinking about. He wished he had more precious time with someone now but their time was over. He sat in the grass, staring at the blue water of the small lake at the far end of the property. A few ducks flapped away but James didn't even blink as his gaze was unfocused. He had run around this lake many times as Prongs. Sometimes, another stag would be chasing him. But that would never happen again.

Sirius dropped onto the ground beside him. "How are you holding up?"

"Well, I didn't expect to see that," James said, his eyes rimmed with red. While he wasn't crying now, it was clear that he had been recently upset about something. He felt like he had just lost a beloved pet.

Sirius knew exactly what it was since James had sent an owl about it earlier. "I thought he didn't like you?" Sirius asked, holding up a bag with a light blue item showing over the edge, hoping to get James to respond to it.

"It was a love/hate relationship," James said with a shrug, not noticing the bag yet. His mind was on other things at the moment. "He sure hated me, anyway, but Prongs liked to follow him around. But—well, it doesn't matter now. He's gone."

"I told you it's hunting season for muggles," Sirius said, putting the bag between them in the hopes that James would snap out of it soon. "That's why you should never use Prongs during this season outside of Hogwarts or here at home."

"He just...dropped," James murmured, looking down at a spot on the ground before him. "Right in front of me."

"I know," Sirius said. "But hey, it's legal. It wasn't poaching. These things do happen, you know."

"Yeah," James said. He sighed, staring at the blue water, but seeing the past.

Several years ago, while still in school, he had illegally learned how to become an animagus. It had gifted him the stag for an animal. As Prongs, James often ran in the Forbidden Forest where he would encounter other animals, including more deer.

During his sixth year, Prongs had met One-Ear, an older stag—an actual stag, not a wizard—with only one ear, so that's what James had named him.

Right from the start, One-Ear hated Prongs, viewing him as competition to fight with over the does. He had lowered his head with horns much longer than Prongs. James barely had time to run away before One-Ear had come after him.

James had to switch back to himself when he managed to get behind a tree after running from the wild stag. One-Ear had come crashing through, his horns carrying a few broken branches before suddenly flinching when he saw the human boy standing there instead of the rival stag that he thought he had been chasing. James had often wondered how the stag lost an ear. Perhaps in a fight over the herd of does?

In his stag form, James began following One-Ear around. He would hang back to watch how the herd of deer behaved, often trying to mimic them. As Prongs, he would calmly fall well behind, letting One-Ear take the lead.

So long as Prongs didn't get too close to the does, it seemed to be fine for the most part. On several occasions, One-Ear would charge Prongs just to be sure that Prongs knew his place. Whenever that happened, the responsible thing for James to do was to fall back even more before changing to his human self. The rack of Prongs was no match for the one that One-Ear had.

The most valuable lesson James learned from One-Ear was how to clean horns. Soft, thick velvet grew on the horns every year. The itching nearly drove James insane even in his human form! He would watch how One-Ear would clean horns, spending hours on various trees to rub against them until the velvet was torn off.

James closed his eyes, shaking his itching head. He hated the irritation, but whatever the heck One-Ear was doing looked not only very gross but also extremely painful. Long bloody strips of velvet would pull off against the bark, leaving red oozing masses of gore everywhere.

James finally decided to try removing the velvet by rubbing his horns against a pine tree. It didn't hurt as much as it seemed at first glance. In fact, it felt heavenly getting that junk off. Several hours later, Prongs shook his head, showing off his nice shiny horns.

He was suddenly on his side all the way on the other side of the clearing. One-Ear snorted as he pranced about. He had taken the horn shake as a challenge.

"Sorry," James muttered the moment he had switched back.

At the sight of the human, One-Ear fled. Meanwhile, James had to limp back to the castle, holding his side where three perfectly round puncture marks had appeared under his ribs. James still had those scars. At the time, he hated them. His perfect, young teenage body was permanently marred because of One-Ear. Now? Well, the three marks were like a tribute to the wild stag; a mark in his memory.

Lifting his shirt a little, James slipped his hand up his side until he found the three indents. He felt them over with his fingertips as a strange sort of sadness swept over him. One-Ear may have hated James in a jealous rage as he protected his harem of does from Prongs, but he had been a big part of his life. The wild stag had taught him how to handle Prongs. These three scars were all that remained of the memory.

In a weird way, it was almost like losing a friend.

"I better get going," Sirius said as he stood up. "By the way, I thought over our idea of switching the secret around. I think it's a good plan."

"You do?"

"Yeah," Sirius nodded before he pointed downwards, directing James's attention to the bag. "I found it at Remus's house."

At long last, James finally glanced down. He pulled out the light blue baby blanket for Harry. "Lily's been looking for this," he said as he stood up, tucking the blanket under one arm. It was soft, like the velvet on One-Ear's horns. James felt a lump come up in his throat again.

After Sirius left, James went inside to get some tea. He poured a cup but left it sitting in front of him as he stared out the window. His thoughts drifted back to One-Ear.

The odd relationship had continued throughout the rest of James's school years. He had learned their patterns of migration during that time. By now, he knew where the herd went in winter.

Unfortunately, that trip took the herd well beyond the Forbidden Forest, to a place where muggles could be.

As Prongs, he was once more following the herd around at a distance, watching the wild deer interact with each other while, at the same time, maintaining a respectable distance from his 'frenemy' at all times.

It still didn't work. One-Ear had gotten wind of him. Prongs had gotten ready to run away, but then, that sound. That startling, horrid sound. When James had explained it, Sirius had called it the sound of a gunshot. Sirius knew quite a bit about muggle things. He knew exactly what that sound was. It had come from something muggles called a rifle.

James suddenly understood why he was feeling sad. It had all been his fault. One-Ear had been distracted by Prongs. One-Ear was a much larger stag—a fine prize. Prongs meant nothing to the hunter which was literally the only reason James was still alive.

One-Ear had fallen flat on his face right at the front hooves of Prongs.

But he never got up again.

Prongs had bolted before he became another target while One-Ear's family of does scattered in all directions, driving their fatherless fawns before them to get to safety as fast as possible. They would never run with One-Ear again. A single bullet had destroyed everyone's lives in an instant.

But it didn't change facts. One-Ear had died because Prongs had taken up all his attention.

James sat down, wiping away a tear as he thought about how the herd had ran in terror. He had never known that deer could scream until that had happened. One-Ear had screamed as he fell. The does had bleated in terror as they ran for cover with their young. Hunters weren't allowed to kill any does because they were raising up the meals of hunters everywhere for next year, but the stags were prime game.

Lily eventually found James sitting in the living room, tea abandoned on the table. She didn't know about One-Ear or that he had been hunted. James had no plans on telling her that he had come close to being killed today, by a muggle sport at that. It would only worry her.

"Is something wrong?" Lily asked as she re-warmed his tea.

"Just tired," James said with a shrug. "So, I spoke to Sirius about our idea of switching the Secret Keepers around without telling anyone when we decide to go into hiding."

"What did he say?"

"He thinks it's a good idea," said James. "He'll take care of everything."

Famous last words are rarely good. Yes, it was true that happily ever afters don't happen. All that is left is time to spend with loved ones.

But time, Death itself, was a predator with teeth. Time had nearly run out for the Potter family.

It had already run out for One-Ear's family as they were now scattered abroad.

Taken...

Claimed by other stags. Separated forever. One-Ear's family was destroyed.

The Potter family were about to meet a similar fate.