Chapter Five- James Returns
Hogwarts, Great Hall- March 18, 1986
Severus was ready to kill. Spring break was over and the students were all back, and he had not managed to get off the school grounds since returning.
The so-called emergency had been that one of Minerva's lions had wandered into the first on a bet. The foolish boy had been found and returned within an hour of his return. Albus had even excused the boy from any punishment claiming that the trauma of getting lost in the forest was punishment enough.
After that it was pointless task after pointless task. The only contact he had been able to have with the outside world was the nightly mirror calls with Remus. Remus would even turn the mirror so that it faced Hadrian so that Severus could get a look at his son.
Thankfully the wolf was good at research and was quickly able to make sense of all the information from the trunk. Two days after Severus had been forced to leave he had discovered where James was being held. Remus was now doing nightly surveillance on the small cottage.
Their plan was for Severus to take the weekend off under the guise of ingredient gathering, Remus had already used his Ravenclaw vault key to order the ingredients for him. They would then go to the cottage to retrieve his James.
Hadrian's plan had been to use one of the goblins' prisoners, under glamorous, to replace James to make sure not to arouse Dumbledore's suspicions. He had recommended Ignatius Lestrange. He had been caught attempting to steal from the goblins and been sentenced to the mines. Only a few years after he had been sent down he had come across some sort of rare creature, if the goblins had ever identified what it was they weren't saying, and he had suffered severe trauma and was completely brain dead. The goblins used a slavery collar to keep his still living body working.
If they used him and Albus ever found himself in need of a conscious James he wouldn't be able to wake him. The goblins had glamorous so strong that not even Albus would be able to remove them.
The use of one of their prisoners was costing them a fair amount, but to get James back safely Severus would pay almost anything.
Now all he needed to do was get away.
He had to admit that he had a better chance with Remus's plan. Whenever he had met Albus in his office he was almost always denied. If he confronted him in front of the rest of the staff he might have a better chance. He knew he couldn't count on Minerva but in order to get her potions Poppy might help him. Filius, Pomona, Septima Vector, Bathsheda Babbling, and Aurora Sinistra might also support him
That was what led him to him sitting at the breakfast table getting Aurora's attention.
"Aurora, would you be willing to help me this weekend?"
"Certainly Severus. What is it you need me to do?"
Severus could already see Albus getting worried and smiled internally. Normally Severus hated asking anyone for anything.
"I was hoping you would be willing to watch over my snakes this weekend."
"Now Severus, my boy." Albus interjected, with that damnable twinkle in his eyes. "We only just got back from break. Surely you wouldn't want to shrink your responsibility. I know that you are a bit young for so much responsibility but I have faith in you."
"Nothing of the sort, headmaster." Severus almost snarled at the blatant attempted manipulation. "And to remind you headmaster, I didn't get a break. You and Minerva demanded my return because Minerva lost one of her little lions in the Forbidden Forest and was incapable of looking after him herself.
Severus wanted to smirk so badly at the glare he was now receiving from Minerva, but he resisted the urge before he continued.
"As it was, I had only just gotten home and had no time at all to get any of the ingredients that we needed. So I will tell you again,as I did when you tried to make me stay before the holidays began, I either have to go and collect the ingredients or the school will have to pay for them. I was going to do the gathering on my own time, and I will remind you that I am not even compensated for that time and the work that goes into it. As it is given our current potions stock the hospital wing will run out of headache cures and pain relievers by the end of the month. I am also going to have to do the brewing late at night and on weekends if you want me to teach my classes and get the hospital wing restocked. I am the only member of staff that is licensed to brew medical potions after all."
"Now surely you are exaggerating Severus." Albus said, the twinkle no longer in his eye.
"I hate to inform you headmaster, but he is quite right." Poppy put in. "and as we are coming up on exams in a few months i will also need a stockpile of calming draughts for our fifth and seventh years."
"Really Albus." Filius interjected, shooting a small smile to Severus. "Severus had a point. It was not his job to go and retrieve Mr. Giles. There is also the fact that you then put him to work around here. You had no right to deny him his vacation time. I don't remember either you or Minerva giving up your vacation time to help him with his snakes. Besides, as Poppy has said, we need those potions. Either you give him the time to get the ingredients and do the brewing or the school will have to pay for them. Severus, if you ever need someone to take your rounds or detentions so that you can do the gathering or brewing, let me know. I personally don't think you should have to do so much extra work for no pay on your own."
There was a small course of "I'll help too." that came from other members of the staff. Severus was actually surprised at how many of them there were. Both Albus and Minerva returned to eating, both looking like they had smelt something particularly nasty. Filius gave him a small wink before he, too, returned to his food.
Godric's Hollow- March 23, 1986
The rest of that week had been one of the worst and best weeks Severus had had teaching. The students were the same fools they always were, but he was finding them a lot easier to deal with now that he had gotten the compulsions removed. He was still a strict teacher but was finding the student responded better now he wasn't being forced to yell at them. It was the teachers that had made this week worthwhile.
Both Albus and Minerva had gone out of their way to track him down and try to convince him to stay. It seemed that most of the rest of the staff had come together to protect him. Every time one of them cornered him one of the other teachers would intervene.
How he was hiding in the brush around the cottage in Godric's Hollow that held the man he loved, from where they were he could see that bitch Lily moving around inside. Oh, she was under a pretty good glamours making her look like a beautiful blue eyed blond, but he knew it was her.
From what Remus had told him she went out to wander around town almost every afternoon. Remus said that she would make sure to draw attention to herself. The glamours was clearly designed to make her desirable. Lily had always craved attention, and she clearly wasn't getting it from the comatose gay man she kept in her basement.
Once they saw her get in her fancy car and leave they moved in. It was actually incredibly simple to get past the wards. They clearly didn't think anyone would be looking for a supposedly dead couple less than 20 minutes from the house they were supposedly murdered in.
Remus stayed upstairs to search through the rooms. They were hoping that he would be able to find some information that Hadrian might have missed in the future.
Severus went down into the basement. Going to the room both Hadrian and Remus had identified as James's, he raised a shaking hand to the door knob. He was scared that James wouldn't be there and that this had all been one big his courage, Severus opened the door.
And there he was. His James. Perfect and beautiful as ever. He looked like he was just taking a nap.
Severus walked over to the cot they had him on. Gently he trailed his fingers down James's cheek. For a few moments he just stayed there looking at his lost husband.
With a deep breath he took out the portkey he had gotten from the goblins. This was a special type of portkey that was created by the goblins that the ministry didn't know existed. It was a special switching portkey. There were two parts to it. You would place one key on one object, and the other on the other object. When you pushed a little power into it to activate them the portkeys would switch whatever they were attached to.
Putting the green coloured portkey on James's chest he pushed a little of his magic into it. There was a flash and then Severus saw James laying on the bed with a purple portkey in his hand.
Severus had to admit, the glamours the goblins had done was amazing. Especially since it had been from Severus's and Remus's memories.
Taking the purple portkey and tucking it in his pocket Severus left the room, erasing any trace he had been there. He then went upstairs to help Remus search.
He really wanted to go directly back to the bank so he could look at James some more but they had to finish their search of the house. Besides, Vessra and Cora had planned to move James immediately to the purge room. No one knew exactly what had been done to him and they didn't want to take any chances. The sooner he was purged the better.
Once they had searched the house completely and made copies of anything they thought they might need they snuck back out of the house. Making sure to leave no traces behind. Once back outside the ward line they rewove the wards, once again making sure to make them look and feel exactly like they had before. They were lucky as just when they finished their work Lily came home in a huff. Remus told him that that happened almost every time she went out. It didn't seem to matter how beautiful Lily made herself, people still managed to see through it to the ugly person she was underneath.
That wasn't to say that Lily hadn't been popular. During her 7 years at Hogwarts she had had an always changing group of friends around her. The reason the group was always changing was because no one could stand her for overly long. Severus had in fact been the only person that had been able to stand being around her for more than a year, and that was mainly out of loyalty to his first friend. Even Alice Meadows, later Longbottom. Had barely managed a full year, and she was the perfect example of her house values, Hufflepuff.
Turning away they walked a short distance from the cottage before activating their own portkey that would take them directly to the healer's wing at the bank.
The first thing that Severus saw when the world stopped spinning and he was back in the ward that had become so familiar was Cora standing next to Hadrian's bed holding his hand while Vessra fed potions to James.
"Is everything ok? Did something go wrong?" Severus was starting to panic.
"All is well." Cora quickly came over to calm him. " The tests showed a great deal of spells and potions but they are all out now. He appears to be slightly anaemic, and his muscles will probably feel weak for a few days but other than that he is ready to wake up. We figured we would wait for you so that you could be here. He will probably be pretty anxious when he wakes up and will respond best to you."
Remus agreed that Sevrus should be with him when he woke. Going over he sat next to Hadrian while Vessra and Cora put up the privacy barriers so that they wouldn't overwhelm him when he woke up.
Severus watched as Vessra performed the counter spell to bring James out of the coma and then left. This left him and James alone in their little makeshift room.
It was only a minute or two later that he heard James give a soft grown and scrunch up his face. James had always hated waking up. Severus had loved to wake up just so he could watch James try and fight himself for just a few more minutes of sleep.
"Come on James, it's time to wake up. Please, I need you to wake up." Severus was almost pleading as he looked down at his husband.
James didn't know what was going on. Everything felt wrong. This wasn't his bed. Then he caught the smell of the hospital and wondered what had happened. He couldn't think straight. Then he heard Severus begging him to wake up.
Everything came back to him. He had been putting Hadrian down for a nap and someone had come into the room behind him. He didn't know what had happened but the next thing he remembered was being in a small house with that slut, Evans. And she was calling his and Severus's son hers, and had changed his name to Harry. The worst was he had thought he loved her.
Slowly he opened one eye and caught a glimpse of his husband. Please, oh please, don't let this be another dream. "Sev'rus."
Severus heard James say his name and all of a sudden he couldn't stop himself from crying. "Yes love, I'm here. It's all going to be ok, you're ok."
"Hadrian. Please , tell me if our son is ok. Please tell me he's ok." James sobbed back as he gingerly pushed himself up with sore arms and wrapped his husband in a hug.
"He's fine James, he's going to be just fine."
"Where is he?" James asked, looking around. "I want to hold my baby." James froze when he saw the look on Sev's face. "You said he was going to be ok. What happened?"
Taking a deep breath Severus explained. "James, Jamie… you and Hadrian were taken almost 5 years ago. Hadrian will be 6 in a few months. Now like I said he is going to be fine. On Halloween just after the two of you were taken the Dark Lord went after him. Somehow Hadrian survived the attack and the Dark Lord was banished. He is not dead, but he is no longer a danger. Lily had taken you and faked your deaths. Hadrian was sent to love with her muggle sister. I'm not going to lie to you Jamie. They abused him. But the goblins have been a great help. They have healed him and treated all the damage. He is right now in a magically induced coma in the bed just behind that curtain, Remus is with him. We were all given potions and put under spells that made us hate each other if we weren't forced to forget each other completely. But we're fixing it."
James just stared at him for a moment before speaking in a deadly calm voice. "Move that curtain now, I want to see my son."
Severus knew better than to argue with a calm James. It was when James was completely calm that he was at his most dangerous. Getting up he moved the curtain. With a flick of his wand James's bed moved over so it was pressed against Hadrian's so that he could have access to their son without having to get up.
James slowly examined his son. "Anyone who harmed my baby is going to suffer more than they ever thought possible," he demanded.
"Already in the works, love." Severus responded. For some reason he got turned on as his husband threatened those that hurt their son.
Remus shook his head with a small grin as he smelt a change in Severus's pheromones.
As James sat there, stroking Hadrian's hair, they explained everything that had happened and what they were planning. When they got to the whole 'time travel' thing he just stared at them for a moment before motioning them to continue.
By Sunday evening James was back on his feet and fully involved in making plans. When they had told him Sirius, his brother in all but blood, had been sent to Azkaban without a trial he had been ready to storm the ministry. Severus had actually had to physically restrain him in his bed after that.
They had originally planned to give James another week to recover before they planned on his getting a new identity, claiming the Peverell lordship and trying to get Sirius out of prison. That time frame went out the window immediately.
By the end of the weekend James had his new identity, he was now Sebastian Alexandros Peverell-Gryffindor, Lord of the Ancient and Noble houses of Peverell and Gryffindor. He also had his new glamorous. He was now a comfortable 6 foot, still a bit shorter than Severus. His hair was now a sandy blond and his eyes were now a light blue with hints of green.
The hardest part for him was learning how to move and walk in his new body. Suddenly being 4 inches taller threw off his strides. He ended up using a cane to keep his balance. Their plan was to say that he was a homeschooled curse breaker that worked for Gringotts. An accident, hence the cane, had necessitated some time off and he decided to return to Britain and learned of his lordships. He was planning on getting involved for the betterment of his home country. As he was related to one of the founders of the school so he would automatically have a say on the running of the school so he was going to be able to make Dumbledores's life difficult over the coming years.
After some discussions with Ragnock they decided to add some reality to their story. James had trained in wards and curses when he was an auror so the bank was willing to hire him as a curse breaker. Remus had also been hired due to his knowledge of defence and history. This would give them an excuse to be at the bank and also something to do when they weren't plotting to overthrow British magical society.
That evening was a solemn one. Severus had to return to the school and both he and James wished it wasn't so. Promising that he would call every night, and would come back as soon as possible Severus left. Although not without a deep, long, passionate kiss leaving James wishing that the goblins would clear him for more than that.
Ministry of Magic- March 25. 1986
A tall distinguished looking man made his way through the crowds towards the minister's office. Seeing the minister himself just about to enter his office he called out.
"Minister Fudge. I was wondering if I could have a moment of your time."
Cornelius Fudge knew that no one would ever accuse him of being the smartest, strongest or most talented of wizards, but there was one thing he did better than anyone. He had the ability to identify wealthy and powerful people and use them for his own gain. And looking at the man that had called him, Cornelius saw a very wealthy and powerful man.
"Certainly my good man. I'm sorry I don't believe we have met. Please come into my office and we can have a cup of tea."
James almost shuddered at how slimy the man was but managed to hold it back,just barely. Once they were seated with tea he introduced himself.
"My name is Sebastian Alexandros Peverll-Gryffindor and I have just been named Lord of the Ancient and Noble houses of Peverell and Gryffindor. I am planning to attend the Wizengamot during the April session. I decided to come and meet with you today as there is a matter of grave importance that I must discuss with you. If you would please summon the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Madam Amelia Bones. I think she should be involved in this discussion."
As soon as Cornelius heard the name he realised just how right he had been. This one man had the potential to be one of the richest, most powerful people in their country. But when he asked for Madam Bones, Cornlius got nervous. What could he possibly have to say that needed that old goody two shoes. Deciding it was better to stay on his good side Cornelius made the call.
Once Amelia had arrived and introductions were done, James got right down to business. "I am here about a major miscarriage of justice that had the potential to be extremely damaging to this government. I am here about the case of Lord Sirius Black."
"S…Sirius Black. Surely you must be joking, that man was sentenced to life in Azkaban after he was found guilty of the betrayal of the Potter's and the murder of Peter Pettigrew and 12 muggle." Fudge stammered while Amelia just surveyed him critically.
"That is where you are wrong minister. As I am sure you are aware, the Potters are a house under the Pevetell's, up until his death James Potter was my legal heir. With his death that title passed to his son. I decided that I wanted information on why a man, that most said was closer than a brother with James Potter, would turn around and betray him before going on a murder spree. I decided the best place to start would be to look over his trial transcript before going to the prison itself and having a word with the man. But you will never guess what I found… no trial."
"That can't be right." Amelia butted in. "There must have been a trial, it's the law."
"I checked Madam Bones. According to what's on the file Lord Sirius Orion Black was arrested November 3, 1981. The thing is, there isn't even an arrest warrant. No charges were ever even filed. According to his file, the man was in Azkaban by nightfall and hasn't left since. Figuring that there must have been some kind of oversight, I decided to look into the case, and honestly, it couldn't have been handled worse if you had tried. At the scene of the deaths of the muggle and Pettigrew no evidence was collected, the muggles were immediately obliviated without ever being asked to give a statement, no one even bothered to do a prior incantation on Lord Black's wand."
By the time he had been half way through his statement Fudge had started sweating hard and Amelia's eyes were so large her monocle had fallen out without her even noticing.
"Then things get even more interesting. Peter Pettigrew was reported dead off of the evidence of a single finger and a robe. According to what little reporting there was, the muggles were in pieces, pieces yes, but they were all there. All the was of Pettigrew was a finger that had been cleanly cut off. And the robe. Tell me, do either of you know a spell that could obliterate a man so badly that only a single finger could survive yet leave a robe intact.
Amelia slowly took a sip of her tea before replacing her monocle. Outside she seemed calm and collected but inside she was screaming. Something had always seemed off about what had happened, but this. Not many people knew that shortly after she had lost her brother, Edgar and his wife Sarah,her house had been attacked. She had been home alone with her 6 month old niece that she had taken in after the death of her parents. She had been wounded while trying to get to the nursery where little Susan was.
It had been James Potter and Sirius Black that had answered the call. James had gotten her out while Sirius had gone in after Susan. When he came back out of the house he was covered in blood. He had ended up having to spend almost a month at 's healing from the injuries,but there hadn't been a single scratch on Susan. Sirius had shielded the baby with his own body.
Now to find out that he was in Azkaban without having received a trial. And worse, he may be completely innocent. She did not care what the minister said, she would not let this stand.
"But… but how could Pettifrew have possibly escaped without anyone seeing him, he's dead." Fudge was really not liking this. He himself had been present at the scene shortly after the explosion.
"I have spoken to a few old friends of Pettigrew and I learned something interesting. It would seem that Mister Pettigrew was an unregistered rat animagus. He could easily have transformed after cutting off his finger and fled. No one would notice a rat on the streets of London." James was jumping with joy on the inside. He knew he would get his brother back sooner rather than later.
"You think he's still alive?" Amelia questioned.
"No Madam Bones,I know he's still alive. I work as a curse breaker at Gringotts. Because of that I am more aware of the ins and outs of the bank. Did you know that your vault is blood sealed for instance. That's why you have to give three drops of blood when you open a new vault. The thing about blood seals is that it remains active until you cancel it or you die. This means that the moment someone dies their vault at the bank seals shut until their will is administered and the seal is cancelled. Now, a person can not simply go to the goblins and start requesting other peoples banking information, but they can get information on the status of the vault if it pertains to a personal friend that has been reported bead and you believe you may be in the will. I had one of Pettigrew's old school friends come to the bank and had him ask. We were informed that no will will be read as, according to the blood seal, a seal that has never been fooled in the 3,000 years since it was first invented I might add, Peter Pettigrew is still alive. Using my contacts I was able to get a little more information. It would seem that the most recent transaction from the vault was less than a month ago for an owl order, and the receipt was signed in blood. Pettigrews blood."
With all this said, James sat back in his seat and took a drink.
"We must be very careful with this." Fudge said. He was trying to think of a way to work this in his favour but was having a particularly hard time with it. "We don't want to cause a panic."
"Screw not causing a panic Cornelius. There is an innocent man sitting in one of the worst prisons in the world and he never even received a trial." Amelia snapped.
James let them bicker back and forth for a little while before he intervened. "If I may. I mean no disrespect when I say that I do not believe that the ministry and the Wizengamot will be able to handle something like this properly. Now I have already spoken to my contacts at Gringotts and they have agreed to be neutral arbiters. For a small fee, which I will pay personally, they have arranged an office where we shall meet in two days time at 10 o'clock. They will provide the truth serum and we will be able to get our answers. If he is found to be guilty we can arrange his trial in front of the Wizengamot, if not, then he will be released, as there is no arrest warrant there will be no need to hold a trial. Lord Black will, of course, be given reparations and a settlement for having to endure this ordeal. Once everything is handled i suggest that we keep it a secret while a select few trusted aurors handle the search for Pettigrew. I do not think it's in anyone's best interest to alert Pettigrew that we know about him or panic the public. This is one reason I cast the strongest privacy ward I know once we were all in the room. None of us will be able to discuss any of this with anyone else. Once the rat has been captured we can hold a public trail. That way if anyone asks about Black we can assure them that it was handled promptly and correctly."
"And just how are we supposed to get Black from Azkaban to the bank without causing a panic." Fudge questioned.
James pulled out a portkey and slid it over to Amelia. "This is a portkey that will take you directly to the meeting room. It is set to activate 5 minutes before 10 on Wednesday. I figured you can go to the prison, collect Black, and just wait for the portkey to activate. The goblins assure me that it will be able to get through the wards around both the prison and the bank."
Taking the portkey Amelia smiled at him. "I will see to it personally. Now , if I may ask a question. You have repeatedly addressed Sirius Black as Lord Black. I thought his parents disowned him."
smiling, James nodded. "Yes it is true that Orion and Walberga Black disowned Sirius, but that was only from them. Neither of them was ever the head of the family. The last Lord Black was Sirius Black's grandfather Arcturus Black. When he died he stated in his will that he did not feel that Orion or Walberga were fit to lead the family. He named Sirius Black as his heir. According to the records that I have acquired, Sirius Black claimed his lordship less than 2 weeks before he was arrested. That was why no one yet knew, there hadn't been a Wizangamot session for him to be introduced yet."
"Interesting." Amelia said.
James could see that Fudge was gearing up to make an ass of himself and decided it was time to leave. "If you will excuse me, I have other things to attend to."
Getting up, he bid them farewell and headed for the door. Just before he opened the door to leave he turned back to add one more thing. "Oh, and just so we are clear. Sirius Black will be at this meeting I have arranged, alive and unharmed, or I will hold the two of you personally responsible. If anything should happen I will make it my personal mission to ruin you both, both politically and financially. Good day." and with that final warning he left the room.
Once he was gone Fudge had a melt down and he started ordering Black's execution. It took Amelia 10 minutes and 4 calming draughts to get him relaxed enough to talk him down. After giving her own warning to him not to interfere, she left