James wandered through the rest of the day without really paying attention to anything going on outside of his own mind. He was glad Lily had come to talk to him, because it was a huge weight lifted off his shoulders- keeping a secret as huge as his was very draining. But James still hated the Death Eaters, and he always would. They were going to pay next year, when he became an Auror. He would get vengeance for his father’s death; James swore it to himelf.
James had found out in fifth year that Voldemort had been out to get his dad ever since they had gone to school together. Professor Dumbledore had deemed it unnecessary to put a Fidelius Charm on Potter Mansion. The Potters had lived normally- they had always thought they were safe.
He remembered his mum’s teary goodbye to him on September first. His poor mother was living all alone in a huge home full of House Elves and painful memories she would, James was sure, much rather forget.
"Look out for yourself, James. I love you always," she had choked out between swallows.
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After James's talk with Lily, he had felt like everything was going to work out fine, now. He had hoped the broken pieces of him would heal togther that easily: quickly, seamlessly. How wrong he was.
“JAMES POTTER!”
“Umm, what, Professor McGonagall?”
“I GAVE DIRECTIONS FOR EVERYONE TO TURN THEMSELVES BLUE TWENTY MINUTES AGO!”
James looked around and sure enough he found all twenty-four of his classmates to be various shades of periwinkle. Sirius, although it was hard to tell it was really him, was trying hard not to laugh. He was failing.
“Sorry, Professor, I’ll get on that right now.”
“NO you won’t, Mr. Potter. Class dismissed!”
When James tried to sneak out, she called him back.
“Potter, I know you had a tough summer, but you better get that attention back to normal or you are going to fail my class,” she said, frowning. Professor McGonagall’s face, which had been hard and lined a minute earlier, had softened slightly. She looked at him with her light brown eyes.
“Yes- wait, you aren’t giving me detention?”
“No, Mr. Potter. But one more problem and it’s a week of them.”
“Thanks, Professor.”
He went to his last class, Defense Against the Dark Arts with Professor Greenbaum. It was his favorite class, and crucial to his ambition of becoming an Auror, so he listened to the professor’s words carefully.
“I will divide you into pairs, for practice in combat. Use nonverbal spells only, please. And nothing illegal or painful.” she added this last bit solely for this class, the Gryffindor and Slytherin class. The two houses hated each other and always would; it was a fact of life for Hogwarts students.
A few girls tittered, but the guys all knew the teacher was completely serious. Professor Greenbaum then began calling out names of pairs.
“Sirius Black, Cassie Meadowes.”
Frank Longbottom, Lucius Malfoy.” The boys glared at each other evilly.
“Remus Lupin, Andromeda Black.”
“Lily Evans, Dan Hopkins.”
And all the way down to…
“James Potter, Severus Snape.”
James and Snape were mortal enemies. Hatred had been mutual as soon as they had laid eyes on each other. James thought Snape to be a dirty, ugly, Dark Arts-loving git (which he was.). Snape… well, Snape hated James for being everything he wasn’t- popular, handsome, a good student, great Quidditch player, etc.
James stared at the professor with shock.
“Potter, you and your partner may not be best friends, but you WILL do this exercise and you WILL NOT complain,” she said in a sharp voice.
Across the room, Cassie was trying extremely hard to curse Sirius, who was teasing her. They were grinning.
The other pair that caught James' eye was Lily and Dan Hopkins. They were getting along fine. Lily was smiling as she sent a minor hex his way, which he cleared his face of immediately. Well, James thought sourly, They would make a good couple. The smartest two Gryffindors in our year. When Lily broke out in a peal of giggles, he felt a large volcano erupt in his chest. Doesn’t she know I lo- like her? You’d think I never told her, the way she acts!
James pushed aside his anger and got ready to duel his worst enemy.
“Hey Snivellus! You might not have noticed, but your robes haven’t been cleaned in several centuries,” James taunted.
“Oh REALLY!” Snape said furiously as his normally sallow complexion turned rather pinkish. He pointed his wand sharply at James and squinted. James crashed loudly down onto the floor. He sent a jinx at Snape who then froze and fell backwards.
James straightened up while Snape was still frozen on the floor, glaring at him. James pointed his wand at the unmoving Slytherin and forced him up into the air upside down by his ankle. Now James grinned. He was in control.
Snape got his body movement back at the exact same moment James glanced over to look at Lily. He pointed his wand at James and huge gashes appeared all over his body, gushing blood.
Professor Greenbaum finally noticed the illegal and quite painful curse Snape had cast on James, who had now lost so much blood he was completely white on the floor. She rushed over as the classroom became silent as the students watched.
The professor ran her wand over and over the cuts until they had covered over again. The cuts were healed, but James was still unconscious.
“He needs to go to the Infirmary NOW!” she shouted. Sirius and Remus rushed over to help take him. When they had conjured up a stretcher and laid the limp James down upon it, Lily sighed fretfully and ran after them down the hall.
Sirius and Remus glanced at Lily, raised their eyebrows at each other, and then nodded at her. She blushed and they speed-walked towards the Nurse.
When they reached it, Madam Pomfrey hurried around the room, gathering supplies to help the scarring and then to revive James. Lily, Remus, and Sirius stood silent, nervously waiting for him to wake. Lily was very white.
An hour after being given the potion, James shook. His three friends jumped; they had been lost in their own thoughts for so long. He opened his eyes and said groggily, “What happened?”
“Snape cast a really bad curse on you, it made you bleed so much you passed out,” Lily said. James was surprised to hear her voice. The combination of grogginess and not wearing his glasses had caused James not to notice who was there, but he had expected only Remus and Sirius.
“Evans?” he said dumbly.
“Yes, James, it’s me.”
“Why are you here?”
“You were hurt, I had to make sure you were OK,” she said, blushing slightly.
“Oh…” James said. He was quite drained and quickly fell back asleep surrounded by his friends.
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James was on an unfamiliar Quidditch Pitch, clutching his Comet tightly. He looked all around, but the field was as empty as a moor. He looked up at the stands. At the top, the best seats, he saw his father. He waved madly. His father couldn’t see him. James mounted his broom and flew to the top of the stands. When he got there, his dad was gone.
“Dad?” he called down. His voice echoed strangely around him. Then he saw Lily at the end of the row of seats. He jogged over to her. She frowned sadly.
“Goodbye, James.” She disapparated.
James lost his footing and fell silently off of his perch on the bleachers. He felt for his broom, and discovered that it, too, had disappeared. James closed his eyes and embraced the wind.
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A/N- Sorry 2 James chapters in a row”Lily will come back, I promise! (just so you know, Peter isn't in their DADA class- he failed OWLs in fifth year)