Wizard Wars: Return of the Auror

Chapter Two:

James's Story

Footsteps came down the hall towards the kitchen and Reiley entered. There were flecks of snow in his hair and he was shivering slightly.

"Okay, you know how I said a little thing like foot-high snow wouldn't interrupt my routine? Well, I take it back, it's the third ice age out there!" He stopped. "Adi? Are you all right? Adrian!"

James had suddenly sprung to his feet, only to find that his legs were too numb to support him. He crumpled to the floor and lay there, shaking violently and gasping for air. He was vaguely aware of Reiley kneeling next to him, but his voice seemed a thousand miles away. The only thing that occupied his mind was Lily and Harry... and Voldemort. Oh God, no... no... oh God, oh God, oh God...

He didn't even realise that these words were coming out of his mouth. Or that to an onlooker he appeared to be having some kind of fit. Or that Reiley was saying he was going to call for help. One thing and one thing alone had penetrated his thoughts... he had to go back.

All of a sudden James was spurred into action. He jumped to his feet again and immediately his head swam. He stood there for a moment, swaying slightly, and then, legs still weak, he dragged himself out of the kitchen and down the hall. Reiley was standing by the phone but James didn't think to care who he was talking to. All rational thought was gone from his head. He didn't think about how he planned to get back, or that it was below zero outside and he didn't have a coat or even shoes. He just walked straight to the door.

"Adi."

A hand closed on his arm and held him back. He shook it off and reached for the doorknob.

"Never mind, he's better now, sorry." Reiley hung up the phone and pulled James back. "Adi, what the hell are you doing?"

"I've got to go back."

"Back where?"

"Lily and Harry..."

"Who?"

"He was trying to kill them..."

"What are you talking about?"

"Let me go..."
"No."

"Let me go!"

"Adi, you're not going anywhere, you're not well..."

"I'm fine! I have to go back..."

"You're not fine..."

"LET ME GO!"

"Just calm down, all right?"

James grabbed him by the collar and shook him. "THEY COULD BE DEAD! THEY COULD BE DEAD AND YOU WANT ME TO CALM DOWN? THEY COULD HAVE DIED, HE COULD HAVE KILLED THEM, HE..."

Reiley hit him round the face. For a few moments, both of them just stood there, the only sound that of James's heavy breathing. Finally, Reiley put a hand on James's shoulder.

"Adi... I'm sorry. Just... just come into the living room, sit down and tell me what's going on."

~*~

It was Harry's crying that woke them. James groaned and rolled over.

"Your turn."

"What do you mean 'my turn'? It was my turn last night. And the night before. And the night before that. When is it ever your turn?"

"Tomorrow night."

"That's what you said yesterday. And the day before. And the day before tha..."

"All right, all right, I'm going..."

Lily grinned into her pillow. "Knew I'd get you there eventually."

"Cow."

She laughed. James hauled himself out of bed. Yawning widely and rubbing his eyes, he trudged out of the bedroom and down the hall to the nursery. Harry was sitting up in his cot. The moment he saw James come in, he stopped crying and started to giggle.

James grinned in spite of himself. "Yes, it's actually me this time. Your mother achieved the impossible."

He approached the cot and gave a short bow.

"What is your command, O' Son of the Annoyingly-Commanding Goddess?"

"Beh! Beh!"

"I'm terribly sorry, sire, I forgot my Baby Language dictionary."

He picked up the tiny infant and looked around in the cot.

"Where's that bear of yours, eh? Where is he? Where is he? Has he run off and hidden again? Or did someone imprison him somewhere for the servants to find later?" Harry giggled again. "You're a right little pixy, aren't you? Why do you have to wait until near midnight before you want us to look for him? Come on, let's go look. Saddle the flying horses and let's be off on the quest!"

Carrying a still giggling Harry, James walked out of the nursery and onto the landing. The house was silent and still, the darkness disturbed only by pale moonlight shining in through the hall windows, casting shimmers of silvery light upon the floor and reflecting off the frames of the pictures on the walls. The occupants of these were breathing softly and didn't stir as James slipped past them and down the stairs. He paused at the bottom, thinking. Through the window he could see the branches of the oak tree outside swaying softly in the autumn breeze; he could hear it whispering in a hushed, almost nervous way. He wasn't quite sure where to start looking. Harry had hidden the toy in all sorts of places before. He seemed to know that if he put it behind something James and Lily would search for it. Lily said he encouraged Harry by making a game out of it, but James didn't mind, even if he did have to get up at near midnight to play. It was worth it to see Harry's adorable glee when the bear was found.

Turning on the lights, he searched the living room and then the kitchen, but he couldn't find the bear. Getting sleepy again, he tried to remember where Harry had been that day. But it was no good because the kid had been just about everywhere. He could never sit still for more than five minutes, especially since he'd learnt to walk. James wandered back into the living room, put Harry down on the sofa and looked behind it.

"What the heck have you done with the blasted thing?"

He looked up and noticed that Harry was staring at the photos on the unit next to the fireplace. James looked too, and saw it almost immediately. It was stuffed behind one of the picture frames. Of course! Lily had sat him on it for a few moments earlier. James let out a mock sigh of distress.

"Oh where could it be?! I have absolutely no idea!" he said dramatically, scratching his head and pulling his face into an exaggeratedly confused expression. Harry was giggling again. "I guess you're just too clever for me!" he continued, wandering over to the unit. "I wonder where it is! It must have disappeared! Or maybe... it's... here!"

He whipped the bear out from behind the photo and Harry squealed in delight. James laughed. He was a weird kid, but then look who his father was. He picked Harry up again.

"Maybe now you'll let your mother and me get some sleep."

But Harry's eyes were already starting to droop. With the bear clutched in one hand, and James's shirt in the other, Harry leaned his head against his father's chest and fell asleep almost instantly. James felt his heart swell, and he held his son tighter, stroking the boy's dark hair. Why did the child have to have so much resting on his shoulders? What the hell was this tiny, defenceless little thing now sleeping so peacefully in his arms going to have to go through when he was older?

A sudden feeling of foreboding crept through James as he stood in the quiet room. It was like a warning signal had flared inside his mind, but he couldn't explain why. All his senses heightened, and impulse made him clutch Harry tighter still. The world wasn't just quiet anymore - it was deathly quiet. Even the wind in the tree seemed to have held its breath in apprehension. He had this horrible feeling that something was about to happen - but what possibly could? They were safe here, weren't they? The house was protected by a Fidelius Charm. If he doubted their safety then he doubted Peter's reliability. Old Wormtail might be a bit of a pushover at times, but he would never tell a soul where they were, not with his friends' lives on the line. And he must have thought himself up to the job or he wouldn't have been so eager to take it.

No, James would not doubt Peter's loyalty. Still, he found himself listening for the slightest hint of anything out of the ordinary. But there was nothing. And yet even so, as he turned out the lights in the living room and went back into the hall, he could not banish that awful feeling. In fact, it was growing stronger with every beat of his heart.

Lily appeared on the upstairs landing in her white nightdress.

"What are you doing up?" James whispered.

"I couldn't get back to sleep. Aw, bless!" she sighed fondly, seeing Harry nestled in James's arms.

"Yeah, he's cute now, but he'll be a terror in a few years."

"Well, I'm hoping there's enough of my genes in him to counter that."

James gave a weak smile.

"Are you all right?" Lily asked, frowning. "You look pale."

James paused, wondering if he should tell her.

"It's just... I hate all this. I hate being in hiding, I hate Harry being in danger and I hate the fact that the whole world is resting on Harry's shoulders. He's just a baby, for God's sake, and he's got a bloody psychopath out to kill him."

Lily looked down at him with a look of sorrow on her face. The moonlight was shining on her, making her seem to glow with an unearthly light. James's heart stood still in admiration, though he had no idea at the time that he would see her like this later in his dreams.

"Oh, honey... so do I. I have countless nightmares about something terrible happening to him. I see Voldemort standing over him, laughing, us lying dead on the floor...But the important thing for now is to stop him finding Harry. There's nothing our son can do for at least the next sixteen years, so let's just worry about it nearer the time, okay?"

James nodded. For a moment he considered telling her about his feeling of foreboding. But looking at her, the words just wouldn't come out. He was probably just being stupid and he didn't want to frighten her over nothing.

"Yeah... yeah, you're right. As always."

She smiled slightly. "Turn the hall light out before you come up, all right?" She disappeared into the bedroom.

James stood there for a minute or so, thinking. His brain knew she was right, but all his other senses were telling him she was wrong. Finally, deciding that he had probably just scared himself by thinking about Harry's future, he turned around to turn off the hall light...

There was a face at the window.

James reeled back against the banister in horror, wrapping his arms around his son like a shield.

A terrible demented grin spread over Voldemort's face as though in manic triumph, like he'd won some kind of game... like Hide, Seek and Destroy...

"I see you, James... you can't hide from me..."

"LILY!"
Harry woke with a start and began to wail. James pelted up the stairs as Lily came running out of the bedroom.

"LILY, TAKE HARRY AND GO! IT'S HIM! GO! RUN! I'LL HOLD HIM OFF - "

"What?"

"IT'S HIM! HE'S FOUND US! GET HARRY OUT OF HERE, NOW!"

He shoved the screaming child into his terrified wife's arms.

"GO!"

There was a click and James spun around as the front door opened. A black hooded figure came into the hall, head turned up towards them, a wand grasped in a pale hand.

"Accio wand!"

James's own wand came flying out of the bedroom and into his hand. Without hesitating, he threw a curse at Voldemort, catching him off guard and hitting him in the chest with such force that he was thrown backwards into the door.

"Try and get out the back!" James shot at Lily, running down the stairs to continue the fight.

But Voldemort had already recovered.

"Crucio!"

White hot knives were cutting into every inch of James's body, tearing at his flesh. He screamed and toppled forwards, rolling down the last of the stairs and lying in a crumpled and writhing heap at the bottom. His fingernails dug into his palms, drawing blood. The pain went on and on - and then vanished so suddenly that it was a shock in itself. But the screaming continued, except it was coming from Lily. James lay on the floor, his energy almost completely drained. Voldemort was laughing. James shivered at the sound.

"And here I thought getting past one of the Ministry's most celebrated Aurors would be a challenge," said Voldemort. "I guess they're just not training like they used to."

Slowly, James raised his head to look at Voldemort, breathing deeply, his brown eyes blazing and determined, every muscle in his body tensing for action.

"Don't you know insulting people only makes them more determined to kick your arse?"

Summoning all his strength, James struck back with a well-aimed Conjunctivitis Curse. Voldemort gave a shriek of pain and grasped at his eyes, stumbling backwards. James seized the moment to get to his feet, but his spell didn't last long and a moment later they were locked in a heavy duel, neither taking their eyes off each other for a moment. Every half second had become vitally crucial.

Panic threatened to consume James. Pictures and vases were shattered, pieces of furniture were overturned, and through it all Harry's frightened cries rang shrilly in James's ears. They seemed to be fighting for hours. James could barely keep Voldemort's curses at bay. Voldemort grinned.

"Quite the set of lungs, hasn't he? But you needn't worry, he'll be silent soon."

A flash of burning anger seared through James. "Levicorpus!"

Voldemort reflected the spell. "How childish, Potter. You can do better than that."

James could feel his face burning with rage.

"Stupefy!"

Blocked again. Voldemort was laughing now. "How original!"

"I wasn't going for originality, Voldie."

Voldemort's eyes flashed. "That's the problem with you Aurors. Always doing everything by the book. But I must say, I admire your audacity. Most people who make the kind of mistakes you do wouldn't be able to talk back like that."

"What do you mean the kind of mistakes I make?" James sneered.

"Potter, haven't you realised yet? You led me straight to you. You gave the crucial information to the very person who could pass it on to me. Now your family is going to die and it's entirely your fault."

James snapped. Before he had even thought about what he was doing, he heard his own voice shouting, "Crucio!"

But the spell hit the wall, causing a shower of rubble to fall down upon them. Voldemort had disappeared. Cold sweat formed on James's face and he held his breath for a moment. Then a voice from behind him said, "Now here's one a Death Eater of mine invented." James spun around just as Voldemort yelled, "Septumsempra!"

There was a flash of white, and he felt something sharp and hot graze his cheek. Blood began to flow. James cringed instinctively, and in that brief half second that he let his guard down, his fate sealed. A jet of red light hit him in the stomach with the force of a battering ram. His feet left the ground as with a breathless grunt, he was knocked backwards into the air like a bullet. His head smashed against something solid, white light burst in front of his eyes, he heard the beginning of a scream, and then everything went black.

The next time he opened his eyes, he was surrounded by blank white walls, his memory empty.

* * * *

"Ironic, isn't it? A lifetime of good work can make hardly a difference. But one ill-timed mistake can destroy everything. I let my guard down. One moment of rage and I went against everything I was ever taught in Auror training. Everything they told me about not letting your emotions cloud your judgement, all the hundreds of times Moody warned me about 'constant vigilance' - I ignored it. I let Moody down. I let the Ministry down, I let Lily and Harry down... I let the whole world down. In one moment."

Silence fell as James came to the end of his story, and he and Reiley both sat for a while, listening to the distant sounds of the traffic on the main road, and the dull hum of the electric heater. Snow was falling thickly outside the window now. James shivered, but not from cold. The room suddenly seemed as unfamiliar as if he'd never been there before. His life for the past fifteen years seemed like a very long dream that he'd just awoken from. He felt lost.

Eventually, James got wearily to his feet and crossed to the window. The snow formed a thick blanket over everything, the cars, the houses... The street was completely deserted. It all seemed strangely surreal. Finally, he spoke again.

"My wife and son could be dead. I don't know what that dream was about, but whatever it was I have to go back. I have to know. I have to try and repair some of the damage I've caused - if it's not already too late."

There was a pause.

"This is all true, isn't it?" said Reiley slowly. "You really are a wizard."

James gave a small smile and turned to his friend. "Surprise."

Reiley was looking at him with a mixture of disbelief and awe on his face, and as James looked back at him he knew how much Reiley must trust him to believe something like this; how open-minded he must be to realise that the strange things that happen around James could only be explained by magic. Sadness crept into his stomach, and the smile faded.

"I have to go back," James said again, softly.

"Well, duh," said Reiley. "You can't exactly hang around here now that you've remembered all this, can you? You have to find out if your family's okay."

"I'll probably be moving back there... for good."

Reiley gave him a sad smile. "I know. I was kind of waiting for it to happen. I knew the amnesia couldn't last for ever. But hey, that hardly means we're never going to see each other again, does it?"

There was another long pause, in which they just stayed where they were, looking around at various objects in the room, not knowing what to do next. Finally, Reiley got to his feet.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Get your stuff. We've got to get you on the next flight to England."