Prophecy

Teammates

The next morning when the first years went to breakfast, they found Rose already there. In response to the deluge of questions, she told them that the Soulbond had passed to deep to affect the twin link she had with James. She could still feel his distress, but it was not the overwhelming cascade of sensations it had been the day before. They chatted through breakfast, looking at their schedules. The first class of the day was Transfigurations with Hufflepuff. After that, they had Defense against the Dark Arts with Slytherin. Lisa was looking through her bag, and had to run back up to the room for some parchment. The friends kept talking for a while longer, until Adam looked around. "Isn't it taking Lisa a long time to return?" The group looked at each other, and they all got up to go look for her.

On the second floor, they heard someone laughing. It was not a fun laugh, but more the laugh of somebody humiliating somebody else. They looked at each other, and headed for the sound. Whomever it was heard them coming and ran. Just around the corner of the hall, they found Lisa immobilized by a spell, and hung in a picture frame, with a hastily scrawled note tacked up over her head. "Traitor's blood" was the entire note. The group quickly got her down and cast the "Finite Incantatem" spell that released Lisa from the "Petrificus Totalus" spell.

The next few minutes were an education of a new sort for most of the group as Lisa vented her anger and embarrassment by describing the habits, ancestry, probable destinations, and life expectancy of the first year Slytherins that had done this to her. Some of the things she alluded to did not sound possible even with magic. After she turned the air blue for a bit, making a few of the people in the portraits run away with their hands over their ears, she stopped. Taking a deep breath, she looked at the silent group. "I believe we have Transfigurations. We should be going it would not be good to be late to the first class with our House head." Lisa started walking, and the others followed her.

As Lisa talked about the class, Emma watched her. "Lisa, are you alright?"

Lisa looked at her. "No, I am going to get some revenge for that. I am going to make them sweat until I know exactly what I'm going to do. The first part of that is pretending nothing happened until I decide exactly what form my retribution will take."

The group reached the classroom with a few minutes to spare, and Professor McGonagall was nowhere to be seen, so they talked quietly about James and Tiffany.

"It appears that some people need to take History of Magic very badly. That way, they will know who can be trusted." Emma Weasley stood up, and faced the speaker, a tall angry looking Hufflepuff.

"Would you care to explain that?" challenged Emma.

The boy sneered at her. "You of all people should know what that one's family did, or do you have so many brothers that losing a couple doesn't matter?"

Emma glared at him, and then started laughing at him. "What has the actions of her family before she was even born have to do with Lisa today?"

The Hufflepuff looked at Lisa as he replied to Emma. "Everyone knows the apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

Emma gave a short barking laugh, more of disgust than humour. "Your apple must be rotten. Lisa is a Gryffindor, which says she's different than the rest of her family off the top, and I worry more about someone that is so close-minded as to insult people that he hasn't even met. Proof that if the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, your tree has no branches."

As Emma finished speaking, the lamp standing next to the Professor's desk suddenly shimmered and turned into Professor McGonagall. "You are not going to be a popular young man. The Headmaster told you what would happen to anyone making prejudicial remarks. One hundred points from Hufflepuff. Miss Weasley, I am considering taking those points from Gryffindor for the comment about his family tree not having any branches."

"Professor, I did not prejudge him. My comment was based on quick observation, and his own words. I do admit to insulting him." Emma was quick to protest.

"Ten points then Miss Weasley." Professor McGonagall began the class as they returned to their seats. When the first year Gryffindors reached the Defense against the Dark Arts classroom, the Slytherin students were already there. The classroom had been cleared, with only a few chairs along each of the longer walls. The Slytherins had taken the chairs on one side, and the Gryffindors took the others.

"Why Lisa" came a falsely sweet voice, "aren't you just as pretty as a picture" Laughter came from the Slytherins.

Lisa colored, and then turned to Martin Crabbe, who had spoken. "Very amusing Marty, but it would appear that the Slytherin intellect has fallen badly this year, or you would realize I hold your house in my hand."

Martin Crabbe stared suspiciously at Lisa. "What do you mean?" The Slytherins were watching her with their dislike clear in their faces.

Lisa smiled at them. "The Headmaster said last night that anyone pulling a stunt like you did this morning would lose 100 house points. Now, I can identify nine of you involved this morning, by name, face or voice. Using Dumbledore's "Pensive" spell I can prove it. Now, I ask you, what will the older students do to you after they lose 900 points in one day?"

The Slytherins paled as they absorbed her meaning. Martin turned red and spoke through gritted teeth. "Fine. What will it take to keep you quiet?"

Lisa smirked. "I'll let you know. Now, run along and play, I have more important things to do." She turned back towards the Gryffindors, whom were all grinning broadly at the Slytherin group. "By the way Marty, I do suggest that you refrain from annoying me anymore, or I might just decide that watching your house mangle you every day this year would be more fun than anything you can give me." Martin turned back to his group and they began talking quietly, shooting nasty looks back at Lisa as they discussed their problem.

Adam Brooks was looking at a short, dark haired Slytherin sitting well away from the rest of the students. She had her head buried in a book and was carefully ignoring everything going on around her. Adam stared at her, and then nudged Emma. "I don't remember her at the Sorting, where did she come from?"

Emma looked where he was pointing and frowned. "I don't know, I've never seen her before." None of the Gryffindors had, and with the Slytherins studiously avoiding them, there was no way to ask them. The Dark Arts Instructor walked into the classroom. Since the end of the Voldemort war, Professor Allan Moody, Son of "Mad-Eye" Moody had been the Defense against the Darks Arts instructor.

"Good morning class. I am Professor Moody." He looked at the two groups of students, his eyes pausing on the quiet girl in the corner, and then continuing. "I see the house rivalries are still firmly in place, so today we'll start with the "Expelliarmus" spell.

Professor Moody gave a quick class on the disarming spell and then paired Lisa with a Slytherin girl for the first practical exercise. "A word of warning students, my father taught me an interesting spell for students that try a spell we're not working on. I have not had a chance to use it yet, but I am interested in seeing its effects, so feel free to try." Lisa and the Slytherin girl stood in the center of the room, and Professor Moody counted to three.

At three, Lisa pulled her wand from the sleeve of her robes and pointed it, even as she spoke. "Expelliarmus!"

Her hapless opponent had not even gotten her wand aimed when the spell hit, and her wand was sent flying. "Nicely done Miss Malfoy." The two girls sat down, and the practical portion of the class continued until Adam Brooks and Martin Crabbe were up. Adam stood there waiting as Professor Moody had a few words with the last two students. Martin sneered at him.

In a low voice, he mocked Adam. "You're going to get it Mudblood, I've been using a wand for years." Adam merely smiled thinly and held his peace. When Professor Moody counted down for them, Adam blurred into motion. Flipping the robes away from the right side of his body, his left hand reached for the wand at his waist, slung there with the butt handle up.

Half a second later, Crabbe's wand was flying one way, and the power of Adam's spell had Martin flying the other. Adam looked at the dazed boy and raised the tip of his wand in front of his face. He blew across the tip of it and grinned at the quiet class. "I always knew a fondness for Louis L'amour books would come in handy some day."

Rose and the quiet girl were the only ones that caught the Muggle reference. Professor Moody helped Martin to his feet and grinned at Adam. "Excellent job Mr. Brooks, ten points for Gryffindor." He came closer. "Would you mind showing me that again, but a little slower?" Adam demonstrated his wandslinger technique, and Professor Moody grinned. "Very novel and very effective apparently."

At lunch, Melissa asked Rose how James and Tiffany were. Rose opened her link to James carefully but shut it quickly. She considered what she had caught in that glimpse. "They're still struggling with the link." The meal passed quickly, and they went to their next class, which was Care and Use of Broomsticks. They had the class with Ravenclaw and the start of class found them standing around waiting on Professor Potter. The school brooms were there, but Harry was nowhere to be seen. They were starting to fidget, when a spot in the sky came down, and turned into Harry on his broom. He grinned at the class.

"Good Afternoon. Sorry about that, I was flying after eating and didn't realize how late it was." He started them on their lessons, and the class went well for most, although Adam was not as good as the wizards that had been flying for years.

At the end of the class, Harry told them that since they were going to be allowed to try out, any student that wanted to try out for the House teams had to get his approval. "From what I see, most of you will get it, except for you Mr. Brooks. I'm sorry, but you're just a bit too inexperienced for Quidditch this year."

Adam grinned at him. "I'm not sorry. I'll watch it, but I'm not much for playing."

Harry nodded, and grinned at an old memory. "It's not everyone's cup of tea. Hermoine still doesn't like it much, and Ron's played for the Cannons for 6 years."

With classes over for the day, the group trooped into the common room to work on homework. Rose excused herself, and went to the Mediwing to check on her brother. When she came back, her face was tight. "They have passed into the frenzy." was her only comment before going upstairs to her room.

The others looked at a suddenly tense Melissa for an explanation. "The frenzy is the part of the Bonding where so many couples learn everything about each other, and a lot of them have gone berserk during it. If they don't come to terms with the Bond here, they will try to kill each other. Even if we could stop them, the Bond is already too deep. They can no longer live without the other person."

Dawn found the first year Gryffindors waiting in the common room. They had started coming downstairs nearly an hour earlier, and the silence was testament to their worry about their friends. "We need something to take our minds off of our friends." Lisa said quietly. "Sitting around here doing nothing will not help them, or us."

Rose looked at her. "What do you suggest? I really can't concentrate on the schoolwork."

Lisa smiled thinly. "How about something James would like? I could use a little assistance with my retribution on the Slytherins." Lisa's face was red as she remembered being hung on a wall.

"What have you got in mind?" asked Adam. The rest of the group turned to him.

Adam was the only one of the first year students that did not know about the Prophecy, although Rose had realized at the sorting ceremony that Adam and not Daniel was the last of the Eight. Her problem was, she didn't know how to break that to Daniel. She suspected Daniel might be slightly peeved to find out he was not the one foretold, especially after they had told him he was. She was hoping James came out of his illness before she had to tell Daniel, so she could talk to him about it.

Lisa looked at Rose, and raised an eyebrow. Rose looked around to find everyone looking at her. "Why are you all looking at me?"

Melissa shrugged. "Until we find somebody better, James leads this," she looked at Adam, searching for a word. "Project of ours. He's not here, so it falls on you, because you know what he's do better than anyone."

Rose groaned. "Thanks." She looked at Adam, and grinned. The group had just handed her the perfect opening.

"It would be a pain to try to hide what we're doing from Adam for however long this Project takes. We'll tell him about it also." Rose began a rundown on the Prophecy, and the events that led to the group sitting there.

Adam stared at them when she was done. "You're all barking mad. Prophecy is as fake as..."

"As wizards? Or magic?" asked Emma dryly.

Adam blinked, and grinned suddenly. "Right then. This is a different world." He considered the story. "I was wondering why all of you seemed to know each other, even the Americans. I assumed it was a wizard thing."

"Actually, a lot of us were wondering the same thing." The voice came from a couch pushed up in the corner, and a head appeared over the edge of it. Prefect Moore looked at the group, sleep still evident in his eyes. "Sorry about eavesdropping, but I fell asleep studying, and didn't wake up until you started talking. The story was quite interesting. Can you prove any of it?" Rose looked at him, weighing her options. James would simply wipe his memory, but something in Rose told her to trust this boy.

Her coldly pragmatic side also reminded her that having a prefect working with them would simplify a few things. "The prophecy is a matter of public record. It is in the books because Elric is the only Soulbonded person to survive the death of their other half for more than a second. Look it up."

Prefect Moore nodded. "I will. After I do, I'll be looking for you Rose." Prefect Moore got up, collected his things and started up the stairs. He stopped at the foot of the stairs and turned back.

"By the way, I was asked to tell you something Lisa. You were the focus of quite a bit of talk among the older Gryffindor students. A lot of them wanted to talk to Dumbledore about removing you, and more wanted to make your life hell, until you left the house. However, two things spoke for you. You are different enough from the rest of your family to be in Gryffindor, and the families that should be ready to kill you are your friends." Prefect Moore smiled as he continued. "We didn't understand it, but we're going to leave you alone, unless you pull a Slytherin stunt." He turned and went up the stairs.

"That helps some although I would have preferred that they just accepted me," commented Lisa. "at least they won't be running around trying to cause trouble."

Rose grinned at her, feeling better about the coming days. "Speaking of trouble, I believe this all started with a comment about troubling the Slytherins?" The group began planning a bit of revenge for Lisa. At breakfast, they were still plotting in low voices. Lisa suddenly grinned, and moved up the table to speak to Prefect Moore.

Prefect Moore was smiling by the time she was done, and stood up to speak to a Slytherin Prefect. The three of them talked for a few minutes, and everyone saw the Slytherin stiffen at one point, and look at the first year Slytherins. Lisa spoke to him for a few more minutes, and finally he nodded and walked back over to his table. The look he shot at the first years had them huddling and whispering.

"What was that all about?" Lisa grinned as several people asked the same question at the same time.

"Well, I told him about the situation, and what I could do. Then I told him I would not do it, on two conditions. First, the older students don't help the first years at all, no matter we do, and second they stay away from me." Lisa smirked. "Isolating a victim is just good sense."

By dinner that night, they had a working plan. Rose was working on the prank disks they'd need for this prank, and she had the others making potions for the big day. Unfortunately this was not taking Rose's mind off her brother. She kept remembering all the times the two of them had worked out a prank together. After an hour of making disks, she got up without a word, and disappeared out the common room doorway. Melissa watched her sympathetically. Melissa was the only one who knew exactly how much danger James and Tiffany were in, and she had an inkling of what else was bothering Rose, even if Rose hadn't said anything yet. Rose and James had done something to multiply the effects of the twin bond, and they were closer than any two people Melissa had ever heard of. Tiffany though, was becoming even closer to James than Rose could ever be, and that had to bothering Rose at some level.

In the Mediwing, Rose sat beside James, and reached for his hand. She cautiously opened the shields she had put on the link that bound her to James, and tried to reach him again. Angerfearhateloveaffectionembarrassmentviolation Rose pulled back, breaking the link. She held her twin's hand, trying to figure out how to help him. "It's always hard to see someone you love in danger, and not be able to do anything about it."

Rose didn't turn, staring at her twin. "Will they pass this Sir?"

Albus Dumbledore moved up next to her, and looked at the students lying in bed. "I cannot see the future as you do Miss Evans. What does the Sight show you?"

Rose sighed. "Nothing. Rather, it shows me too much. This is a pivotal point, and too many paths branch off here."

Dumbledore looked at her. "I don't understand what you mean."

Rose thought about how to explain what the Sight was to her. "Think of my Sight as a path. Every decision somebody can make creates two paths, or more, depending on how many options they have to choose from. Certain events and decisions are more important than most, and there are literally thousands of paths leading from those points. When that happens, I can't follow any path, because it gets lost too quickly in the maze of what could be."

Albus Dumbledore thought about that carefully. "This merging of theirs is such a point then."

Rose nodded. "There are so many paths here, I can't follow them. All I can see is that about half of them lead into a darkness I don't want to look at." She looked at Dumbledore. "The prophecy says that if we lose two, we cannot win."

Dumbledore smiled faintly. "True, but the prophecy also says that the Eight will rise in our darkest hour, and that has not arrived yet."

Rose turned serious eyes on Dumbledore. "I hope you're right."

"Speaking of the prophecy Sir, I have something to tell you. Daniel is not one of the Eight. Adam Brooks is."

Albus looked at her, considering the ramifications of that. "Are you quite sure?"

Rose nodded. "I saw it at the Sorting Ceremony, but I don't know how to tell him."

"Telling him will be hard. We might have been wrong to tell the ones we thought were the Eight, without you meeting them first." Albus frowned as he spoke. "Let me think about it, and I'll get back to you on the problem."

Dumbledore stayed a few more minutes, and then left, leaving Rose with James and Tiffany until Ginny Potter chased her out. On the way back to the Gryffindor common room, Peeves dropped a large water balloon on her head. Rose stared at him. "You know Peeves, you have been a pain in the neck of every student to walk these halls for much too long."

Peeves smirked. "What's the ickle firstie going to do? Cry to mommy?"

Rose gave him an evil smile that would have done credit to any dark wizard, and Peeves drifted a little further away. "No Peeves, I'm going to find a way to prank a ghost. And when I do, you're going to get it, in front of everybody." With that comment, a dripping Rose walked back to the common room, and gave the fat lady the password. (House cup)

In the common room, Rose found the rest of the first years waiting to hear how the two were doing, but her face had all the answers they needed. They headed off to bed, while Rose sat before the fire. She was thinking morbid thoughts, and those thoughts were dragging her deeper into a pit of despair and self-pity. "You know, thoughts like that make it awfully hard for an Empath to sleep."

Rose stared at Melissa blankly. "What is an Empath?"

"Empathy is the ability to feel what others feel. The stronger the emotion, the better I can feel it. I can't read minds, just emotions."

Melissa sat down beside Rose. "Care to talk about it?"

Rose just looked at her. "You should be able to figure out what I'm worried about. My brother is in there suffering, and there is not a thing I can do."

Melissa watched her for a few minutes, examining Rose's feelings with the empathy that was part of the healing talent. "That's not all that you're thinking about, and it's not what is scaring you. Do you want to talk about that?"

Rose examined her hands. "I've never been alone you know. All my life, James has been there in the back of my head, and to be honest, I'm not dealing with this well."

Melissa frowned at her. "I thought you could still feel him?"

"I can, for now. For how much longer though? No Soulbonded pair has ever lived more than 15 years because of the burnout. Therefore, at some point in the next 15 years, I am going to be alone for the first time ever, and I don't think I can handle that. James is the Alpha of our link, the strong one that decides what we're going to do and when."

Rose's eyes were wet, and Melissa reached for her. "Almost everyone is alone in their heads Rose, and they all make it."

"What if that's because they have never been linked? Everyone that has ever had a link tight enough to send words down has died when the other half of them did." Rose said.

Melissa blinked. "You can send words through your twin bond? I've never heard of any bond strong enough to do that, except the Soulbond." Melissa trailed off as she considered the implications of that. If the bond was that tight, and Rose was right... Melissa tabled the thought until she could get the opinion of somebody that knew about bonds in general.

Rose avoided the question, and changed the subject. "Isn't there anything your talent can do for them?"

Melissa shook her head. She explained, "The frenzy is not a physical thing, but mental. From interviews with Soulbonds that make it past this stage, they have already adapted to the dual inputs. At this point, they are trying to deal with another person having total access to everything they are."

Rose looked puzzled. "James has always had me, why is it a problem?" Melissa looked at her for a minute, until Rose thought about it. "Tiffany hasn't had this, and isn't taking it well."

Melissa shrugged. "I don't imagine James was ready for somebody that knows everything about him either." Rose frowned, but before she could speak, Melissa continued. "You and him need to send to each other right? Like talking, but with your minds, not your voices. Tiffany has total access to everything thought, emotion, action, everything he's ever done, and even the stuff he would never tell you." Rose was still disbelieving, and Melissa continued. "Have you ever thought that James was a git?"

Rose looked at her, raising one eyebrow. "A what?"

Melissa frowned, as she tried to remember the American slang. "A boob, a jerk, you know." Rose grinned, and then sobered again. "Boob is old slang, we don't use it anymore, at least not to describe a jerk. Yeah, maybe, but so what?"

Melissa asked, "Even had an urge to do something you know is wrong, or done something wrong, that nobody knows about?"

Rose had a sudden memory, and blushed darkly.

Melissa nodded. "Right now, those two are dealing with having everything, every thought and emotion seen by what amounts to a total stranger."

Rose thought about the things she had thought or done, that not even James knew about, and considered having a total stranger know all of it. She shook her head. "I can see where that might be a bad thing." Melissa smiled faintly at the understatement. Rose sighed, and turned her mind to other things, in an attempt to forget the two in the Mediwing. She asked Melissa to explain the Healing talent to her.

Melissa just smiled. "Can you explain your link to James to me?" Rose tried, but it was not easy to explain it. "It's the same way with the Healing talent. It's a feeling you get when you touch a hurt person." The two girls spent an hour trying to explain the link and Healing talent to each other, and when they started yawning, they had only the slimmest idea of what the other girl was trying to describe. They walked up the stairs to the room they shared with the other first year girls. As they reached the door, Melissa stopped Rose. "I noticed how you avoided talking about whatever you and James did to your link, but I would like to know, when you can talk about it."

Rose just shrugged, and put on her best innocent look. "I don't know what you mean."

Melissa stared at her, feeling the difference between what Rose was feeling and the air she was projecting. Melissa grinned at her. "That probably works better on people that can't feel your emotions."

Rose maintained the innocent look and grinned back. "You can think whatever you like, but unless you can read minds, I still say it's just a strong bond." Rose opened the door, and went into their room, leaving Melissa thinking hard.

The next three days wore hard on the group. Between worrying about James and Tiffany, the classes, working on the prank, and Prefect Moore always wanting to know "One more thing", the tension level that week was going steadily up. Friday morning it all changed. Melissa was rudely jerked out of sleep, as her Empathy caught a spike of joyrelieflovehappiness from Rose that penetrated her sleep. Melissa rose up on an elbow, and only saw Rose's robe disappearing out the door. Melissa could feel her until she went through the portrait and reached the limits of her empathy's range. Melissa considered the emotions Rose had felt, and her sleep-fogged mind finally figured out that James and Tiffany must have come out of the frenzy. She woke the other girls, and they dressed in a rush. Melissa went down to the common room and found a male Gryffindor. She asked him to get the other first year boys, and tell them that James and Tiffany were awake. The first year girls waited impatiently for the boys, and the whole group went to the infirmary when they came down from the boy's side.

Ginny Potter and Madame Pomfrey were examining the patients in the infirmary, and Rose was sitting nearby. The three green-eyed children had far away looks, as they talked through the two links. James noticed the other first years, and smiled at them. "Ladies, we have guests, and it's rude to be excluding them." Ginny and Madame Pomfrey moved away to converse in low tones, and the group crowded around. James and Tiffany looked the same as they had at the sorting ceremony, but there was a vague difference, not something you could put your finger on. Rose was looking at her brother.

Tiffany looked at her. "He's fine Rose, trust me on that."

Rose blinked. "How did you know what I was thinking?"

Tiffany looked at her and smiled wryly. "I have his every memory, and I know you as well as he does."

Rose raised one eyebrow as she thought about that. She was silent for a minute, and then smiled at Tiffany. "This is not fair you know, you know me, and I don't know anything about you."

The rest of the first years were crowding around, and everyone was trying to talk at once. James held up a hand. "Pipe down" He ordered.

He looked at Adam Brooks, but before he could say anything, Rose spoke to him across the link they shared. "Chill out James, he knows everything. You do remember that I saw he was the Eighth at the sorting ceremony, don't you?"

"Yes, have you figured out how to tell Daniel yet?"

"No, I've had other things on my mind." Rose sent James a short version of the last four days.

James considered what she'd sent but Tiffany was the first to speak. "I love the vengeance prank. Y'all are going to." Tiffany trailed off, and shook her head. She stared flatly at James. "You've corrupted my English, you bloody Yank. Y'all is not a word."

James just smiled at her. "Oops?"

Tiffany shook her head. "Right then. As I was saying, I love the prank, and you will let us help now that we're awake?"

Lisa smiled evilly. "Of course. After all, we can't allow the Slytherins to be one up on us, can we?"

Madame Pomfrey and Ginny Potter came back to the beds from their talk. Ginny smiled, her relief at Tiffany waking up bright in her eyes. "If you lot would allow us to finish examining these two, I think they'll be in the Hall for breakfast." said Madame Pomfrey in a rather pointed way. The students between her and the two in bed hastily moved out of the way. Ginny gently shooed the other students out, after Rose hugged James again.

On the way back to Gryffindor house, Rose kept a running commentary up, as she spoke to James, and passed things along. "James wants everyone that can to try out for the House Quidditch team. It will give us all practice in teamwork if we can get enough slots." She blinked and held a long conversation with James over their link. By the time she finished, they were back in the common room, and sitting around the fire.

Prefect Moore came down the stairs and sat near them. He checked that none of the older Gryffindors were close, and asked after the two in the Infirmary. Rose's eyes were bright as she told him that they would be at breakfast. Prefect Moore nodded. "I had hoped they would come out of this soon. There are a couple of us that would like to talk to all of you about this project of yours."

Rose felt James's anger over the link as she relayed what he'd said. "Rose, ask him who he told."

Rose did so, and Prefect Moore cocked his head. "Just the other Prefects in Gryffindor. I think you might need some people covering for you, and the Prefects are the best people in the house to do so."

Rose sent that to James. "He's right you know. This thing of ours might lead us into breaking a school rule or two, and having them cover for us would help a lot."

"Maybe so, but I would rather he waited until you and Melissa could talk to the people he told. Your sight and her Empathy would give me a better idea as to their nature, and whether we should trust them."

"James, surely you can trust the Gryffindors?"

"Sister dear, I'm with Uncle Alexander on this. We shouldn't trust anyone. I know we'll have to trust some people sooner or later, but I want to be the one that chooses who."

Prefect Moore was watching Rose intently, and spoke abruptly. "You can talk to James, can't you? Not just emotions, like most twin bonds, but actual words."

Rose put on the innocent look she and James had perfected when they started pulling pranks on people. "You're the second person to say something like that, and I still don't know what you mean."

Prefect Moore started to say something else, but Rose cut him off. "James and Tiffany are heading for the Great Hall, we should go now." The first year Gryffindors headed for the portrait, followed by Prefect Moore.

He looked at Rose as they walked down the stairs to the Great Hall. "I wonder what James would say, if I asked him about your twin bond?"

Rose grinned at him. "Well, if you are right, and we talk down the bond, he'll say the same thing I do. If we don't, how should I know what he'd say?"

In the great hall, the friends were reunited for the first time since the sorting ceremony, and the ones that had known each other for a long time spent a few minutes hugging Tiffany. Hangeld and Emma engulfed Tiffany, and Rose caught a strange look on James's face as they did so. "What's the matter James?"

"I can feel them hugging her, and it's a bit weird to feel people hugging you when nobody is touching you."

Rose grinned and spoke. "I can fix that." Rose wrapped her arms around James, knowing he could feel her relief at his return and trying to keep her dismay at what would happen to them under the level their link could feel. James looked at her a bit sadly, and she knew she had not succeeded. He just smiled though, and flashed her a family hand sign for "Later".

James and Tiffany had taken seats at the end of the Gryffindor table, and the rest of the group slid into seats around them. There was an open area between them and the rest of the Gryffindors, and James merely lowered his voice a little, as he began speaking to them all. "I hope you've been studying the materials we gave you all. Adam, we'll get you the same things as well. If you're going to be in on this project with us, you should know what we are doing, and that includes the lessons. Rose, you've been tracking their progress, right?"

Rose was used to James and just grinned at him. "Brother mine, you're going to scare them away. They are studying, but can we at least give them a week before you get obsessive with them?"

James frowned. "Rose," he began.

Rose cut him off. "James, they're working, but we also have schoolwork, and you want us to try out for the Quidditch team, so not everything can be like we had it at the house." James looked frustrated, but conceded they did have other things to do.

Emma was staring at the twins as they argued. "Excuse me," she said, "but are you telling me that his first thought after a week in the infirmary is to give us a test on the stuff you two gave us?" Rose and James both looked at her.

Rose rolled her eyes, and answered her question. "Of course. I love James to death, but he's a compulsive perfectionist, and he'll drive you completely nuts if he thinks you're not working hard enough."

James protested mildly, "I am not a perfectionist, I'll let them make one mistake."

Emma looked at Tiffany. "He's not really that bad, is he?"

Tiffany looked abstracted for a minute, as she examined James's memories. While she had all his memories, and he had all of hers, they had to think about them. Their own memories were just there to use, but using the other person's memories meant think about it. She finished thinking about the way James was and looked at Emma. "Yes he is."

James just looked at them all. "Yes I am that bad. In just a few years, we will be trying to stay alive, and defend our family and friends against a wizard that makes Voldemort look like a Boggart. If you're not worried about yourselves, learn the lessons to save them." He stared at them until they looked away.

After breakfast, they went to their first class where the tall Hufflepuff that had insulted Lisa the first day was waiting for them. As he started to say something, three sets of green eyes made him stop. Tiffany joined the twins and they surrounded him.

Tiffany: "Whatever it is"

Rose: "that you were about"

James: "to say to Lisa"

Tiffany: "you can say"

All three: "to us."

He looked at the three of them and found an unnerving sameness to the look in their eyes. Without another word, he sat down. James looked at him as if he was a loathsome bug James was planning to step on.

"I am not from around here." He said in the flattest American accent he could manage. "But where I come from, we stand up for our friends. If you, or anyone else has a problem with Lisa, I'll be more than happy to talk to you about it." James's tone was cold, and more than one person shivered as he spoke. He stared at the Hufflepuffs they had Transfigurations with, but none of them said anything. Finally, he sat down, and began chatting with the other Gryffindors as if nothing had happened.

As they arrived at Defense against the Dark Arts, Lisa laid a hand on James's arm. "I have the Slytherins in hand James, you don't need to threaten them."

James looked innocent, and protested. "I haven't threatened anyone yet. I merely offered to discuss it with that Hufflepuff." Lisa rolled her eyes, causing Rose to choke.

Lisa looked at her, and Rose grinned. "If you only knew how many times I've had that same expression on my face, when I'm talking to James."

Lisa just sighed and asked Rose how she dealt with him. Rose smirked. "Usually, with a very big stick." The group continued into the classroom, and found Professor Moody already there. James had looked around the classroom out of habit when they entered, and had spotted the dark haired girl nobody knew.

He watched her for a minute, as the rest of the Slytherins came in. "Who's that Rose?"

"Nobody but the Slytherins knows, and they won't say a word about her. All we know is that she's a first year, she wasn't at the sorting ceremony, and Melissa says she's hurting badly."

"Have you tried talking to her?"

"James, nobody can find her, except during classes, and then she stays away from everyone." Just then, Professor Moody started class, and the subject was dropped. At the end of class, James looked for the girl, but she was already gone.

The group took the same seats they had used during breakfast, and began a low voiced conversation about the prank they were planning on the nine Slytherins that had been involved in humiliating Lisa. James and Tiffany were brought up to date on the prank, and they began figuring out how to make it work. James suddenly stopped and stared into space, and he began smiling in a way Rose knew well. She groaned, even as Tiffany began giggling at whatever James was thinking. Adam looked at the three of them, and wryly inquired if they'd care to fill in the people that could not read each other's minds. Rose looked at him, and indicated James's expression. "Every time he gets that expression, we get grounded for something."

James looked wounded. "Not fair, sister mine. We didn't get grounded for the spider prank."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Only because that was our first time delayed prank that worked perfectly, and they couldn't prove it was us."

Tiffany spoke up, defending her Soulbonded. "This one shouldn't get anyone grounded. In fact, if it works, it may keep us from being grounded, or serving detentions."

Hangeld spoke then. "Why don't you tell us what it is, and then we'll decide."

James grinned, and started explaining what he had in mind. "It's really very simple, and it will help with our project also. Tiffany's memories have a group in them, called the Marauders. They were a group of students that hung out and did things together. I want to form a similar group. Our group though, will have just one goal." He grinned at them all before continuing. "I want to pull a series of pranks on everyone in the school, that will become legend. But, I want to do it without anyone knowing who it is, until we leave school."

Daniel blinked. "How do you plan on letting people know who did it then?"

James thought about it, and shrugged. "Simple. We pick a name, and create a signature to go with that name. If we do the signature up right, we can sign them all, and not give ourselves away."

The group began discussing possible names but had to go to class before deciding. After classes, they continued the discussion as they set up a table in the corner of the Gryffindor common room to study at. Tiffany was looking through the Care of Magical Animals book when a picture caught her eye. "How about this one?" she asked, pushing the book around for everyone to see. The book was open to the section on Chimera.

Emma was puzzled. "Why that one?"

Tiffany was skimming the text, as she answered Emma absently. "The Chimera is a fusion of several animals, just as we are a fusion of several types. Two Americans, one muggle born, one half giant, and so on." She pushed the book around again. "We are nine different people, with different goals and ideas, brought together and fused into one."

The rest of the group looked at each other. Heads began nodding, and the Chimera name was taken. Lisa was looking puzzled as they talked about ways to sign the pranks. "James, you said this will help us with the project. How will it do that?"

James stared off into space as he answered. "I asked everyone to try out for Quidditch so we could get practice working together as a team, and learning how we'll react under pressure. The pranks though, will require careful planning and execution so we aren't caught. That is how it will help. It allows us to practice strategy and tactics without having to wait until summer training with Uncle Alexander."