Alone

Chapter 19

Frowning, Jake was ready to burn the letter when he realised that the seal was familiar. Looking at it closely, he nearly had a heart attack when he saw it was the Potter seal. Tearing the envelope open and not caring if a purple and pink dotted dragon jumped out of it, Jake stared dumbly as a long piece of parchment fell out. Lifting it carefully, Jake nearly dropped it again when he realised it was his father's writing.

Raising the parchment up to read, Jake didn't notice his trembling hands.

Dear Harry,

If you're reading this, then it means that something has happened to your mother and me concerning Voldemort. I know you probably don't know why Voldemort came after us, you aren't supposed to until you're twenty-one, at least. So I guess you're twenty-one now, huh son? I'm sorry I wasn't there to see you through whatever time I missed. Probably your childhood, but I'm sure Sirius made a good guardian.

But I suppose you want to know why your mother and I died? Simple really. Despite rumours, your mother wasn't the heir of Slytherin or some long lost relative of Voldemort. I was. Yes, I, a Potter, was related to Tom Riddle and an heir to Slytherin. I, of course, had absolutely no idea about this. None of my family did until Riddle decided to do some snooping or something like that. He somehow got his hands on a time-turner and went back in time. And I mean a long way back in time. Back to the 1500's. It turns out that your great-great-great-God-knows-how-many-greats grandmother had twins. The second one was thought to have died, but he didn't. I don't know what was wrong with him, but something was and everybody thought he had died. He didn't but somehow ended up in the streets. A wealthy family came along, the Potters, and took him in. Pretending that this child was their own, the second twin had a happy life and never knew he wasn't a Potter.

So now, it carries on. Yes, you got your eyes from your mother, but my grandfather also had eyes as bright as yours. I don't know why my father or I didn't get them, but we didn't. Riddle found all this and decided to recruit me as a supporter of his. Fat chance! Like I would obey a monster like him!

I refused and since a Slytherin heir couldn't have another battling for the victory between good and evil, he decided I needed to be taken care of. So now I'm here, dead. I know I sound morbid and pessimistic, but there's really nothing to worry about. I have a beautiful wife and a gorgeous baby boy. Yes, you will always be my baby boy Harry. I need nothing else in life.

Please, whatever you do, don't join Voldemort. He's not worth it and his morals are all wrong. Listen to Sirius. I'm sure he will make a great father. Oh, and try to not get into too much trouble, will you Harry?

I love you, Prongs Jr.

James Harold Potter.

Harry dropped the letter and sat down heavily on his bed.

Oh joy, Tommy is my cousin or uncle or something like that, Jake thought sarcastically as he stared heatedly at the letter. Even though he knew it was stupid, Jake somehow thought that maybe if he stared at the letter long enough, every bad thing in his life concerning Voldemort (which was just about everything) would disappear. Jake spent ten minutes of staring hard at the piece of parchment and got nothing for his trouble but a headache. He decided to salvage whatever little chance he had of sleeping and crawled into bed.

Only when he was half asleep did he remember something. Well, two somethings actually.

One, his father always thought that he was going to live with Sirius if anything happened to him. Jake laughed bitterly and stopped the tears of pain from coming to his eyes.

Oh, and what a wonderful godfather he made. He doesn't even believe in his own godson, Jake thought sardonically.

And if Tommy is related to me, then that means Lucy is my.... Oh my God! Luckily we were never more than friends and I never had any of those feelings for her.

And to no one's surprise, Jake felt rather uneasy after that thought.

~~*~~

When Jake woke up the next morning, he decided to tell no one about the letter except Derek and Lucy. He thought the less people who knew, the better.

~~*~~

A pair of eyes watched Lucius as he moved around doing the Dark Lord's bidding. Those blue eyes were filled with coldness as he watched the blond with satisfaction. Yes, his Lord's plan worked out just fine and now Lucius was where he wanted him. Though, he doubted if Lucius knew that. After all, Lucius shouldn't know.

Grinning evilly, the pair of eyes melted into the shadows and continued to watch Lucius without his knowledge.

Yes, everything was going just fine.

~~*~~

Ginny stared out the window. Harry was back. She couldn't believe it. Her longest crush was back in the flesh and all she did was cry and carry on like baby. She felt her cheeks redden with the memory. Luckily, she didn't have any more of those feelings for Harry; otherwise it would be even more embarrassing.

Checking her robe once more, Ginny left her room and went down to the Great Hall; after all, we couldn't have our Charms teacher being late could we?

~~*~~

Jake sighed and changed into the robes Dumbledore had brought him. He couldn't just sit here and do nothing, so he decided to do something useful. Besides, the more time he had on his hands, the longer and more logically he could think. And too much thinking was bad, especially if he was trying to stay mad at the whole wizarding world.

Looking into the mirror, Jake brushed the hair out of his eyes and stared at the place on his forehead where the scar should be. There was nothing there. His appearance charm worked perfectly and his scar was no where to be seen. Derek was pretending to be a professor, helping Sirius teach Muggle Studies. In any case, it would be hard to explain the sudden appearance of two males if they weren't professors.

While most students were still wary towards Sirius, they were starting to relax. After all, having the knowledge that Sirius Black was a maniacal killer drummed into their heads for sixteen years wasn't going away just because a newspaper article said he was innocent.

Jake shook his head. He shouldn't be thinking of this. He knew that the longer he stayed here around his old friends, the harder it would be for him to walk away at the end.

Trying fruitlessly to smooth his hair down, Jake walked out of his room.

Hogwarts new flying professor had arrived.

~~*~~

When Jake entered the hall, it fell silent. Everybody craned their neck to look at the stranger they had seen flying the day before. Jake walked up to the teacher's table calmly, his face not betraying any feelings. When he was settled next to a grinning Derek, Dumbledore stood up and beckoned for silence. The whispering stopped immediately and everybody looked at Dumbledore.

"Students, due to the tragic-" Sirius and Remus grinned evilly as the hall burst into laugher "-event which Professor Nott encountered, we are in need of a new professor. May I welcome Professor Jake Stevens," Dumbledore said, ignoring the sniggers and occasional laughter that erupted when everybody thought about what had happened to Professor Nott to make him quit. There was polite applause around the hall as everyone analysed the new flying professor. He could fly, that was for sure, but the major question to the students was whether he was a strict or mean teacher.

~~*~~

Dinner had finished without any further surprises or problems and everyone went to bed. Jake was just about to leave the Great Hall when a voice made him stop.

"Potter."

Jake turned around sharply, about to reprimand whoever it was for calling him Potter, when he stopped and looked warily at his old professor in front of him.

"Snape," he returned the greeting, waiting to see what the potions master had to say.

~~*~~

Lucy yawned and stretched. She had been here for a week and she was beginning to give up hope that Jake was coming to get her. Also the fact that Voldemort wanted to see her in an hour's time wasn't reassuring. Sighing irritably, Lucy threw down her book and paced the room impatiently.

Oh boy, she wasn't looking forward to meeting Voldemort. Though the question in her mind was "who would?"

Lucy was startled out of her thoughts when the door opened and Blaise walked through.

"Time to go," he said cheerfully and received a glare for his troubles.

"Stupid male species, good for nothing son-of-a-bitch. Why are you so damn cheerful?" Lucy demanded, as Blaise took a step back for his own safety.

"I was just trying to lighten the mood. No need to bite my head off," he muttered as Lucy turned around and gave him what Derek called her 'evil-scare-the-crap-out-of-your-enemies-glare'. Blaise swallowed visibly and took another step back, edging towards the door.

"Did I just hear what I thought I heard?" Lucy asked, her voice dangerously soft. Blaise paled. Man, she was scarier than Voldemort when she was angry.

"No, of course not," Blaise lied hopefully, giving her his best smile. His charms did not seem to work as Lucy just glared back.

Although inwardly Lucy's stomach was fluttering, she kept her cool demeanour. Even if Blaise's smile was adorable and she just wanted to slam him up against a wall and kiss him.

You did NOT think that, Lucy thought.

Ah, young love. You know, denial is the first step, another voice chimed in.

Before her mind could retort, Blaise strode forward and touched her arm softly.

"Are you okay Lucy?" he asked with concern. Lucy jumped away as if shocked by electricity. Blaise was hurt, but he covered it up.

"Sure." Lucy cleared her throat. Her voice had come out squeaky and high and it did not suit her. "Sure, why not?"

Blaise have her a look, but said nothing.

"Alright, we have to go and see My Lord now," he said slowly, drawing each word out. Lucy's face deflated and she shot Blaise a dirty look.

"Let's get it over with," she muttered and followed Blaise out.

~~*~~

"How have you been Potter?" Snape asked conversationally, as Jake looked around the hall to see if anyone had heard the potions professor.

"Oh fine," he answered breezily as he watched Derek and Sirius chat with each other.

"Potter, you might not want to hear it or want to admit it, but you need the wizarding world as much as the wizarding world needs you," Snape said gently as Jake snapped his attention back to him.

"What?" he demanded caught off guard by Snape's approach.

"Face it, you miss the wizarding world and you know it, only you don't want to admit it. Why can't you see that everybody cares about you and is sorry?" Snape insisted as Jake's vision turned red.

"Care about me? Then why didn't they care enough to dig down and find the truth? Why didn't they stick by me when I needed them the most?" Jake half-shouted. The professors left in the hall turned around and looked at what was causing the commotion. Snape actually looked sad for a moment before his mask came on again.

"And why do you care?" Jake pressed on, his voice softening the volume.