James was walking through the halls of Hogwarts. The day was sunny and seemed to be like any other day. However, he felt something strange in the atmosphere, an uneasy feeling that enveloped him with every step he took.
Suddenly, he saw a familiar figure up ahead, his back to him. The slight, hunched body of Peter Pettigrew, with his trademark tousled hair and insecure posture. James felt a pang of relief at the sight of him, but also a strange sense of unease.
"Peter," James called, his voice echoing down the empty corridor. The figure did not move, remaining with its back to him, unmoving.
James moved closer, sensing that something wasn't right. "Peter, what are you doing here? We have to get to class. It's late,"
Finally, Peter began to turn slowly, as if his movements were being forced. James felt his heart pounding in his chest. When Peter turned fully around, what he saw made his blood run cold.
Peter's face was pale and lifeless, like a wax mask. His eyes, normally filled with fear and doubt, were now glazed over, with no trace of emotion. His mouth was slightly open, but he made no sound.
Peter opened his mouth and began to speak, his voice sounded hollow, as if it came from a faraway place, distorted and laden with resentment. "I died because of you, James."
James's stomach churned. He wanted to say something, but the words stuck in his throat.
"I didn't want to explore the cursed vaults," Peter continued, his voice full of reproach. "I followed you because I trusted you because you were my friend. But now... my parents don't have your son,"
James recoiled, unable to look away from Peter's lifeless eyes. "I... I didn't mean to... I didn't mean to..." he stammered, feeling a lump in his throat.
Peter took a step toward him, his movements clumsy and uncoordinated, as if he were being pulled by an invisible thread. "It's your fault, James. It always will be. I just wanted to spend my days at Hogwarts safely. I'd even gotten a girlfriend, but because of you,"
James felt the chill in the air intensify, Peter's every word a knife stabbing into his conscience. He wanted to run, to get away from that spectral figure, but his feet seemed nailed to the ground.
"I'm a corpse now," concluded Peter, and his skin began to peel off, revealing a bloody skeleton that soon crumbled into dust.
"No!" shouted James, waking with a start, gasping and his heart racing.
"Take it easy, James! It was just a bad dream," said Gwen, hugging James' head, who was surprised to be sharing a bed with someone.
"Gwen? When did you get here?" asked James, catching his breath and looking at the blonde girl hugging him.
Gwen had grown up. Her light blonde hair fell in soft waves over her shoulders, and a fringe framed her beautiful face. Her bright blue eyes looked up at James full of concern. Her skin was smooth and fair, and a subtle blush adorned her cheeks. She was wearing green pajamas with cute little snakes on them.
"A few hours ago. Your mother opened up to me," Gwen replied.
"And you came to sleep?" asked James with a raised eyebrow, looking at Gwen's outfit. She was wearing pajamas that she always wore to bed.
"Yes. Is there a problem?" said Gwen, crossing her arms.
"If your father knows, he'll kill me," James said with a slight grimace. The Shafiqs had returned to the side of the good guys. This is thanks to the efforts of James and Gwen.
"I doubt he can beat you. My boyfriend is very powerful," Gwen said with a giggle intertwining her arms behind James' neck.
"Besides, I don't think he can get out of that house. He's still under surveillance. There's always an auror watching him," she added without as much mirth as before.
"It's normal for Crouch to put so much surveillance on him. He's a former death eater," James said, and then seeing Gwen's unhappy expression, he lightened his words, "I don't doubt him, but it's not the same for the higher-ups in the ministry. With the information he delivered his situation is much better,"
Luckily, Marcellus and Lysandra did not commit any crimes under the Death Eater masks. James and Gwen managed to bring them to the side of the law before they participated in any attacks and ended up harming or killing people.
The information they had on the death eaters was not much. Marcellus could only come up with two names that he was sure belonged to the criminal organization: the Notts and the Bulstrode. Then he had seen them all wearing masks. He gave enough information for the law to be able to act on these two families.
This information was valuable, as it allowed the ministry to have an advantage it hadn't had in a long time.
"Mm," Gwen nodded without speaking further on the subject.
"Are you still having nightmares?" she asked, looking at James with concern. It had been over two years since Peter had been killed in the sunken vault.
"Every so often," James replied dryly, getting out of bed.
"Hey, wait," said Gwen, grabbing James by the wrist, who stopped and looked at her.
"What?"
"My good morning kiss," Gwen said, showing no shame whatsoever.
James reached over and kissed Gwen on the mouth, "Who knew the ice princess Shafiq, who freezes her enemies into blocks of ice was such a sweetheart?" he said as he pulled away with a slight smile.
"Shut up. If I don't you won't. You're busy all day," Gwen said in a dissatisfied tone, puffing out her cheeks.
"Sorry," James said, putting his hand on Gwen's cheek and stroking it gently.
His day was very busy. More so now that he had joined the war politically. He had important meetings and business to attend to every day. On top of her training and studying.
"I can hold my own," Gwen said with a smile so James wouldn't worry, she knew all the weight he carried on his shoulders. She just wanted to get a little revenge for James' teasing comment.
"Once it's all over, you'll only pay attention to me," Gwen added with a smile, imagining married life with James without needing to worry about crazy wizards who want to overthrow the current government and impose a regime of terror.
"It's a deal," James said with a slight smile.
"By the way, what are your plans today? My father wants to talk to you, he seems to be serious," Gwen said as she walked beside James through the halls of Potter Manor.
"After breakfast, I have a meeting with my master," James replied, by master, he meant Moody, the most famous auror.
James became his student after making the deal with the minister and getting Eustace. Moody like most wizards in the British magical community was amazed by James' abilities. He defeated a death eater and three dark wizards and then captured the last one who escaped. How could a thirteen-year-old boy be so powerful?
Moody was able to answer this conundrum after James became his apprentice at his request. James was happy that such an experienced auror wanted to teach him. What he was missing most would be actual combat experience.
James didn't hide his telekinesis or wandless magic. Moody was dumbfounded when he saw such an ability. After Moody's year-long training was over, the magical world learned about James' wandless magic skills as he participated in real skirmishes against the death eaters and the cannon fodder followers they lead.
James' magical abilities after a year of training with Moody increased exponentially. He controlled wandless magic, non-verbal magic, and conjuration. His weak point would be his magical power coming from his wand compared to death eaters and adult wizards, but with his wandless magic and conjuration, he outperformed most adult wizards with no problem.
His name quickly echoed throughout the magical community. Death Eaters and Voldemort's followers also knew and feared him. The teenager is capable of defeating dark wizards left and right. Though so far he had faced few Death Eaters with any real power like the Death Eater of the sunken vault.
Most were cannon fodder that Voldemort and the death eaters used for their attacks. However, the current James was not afraid to take on the followers of Voldemort's inner circle. He had not used all of his current strength in these skirmishes.
"After the meeting with my master, I have order training. After that, I can talk to your father," James said, and Gwen arranged the details.
When they reached the dining room several people were sitting eating at the large circular table. Sirius, Toby, Lupin, Emily, Lily, Frank Longbottom, Alice, Fabian and Gideon Prewett, Penny (the girl who saved James from the troll several years ago), William Turner (former Gryffindor quidditch captain), Annabeth (former Gryffindor team chaser) and Erika (former dragon club leader).
"Leader we've been waiting for you! I hope you have a great and beautiful morning," said Gideon and Fabian, quickly getting up from their chairs and standing up like soldiers.
The others at the table laughed at the Brothers' silliness.
"It's rare for the recruits to eat before the leader," said James with a disapproving look.
"Oh, our mistake. Will you forgive us, great leader?" said Gideon, holding a hand to his head.
"I'll let it slide this time," said James with a slight smile, sitting down in a chair. Gwen sat next to him with a smile. It's good that James surrounds himself with enthusiastic and cheerful people.
"Did you sleep well?" asked Lupin, and James nodded.
"What will our training be today?" asked Toby his face was much more serious than it had been two years ago. His innocence was gone. Before he always had a fearful aura similar to Peter, but there was no trace of it.
Toby had shaved his hair like a military man. He'd lost weight and had gotten a big teenage growth spurt in the last two-plus years. He even surpassed James in height by a few inches. He was bigger than William, a person who played guardian.
Everyone looked at James expectantly. Although many were bigger than him they all respected him and followed his training treating him as a leader, after all, he created the order and invited them to join.
James knew about a secret order called the Order of the Phoenix. Founded by Albus Dumbledore himself to oppose Voldemort and his Death Eaters. As far as James knows the order was created in the early 70's when the first Death Eater attacks were already taking place.
James as a student of Moody and fighting Death Eaters knows about the Order as it works in conjunction with the Ministry. The Order was carrying out more secret and sudden attacks aimed at crushing the Dark Rebellion.
All the parents of those gathered at this table were members of the Order. It didn't matter if they were Aurors or not. As long as they were adults who wanted to stop the Dark Rebellion they could join.
However, the Order did not allow the inclusion of teenagers, with exceptions such as James, who is a case apart. The parents of the Order do not want their children to fight in deadly skirmishes. As much as their children are young adults like William, Erika, etc. They were still studying their careers, they didn't want to expose them to such danger.
James believed this was misguided. Death Eaters use youngsters and teenagers in their ranks. Even half-bloods and muggle-borns who hide their identities. For they prefer to win the war first and then dedicate themselves to making sure there are only purebloods left.
So James created his order and trained the members of this order. The people here were not the only ones. Later his Potter cousins, Severus, and Xeno, among other familiar friends and trusted companions would arrive.
"Our training today will be a pitched battle between two sides," James replied, pouring himself some tea.
"Are we still training? When will we fight on a real battlefield?" asked Sirius with a frown and raised his tone of voice. Everyone turned to look at him.
Sirius had gone through a change as well. He was taller and lankier than before. Not as tall as James or Toby, but not short. His black hair, distinctive of House Black, was slicked back and long.
His once carefree and joking personality was gone from his scowling face. James saw Sirius's scowl from the moment he sat down in the dining room, not even laughing at Gideon and Fabian's jokes.
"It's not time yet," James replied calmly. He was already used to the Sirius in front of him.
Like him, Sirius felt a great deal of guilt over Peter's death. He was always telling him he was a coward and to be braver.
"And when will it be? I thought you created this order for us to take on the bloody Death Eaters. You sound just like the adults who just want us to train," Sirius said impatiently. He was already getting tired of training. His friend could fight and take out his stress thanks to accompanying Moody, but not him.
"In a week you'll get the action you want. I only ask that you wait patiently and train," James said.
His Order would have its first official mission shortly. He just needed to get the accurate information so he could plan his attack perfectly.
"It had better be," Sirius said, getting up grumpily and leaving the dining room.
Toby was about to get up to go talk to Sirius, but a delicate white hand stopped him.
"I'll go," Emily said, getting up from her chair and walking quietly over to where Sirius was headed.
"Those two have been very clingy lately," Fabian said with a slight smile to lighten the mood a bit.
The group continued to eat breakfast, chatting until James had to go to meet with Moody. Then it was order training, and after finishing that, James headed to a house not far from Potter Manor. Where his girlfriend's parents were currently staying.