Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 153: Back at School
After receiving a few cleaning charms, James and Bellatrix were escorted back to the dining room, where they had a short dinner and signed the marriage contract.
It was all carried out as a professional business transaction, because at the end of the day, that is exactly what it was.
A promise of mutual protection for the incoming war. That is all that it was supposed to be.
"Sigh… that girl…" James sighed and rested back on his bed. He was not oblivious to the fact that Bellatrix Black seemed to have real feelings for him, ones that went beyond what their relationship was meant to be.
He didn't know what to do with that. So for the time being, he decided to pretend not to notice.
There were many more important things to occupy his mind with.
"I should get some sleep…" He wanted to rest, as tomorrow morning he would have to start packing for his trip back to Hogwarts, but there were too many thoughts running around his head to do that.
James also felt that it would be better to keep an eye open, just in case that Warlock made an appearance, no matter how unlikely that was.
"Who could that be?" he wondered.
During the attack, he had been unable to see the face of their pursuer, as his priority was to get the girls to safety.
However, now that he could think things through more calmly, perhaps he should have faced their attacker after all.
Andromeda knew how to use apparition and could have taken Bella back to their house, or James could have given them a portkey to some safer location while he took care of this person.
Now he had a threat hanging over his head. Whoever this individual was, they definitely knew his identity.
'At least I don't have to worry about them coming here while I'm gone.' One thing he was sure of… they were after the piece of leather he got from the tomb.
That meant they would come directly for him.
'What a shame, I was looking forward to doing some tests on that thing.' Unfortunately, there was no time for that.
He would now have to wait until he was back at the castle for a day or two so everyone could settle back into their routines.
'I can't wait…' He already had a project in mind for the leather. And if it worked as he expected, it would become one of the most powerful artifacts he had ever created, in this lifetime and the previous one.
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"James, come on. Wake up, man."
He felt someone shaking his shoulder and opened his eyes.
"Peter…" he spoke in a tired voice. "Just let me sleep a bit longer." He had barely rested during the Spring Break.
Because of this, almost as soon as he reached his cabin on the train to Hogwarts, he closed his eyes and fell into a profound slumber.
"You can't do that," Peter said.
"James, we've arrived at Hogwarts. And you haven't even put on your uniform yet," Remus spoke next.
James groaned in response. Why couldn't the ride to school take a few more hours?
"Okay, I'm up," James said, eyes still closed.
He got changed in a rush, and the group walked to the castle.
Once inside, they left their luggage for the house-elves to carry to their rooms and made their way to the main hall.
But right before getting there, they found someone waiting for them on one of the hall benches.
"Sirius!" Peter called with excitement. It had only been a bit over two weeks, but they had all missed their friend.
"Hey, you guys are finally back." Sirius waved at them. "You have no idea how dull this castle has been… almost no one stayed here."
"Yeah, we can imagine," Remus said.
"We did notice that most students had decided to leave during the break. It was very weird," Frank added.
"Hey Frank, did you get into a fight with Alice? I saw her walking past with Lily and neither of them looked too happy," Sirius pointed out.
"Oh, that…" Frank glanced at James, who was yawning.
"You're still sleepy? I can't believe this," Peter said.
"Are you feeling alright, mate?" Frank Longbottom shook his head. "I kinda feel sorry for Lily. She sat at his side and he didn't even give her a minute of attention before falling asleep."
"She looked so disappointed…" Peter added, also feeling sorry for her.
Sirius threw James a knowing glance. "Oh, so that's why. Maybe there's another girl on James' mind."
James' eyes opened, and he returned the look to Sirius. "Something you want to say?"
Sirius didn't look too pleased. "Can't speak of family matters now, can I?"
James wondered what kind of version of the story Sirius had heard from his family. The most likely to have told him something was his younger brother, Regulus.
"We can speak about this later—just you and I."
"What is going on with those two?" Peter turned to Remus.
"I… have no idea," Remus was equally confused.
After that strange conversation, the group entered the Great Hall and moved to their table.
They immediately felt that something was wrong in the hall. More specifically, there was a bad mood at the Slytherin table.
The boys sat down at their usual places and asked the others present if they knew what this was about.
There were people murmuring all over the hall. This continued until Charlie Bell, the current Captain of the Gryffindor team, leaned forward and whispered to them,
"One of the Slytherin seniors died during the break."
"What?!" Peter could not control the volume of his voice.
"Who?" Remus asked.
Charlie looked back at the other table to make sure they hadn't heard him.
"Rodolphus Lestrange."
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