Disclaimer: I do not own any characters or anything else from the wonderful mind of JKR.

This is my first story. I appreciate any constructive criticism or suggestions. Any purely negative and/or degrading comments/reviews will be ignored. Thanks.

Albus Dumbledore was sitting behind his desk thinking. His thoughts were many and varied, however his mind was constantly drawn back to a certain black haired boy. Harry Potter was an enigma for many, but Albus thought he understood the boy quite well. He was a brave, selfless, helpful, caring, and very shy young man. Albus took a lot of credit for Harry's general personality. Really the only negative aspects Albus could think of was how he seemed to push people away and shy away from any physical contact, and his rather explosive anger.

It took a lot of time to rouse Harry's anger, but once it was awakened it was really something to behold, especially for an thirteen-year-old. His anger had cowed many of the older students in his house, the house of the brave no less, and many of the teachers were a little anxious to be faced with it. His magic made things worse though, it reacted fantastically when he was anger. Harry was always a strong wizard; he could cast the first year spells all day and barely feel tired at all. When his emotions were running high Harry could cast almost any spell known it barely feel the drain on his power.

It puzzled Albus that it was possible for Harry to do that. For as long as he had been alive, well over one hundred years, Albus had never met another wizard, or witch, that could do that. Even after speaking with a few Unspeakables that he was acquainted with Albus couldn't find another case of what Harry was capable of. Either the other people like him were much better at hiding themselves, they were being hidden by the various governments that Albus had reached out to, or there was only Harry. Albus was leaning towards the only on of his kind at the moment though since he was sure that Harry would have been found out long ago and either taken or trained.

His thoughts were brought to a crashing halt when the delicate silver instruments off to the side of his office started squealing, honking, and howling. Albus was so startled by his Harry monitors that he flipped himself right out of his chair. He struggled to flip his purple with blue star spangled robes off of his head and pull his beard back from across his face, finally he gave up and used a vanishing charm on his robes. That being done he stood and strode over to the spindle legged table that looked like a rave was taking place on it with all the lights and smoke that was all over it.

"Minerva!" Albus shouted from where he stood, knowing that Hogwarts would make sure that Professor McGonagall heard his summons.

A few short, tense minutes later the stern Scotswoman rushed into the Headmasters office without knocking. Only the screech out "Albus!" while her hands shot up to cover her eyes and block the view of a very wrinkly and liver spotted hide. Luckily the important bits were covered by a pair of novelty boxer shorts printed with Mickey Mouse in wizard's robes featuring silver stars on a blue background.

"No time for that Minerva, we need to go check on Mr. Potter." Albus Dumbledore moved to grab his wand off of his desk.

"What makes you think now is a good time to check on him? What about the times that your monitors told you he was hurt? Or when they told you he was depressed, starving, or dehydrated? Why was that never the time to check on him?" McGonagall was yelling at Dumbledore now. She was becoming more and more disenchanted with the aging headmaster, mostly because of his attitude about Harry Potter.

Professor McGonagall was present on the day that Harry was left with his relatives, she was reluctant to even call them family, they just happened to share a small amount of blood with him. The boy's relatives were the worst kind of people she had ever seen. Constantly worrying about other people's opinions of them, when they weren't worrying about other people's thoughts on them they were focused on spoiling there, then, one-year-old child. Making sure that everything the child ever wanted was quickly procured for him. The professor was quite sure that the child would grow up spoiled and obnoxious. From the little she heard from Harry, she was well below the mark on how terrible she thought the child would be.

"This time is different because I am not getting any response from him at all and the blood wards I set around number four have fallen." Dumbledore tried to soothe the stern woman, but failed miserably.

"Blood wards?!" She shouted back, "Those are illegal Albus, they have been banned for centuries. What in Merlin's name were you thinking when you set those up?"

"I was only thinking of about Harry's safety. Those wards protected him and his family from discovery and danger from any magical person. The blood wards acted almost like a Fidelius charm, only the people that the wards are keyed to are able to find it. Only owls and people that have been told directions to the house can find it."

"That doesn't make them less illegal. It does explain why I couldn't get to the house to protect Harry from his relatives or to take him away from them." McGonagall's anger had burned itself out by now, she was just exasperated with Dumbledore at this point. The man did whatever he wanted, as if he was untouchable. To be fair he was pretty much untouchable. He was the leader of the Light, a leader in both national and international government, and likely the strongest wizard in the world at this point in time.

"You are right Minerva, but it was for the Greater Good." Dumbledore responded solemnly.

"The Greater Good by foot Albus! You did this to keep him out of the wizarding world, out of the public eye. You wanted to make sure he was humble and unaware of his fame. You wanted to be the man that saved him from his terrible existence. You are manipulating him to be the perfect little soldier in your fights and arguments. Wouldn't it be nice to have the Lord of several Noble and Ancient houses, by blood and deed, on your side in the Wizengamot? Albus you sicken me. Consider this my resignation." Ex-professor Minerva McGonagall didn't wait for Albus to answer her.

Minutes later Minerva McGonagall had all of her possessions packed away and ready to leave Hogwarts for good. She had written a few letters to her esteemed colleagues, explaining that she had a difference of opinion with the Headmaster. She didn't want to make the other professors choose between believing her and believing Dumbledore, she didn't know how he would react to being questioned by everyone else. He had already proven that illegality and danger mattered little to him.

While McGonagall was packing and writing Albus Dumbledore had gotten redressed to go and check on Number Four Privet Drive. He knew that his monitor spells would only have failed if Harry was dead or someone had removed them. Honestly he was hoping for the former. Harry Potter could grow into an extremely powerful person, a person that would be very dangerous if he was told about his meddling.

Shaking thoughts like those out of his head, Dumbledore knocked on the plain, cookie cutter door that matched every other one on the block. He stood there listening to the sounds of what was likely a rather large person stomping towards the door and excessive muttering about 'stupid salesman interrupting dinner like this'.

The door opened and Dumbledore was treated to the site of an extremely obese man with a walrus moustache. He found himself wondering if the man was going to be all right, even muggles faces shouldn't be that red after walking what looked like fifteen feet. He didn't get long to consider the thought though because the walrus of a man caught a glimpse of him, his eyes widened to the size of golf balls, and he tried to slam the door.

Dumbledore waved his hand and forced the door open with a quick burst of magic, only to flinch back from the door in revulsion, the man just pissed himself. "Are you Vernon Dursley?" He fought passed his revulsion.

"Get away from me you freak. I don't want anything to do with you." The walrus man stumbled back in fear, landing hard enough on his enormous backside to shake the whole house.

"I need to know where Harry Potter is. Did you pick him up from Kings Cross or did he run away since then?" Dumbledore jumped right to the heart of the matter.

"I don't know where the freak is. We waited there for four hours before we left. The freak never showed up. It's not our fault that he's not here. We're through with him, you can keep him, he is not welcome here anymore." The now named Vernon Dursley was now spitting angry and a lovely shade of scarlet.

"Thank you. You won't hear from us again. Good day sir." Albus turned with a rather impressive billowing of his robes that would make a certain greasy haired professor green with envy.

Three years later

"You know, I never thought I would be happy to see this train again." I young black haired man said to himself. He was staring a scarlet steam engine for a ridiculously gaudy train. He was really not looking forward to the inquisition he was sure to face for going missing for three years. "Well might as well get this over with." He climbed onto the train and got into the nearest empty compartment her could find. It was quite easy since he was a couple hours early.

It was shortly after that when he started to hear other people in the hallway. He smiled at pretty much everyone who looked into his compartment, he was glad that his last school had ingrained politeness into him. It wasn't too hard to smile at some of the prettier girls that he saw looking in on him. They didn't teach him that, he was just partial to pretty girls.

Susan Bones was sitting on the Hogwarts Express waiting on her best friend Hannah Abbott. Eventually she couldn't wait any longer and went looking for her. She found her standing a couple of cars up in front of what appeared to be a gathering place for the entire female population of Hogwarts.

Susan grabbed her best friend by the shoulder to get her attention, "Hannah? What's going on?"

"Oh hey Sue. There is a super hot guy in that car. He's new, no one has seen him before." She explained excitedly. She was always a little boy crazy, even when they were only thirteen and in first year. Now it was even worse since she hit puberty.

Hannah turned back to try and see this new guy, even though she had no chance to see in with all the other people milling around. Susan took the time to check her friend out. She hadn't seen Hannah for most of the summer, she was touring France with her family. Turns out that she grew a lot over the summer. Only in the chest and bum though. Her body was curvy and toned now rather than just toned.

Hannah had always exercised to keep healthy, a habit passed down from her first generation mother. Her chest filled out to around a C cup and her bum rounded out nicely into a lovely heart shape and her waist was trim in between. Underneath the cute beige cardigan there was likely the hints of a six pack because she wouldn't work hard enough to get one, she thought they were ugly. It actually kind of pissed her off that Hannah was able to stay trim so easily.

"Alright, well I'm going back to my compartment. When you get bored you should come sit with me." She watched Hannah nod emphatically, then freeze. "What happened? Did he blow a kiss at you?" Susan smiled at the thought of Hannah swooning over some new guy.

"Susan? Susan Bones is that you?" A male voice spoke out from the crowd.

Susan gasped and whirled around quickly enough that her lovely red hair flew into her face despite the tight braid she kept it in. She knew that voice, she heard it almost every day over the summer, but he couldn't be here, he lived in Canada. Well that and he was a Muggle. She met him in Jasper, almost the opposite side of the country from England. There was no way James Clay was here going to her school for magic.

"I knew I smelled your perfume. I've always loved it, even if you wouldn't tell me what it is." Hannah was staring, slack jawed, between the new guy and her best friend, who apparently knew each other.

"J-J-James? Is that really you?" Her voice shook, hell her hands were shaking. This guy had wormed his way into her heart. She was reluctant to say she loved him after only two months, but it definitely could have developed that way really easily.

"Yeah. I never expected you to be here. I mean I thought I could sense magic on you, but I never thought that it was strong enough for you to actually be a witch. Let me guess, Amelia Bones is your mom and she put a glamour and magic block on you for your trip?"

"Yes, uhhh, no, kind of. It was mostly right. Aunt Amelia is, well, my Aunt." Susan answered.

"Oh I see. Well since you were honest with me, I'll be honest with you. First though, could I get a hug?" He didn't quite give her an option to refuse though. He moved forward with fluid self assured steps that come from years of dance, or intense martial training.

His arms quickly wrapped around her slender body. They brought the same warmth that they always did. Whenever she was in his arms she felt like nothing could hurt her, that she was safe from everything in the world. Even though she felt a little upset about James lying to her she couldn't help wrapping her arms around him and snuggling her head into his muscular chest.

Susan didn't want to let go, but she also wanted to know what he was going to say, "So what is it you were going to tell me?"

"My real name, but first I would like some more privacy for that." He bent and swept her up into a bridal carry then while she was shocked and blushing a lovely pink he looked to Hannah, "Hello darling, could you please get the door for us? You could probably join us. I'm assuming you're the best friend she was talking about."

Hannah was stunned still, not only did Susan know this hunk of a man, but they also looked like they were an item for at least a little. It took a nudge from a newly re-cuddled Susan to get her moving to open the door to the compartment.

"Thank you." James set Susan down on the bench at sat across from her, Hannah joined Susan as soon as she shut the door. "Alright girls so you want to know the truth about who I am?"

Hannah was practically bouncing in her seat, "Yes, please! Tell me or I'm going to explode."

After the laughter cleared from Hannah's outburst Susan answered, "So James Clay isn't your real name?"

"Well it kind of is. My real middle name is James and my last name is re to Clay. I apologize for lying but it was my assumed name when I left the UK. I couldn't rightly tell you who I really was, especially not if I knew the truth about who you were. I'm pretty sure that your aunt would be very excited to find me after I disappeared from the Hogwarts express three years ago." He grinned a crooked smile that made his emerald green eyes light up beneath his midnight black bangs.

James could see the gears turning. It made him laugh a little. There couldn't be that many people that went missing from Hogwarts three years ago. Especially not people that would have the DMLE looking for them. Realization didn't take long to light up Susan's face, he liked it when her intelligence was on display like that.

Before Hannah could figure it out or Susan could say anything the window in the door lit up with a bright red light.

"Sorry ladies, I need to step out for a moment and solve a problem. I will be right back, please don't leave or let anyone else in. I'm not quite ready to let everyone else know who I really am. I transferred in under James Clay." When the girls reluctantly nodded he got up and hurried away to wear the alarm he set came from.

He learned a lot while he was in Canada. One of the first things that they had taught him was detection wards. Most importantly they taught him how to code the wards to a certain person, or persons. Fortunately, he remembered how Hermione's magical signature felt. The ward had just notified him that she stepped onto the train. Unfortunately, it also notified him of a malignant presence following her.

James moved fast, very fast, all he could think was 'I need to move faster, I haven't felt a presence like this since I ran into Malfoy senior last week.' He dodged and weaved through the crowds of children in the hallway, she was only three cars away just far enough away to make it a pain in the ass to get there through everyone.

James was lucky, who ever the malignant presence was waited until they were both well onto the train and out of parental supervision. James was excited to see his first, real, best friend again. Yea Ron was his first friend, but he just couldn't compete against Hermione for the best friend status. From the looks of it Malfoy Junior was about to do his sterling best to make sure she could never fill that hole in his life again, based on the ritual knife that was currently poised to strike down at the base of her pale milky neck.

Another thing they taught James in Canada was the use of various weapons, including thrown weapons, with a particular emphasis on throwing knives. He flicked his wrist to drop the knife into his hand then a quick snap of his lower arm sent it flying out towards the blonde ponce of a pureblood supremacist.

"What the fuck?" Malfoy yelled, it was cool how his hair didn't shift at all when his head flew back and forth looking for the culprit. "Whoever did that is going to pay when my Father hears of this!"

"Go ahead Malfoy Junior. Write your Father a letter, make sure he knows that you are being picked on and is completely incapable of doing anything to protect yourself because you're such a huge disappointment." James laughed at Malfoy's growing outrage, he couldn't even do much more than yell at him. Having an arm pinned to the wall by a knife through his very expensive jacket sleeve tended to make it difficult to act on anything. It helped that his wand holster was also attached to that arm and was therefore, inaccessible.

"Who the hell are you? You'll pay for this." Malfoy spluttered as he tried, and failed, to remove the knife.

"Yea, yea, you told me that all of first year Draco." James smirked, turned to the beautiful, bushy haired person, "Hermione would you like to join me in my compartment?"

"Do I know you?" She was skittish, that's not what he was hoping to find. When he held his hand out to her she backed away and folded into herself.

"You did. Not so much now, but I would like to get to know you again. If you come with me you can join myself, Susan Bones and Hannah Abbott. I promise you'll want to hear what I have to say." He held out his hand again, this time to take her trunk.

"Susan and Hannah are there?" James nodded, "Okay I'll come with you."

"Will you let me take your luggage? It looks like you're struggling with it there." The crooked grin made a reappearance. It finally pulled a little smile out of the brunette witch.

"I am. Thank you. Be careful, it's kind of heavy with all the books I have in there." She gamely dragged the trunk over in front of James, who responded with a bark of laughter and hefted it off the floor onto his shoulder.

Hermione looked at him with wide eyes. Her dad was a fit man and it took him both hands to lift it into the boot of the car, this gorgeous stranger just lifted it like it was a normal shopping bag. She liked mysteries, it was why she stayed at Hogwarts despite all the ridicule and abuse, she just needed to learn more. This random guy with beautiful long black hair that was messy on top, bangs framing his face, and the rest pulled into a tail by a leather strip completely threw her whole idea of how this new world worked. He could have cast a wandless and silent featherweight charm, but Hermione was fairly certain that she would have felt a little flair of magic.

She didn't even notice that she was lost in her thoughts again, it seemed to be happening more and more often lately. She had been losing whole hours over the summer while doing homework or research at her desk or on her bed. Hermione finally snapped out of her trance-like state when she heard a door close behind her.

"Hermione? Is that you?" Hannah asked, startled by the appearance of her bushy haired friend.

"Hmm, oh, hi Hannah. Sorry I kind of spaced out there. Hello to you as well Susan." Hermione let out her first genuine smile since she had last seen her friends on the platform at the end of last year.

"I see that you met James. I didn't think that he would come back with another girl, but I can't say that I'm surprised, he is quite nice to look at. It doesn't help that he always seems to be in the right place at the right time to save you." Susan sighed, remembering all the different ways that he had to protect her over the summer hols in the mundane world.

"What? No. Well he did save me, but it was only Malfoy playing that stupid prank with the knife again. It was rather nice of him to carry my trunk all the way here. I didn't really notice how he looked, I got lost in my thoughts after he picked up my trunk." Hermione seemed less than impressed with James.

"You think that athame was just a joke?" James asked, incredulous that no one had noticed how dark the object was. Was everyone at this school completely clueless? Or did no one care about other students? It wouldn't really surprise James that the aging Headmaster was totally unconcerned with the state of the student body.

"Yea when he stabs it into someone it just makes them tired." Susan explained like it wasn't a huge deal.

"That's ridiculous. That is one of the darkest items I've seen in a long time. It's an athame that draws out the magical power of the person stabbed. After the power is drawn out it creates a block in the person's magical core. Susan have you and Hannah been stabbed with this knife too?" The girls gasped at his explanation. They nodded emphatically at James, hoping there was some more information forthcoming.

"Well I've got good news and bad news." The girls shifted to the edge of their seats, sitting on pins and needles waiting for both kinds of news, "I do know how to reverse the damage done, it will actually increase your magical strength to have your core refilled after suffering like it has." The girls looked like Christmas came early

"That is so cool! We're usually at the top of the class in magical power already. If we get a boost like that then there will be almost no one that can match us in outright power." Hannah was practically bouncing in her seat, excited to be so powerful.

"Yea that's all well and good, but the bad news might make you think twice about that. The ritual requires three very particular things. Well the only one that I know of anyways, there might be other ones out there." James finished with a thoughtful expression.

"Well what is this bad news that you think might make us change our mind?" Hermione asked, getting right to the point, as per usual.

"Well first it will require you all to be completely naked and I will have to draw all of the required symbols on you in a special kind of mud." The girls all blushed and refused to meet his eyes at this, but motioned him to keep going, "Second it will have to be done outside, likely in the Forbidden Forest, underneath a full moon. The first one after we get to school will be in about three weeks."

"The Forbidden Forest? We aren't allowed in there as students though. It's supposed to be super dangerous for regular people to go in there, Professor Hagrid is the only person that goes in there with no fear, but that's because nothing can really hurt him I think." Susan seemed a little scared at the thought.

"Trust me. Nothing in there will bother me, unless it's another person, but even then I'm fairly sure that I could at least hold them off long enough for you guys to get away, after that I could really cut loose." James grinned at the prospect of really letting loose, he hadn't been able to do that for almost a year now.

"Well I am well aware of your physical prowess." Susan stated blithely, until Hannah giggled and elbowed her in the ribs suggestively. That caused her recently receded blush to return with a vengeance.

"You aren't even close to well aware of the extent of what I can do without magic. I've never even used more that five percent of the physical power I can bring to bear. I can do ten times that amount by channelling magic into my body. That is not the point right now though." James was getting side tracked, but tried to take the focus off of Susan's Freudian slip, which earned him a thankful smile from the red haired beauty.

"The third requirement is probably the deal breaker for you ladies. While I'm doing the magical direction of the ritual you will have to, umm, how do I say this politely?" He was reluctantly to put this bluntly, it needed a little bit of finesse at least. "Ah I got it! You'll need to reach a peak before the ritual is over. Actually the more times that you reach a peak the more successful the ritual will be. You guys have filled some very specific requirements. The last time this ritual was able to be used was for Morgana. I think you're all well aware of what she accomplished in her lifetime."

The girls all tried to keep a straight face and really think about the possible positives that could come from completing this ritual. Hannah and Susan were quite open about their physical bodies with each other, but not quite to that extent, just being naked around each other in their dorm room and during the summers when they are together. They had been friends since they were tots and went through puberty together so it was natural for them to not worry about each other seeing the other in various states of undress.

In a completely unexpected move it was Hermione that got over her extreme embarrassment first, "Would the problems I've been having focusing, falling asleep at the most inopportune moments, even my body has been unresponsive at times. Would it help those?" She seemed desperate, bordering on hysterical. This must have been causing her anxiety, severe anxiety apparently.

"Most likely, but if those are the problems you've been experiencing then you have probably been attacked far more often than the others. If you don't mind I would like to examine your core, if it is really bad I can give you a quick boost from my own reserves of magic." James sounded genuinely concerned about Hermione's well being.

Hermione had by necessity gotten very good at judging whether or not a person meant her harm. She liked to think it was exceptional skill at reading people, but subconsciously she knew that it was her magic telling her the intentions of a person. She was surprised to find that this strange boy, no young man, had absolutely no intention besides making sure that she was healthy. Usually there was always the intention to help her so she would help them in turn, mostly revolving around school work. James only wanted to help her, no alternative motive at all.

"I would like to know the actual extent of the damage, now that I'm aware of it. However, I'm reluctant to say yes based on the ritual to repair the damage, until I am fully aware of what this test anyways."

"Well I'll need to touch the bare skin of your stomach and your back. The magical core of a woman sits right above the area between the tips of her hip bones, right below where the actual stomach is. I need to pass my magic through your core between my hands. It will give me a good idea of where your magic is currently at and where it should be at based on the size of your core." James explained the method he would use in depth. He knew Hermione would want to know as much as she could about it.

"So I'm going to have to take my shirt off for this?" She asked skeptically. Her thoughts immediately going to him being a pervert.

"No, not at all. You will just have to pull it up to a little over your belly button so the top of my hand can sit right over top of it. The hand on your back will be directly across from it." He explained earnestly.

"Can you do that for us too?" Susan asked timidly. She remembered exactly what James' hands felt like when they were on you and didn't want to miss out on the opportunity, it might be her last chance after all.

"Well that could be arranged, but let's wait until the train is moving at least. I am expecting at least one person more to want to join us here. They are likely going to need to complete the ritual for her too. Malfoy hit a lot of the people in his own house and this person seemed like she was hit pretty hard when I met two summers ago." James tried to explain himself without saying it was another girl, he didn't want to seem like he was just looking after girls.

"Another girl?" Susan's head snapped up at the mention of this new person being female.

'Damn, I messed up.' James thought, 'Oh well, might as well give them all the information about her.'

"Yeah she had some summer schooling at the academy that I studied at for the last three years. She is a Slytherin fifth year, actually you ladies probably know her. Daphne Greengrass?" James explained rather quickly, trying to get it all out before he was interrupted.

'Daphne? How can I compete with someone like her? She is the definition of beauty. All I've got going for me is a cute face and big boobs.' Susan thought to herself with a crestfallen expression stamped on her face.

"Yes we know Daphne. She isn't like some of the other bigoted members of her House. It seems to get her in trouble with some of the more powerful members of her House. It has brought about the 'Ice Queen' persona that she wears like armour. It has probably saved her life a couple times, but now she's worried about her little sister. She recently started to have a woman's body and Daphne is afraid that some of the male students will go after her sister to get back at her for all the grief she has caused them." Hannah was the gossip monger in the group and didn't disappoint at this point.

"Ah yes I had heard about her beloved little sister. She had come to my school in the hopes of learning something that would help her protect herself and her sister. That is actually where she learned a lot of what got her the title of Ice Queen I imagine."

"Oh? And what exactly is taught at this school of yours?" Hannah was in full gossip mode now.

"Well I can't tell you what they taught her, that is her business and not mine to tell. I can tell you about what they taught me though, if you really want to hear it?" James smiled at the girls.

"Yes! Tell us! I think Susan really wants a private lesson about what you have learned later tonight." She winked at James, letting him know that she was just messing with Susan.

"Well they did have a couple courses that I took for night time activities." He husked back, winking discretely back at Hannah since both Hermione and Susan were looking down at their shoes.

"Wha- What? I don't really want to know what they taught you!" Susan stuttered and stumbled over her denial even as she felt her center moisten and her nipples harden at the thought of special night time lessons from James.

"No? You don't want to learn stealth tactics and how to be properly sneaky?" James laughed at her reaction to his offer.

"That's what they taught you for night time activities? I can't believe that they taught you stuff like that. What about normal magic stuff?" Susan asked, she was very good at getting over embarrassment after being best friends with Hannah for so long.

"They didn't teach us much of that at all. It was mostly elemental and martial training. The school I went to trains warriors and assassins, not school teachers and librarians. We had a couple classes on field healing and basic magic that can be used in war, but that's about it. Self study on normal everyday magic was encouraged, but not required to graduate." James loved the looks on the girls faces, but he could already see the questions forming in their heads.

"Before you ask questions just listen for a little longer. If certain conditions are met by a man and woman before conception of their child, the child will be born with an elemental affinity. Making them able to perform some incredible feats of magic with that element. Especially after training it can provide those Elementals, as they are called, with special abilities revolving around their element." He was in a full on lecture mode that made Hermione a little excited, in more than one way.

"For example I am an Earth Elemental. My body is extremely strong in most any way that you can think of. I'm immune to all poisons, natural and man made, I heal extremely fast, I need next to no sleep to function properly, and my physical strength and stamina are exceptional, even for an Earth Elemental. I have multiple animagus forms and I'm extremely in tune with nature and its various occupants. I can even talk to the more intelligent animals, or at least communicate in some way." James didn't really want to go much more in depth and only would if someone asked a specific question.

"Before you ladies ask any questions I have to let our other guest know that this is our compartment." James stood abruptly, his wards letting him know that Daphne was about to board the train.

He slid the compartment door open looked both ways. He spotted her deep black hair bobbing up the steps with who he assumed was Tracey Davis following right behind him. He didn't want to draw attention to who he was looking for again. Slytherin was notorious for causing problems when one of their number fraternized outside of their House.

Thinking quick he let out a high pitched whistle that lowered consistently. He waited until he knew that Daphne was paying attention before reaching up and knocking on the wood above his door. Three knocks, third compartment, two knocks, right side, two quick followed by two slow knocks to let her know the password. Ducking back inside he was met by confused stares from the girls, he just grinned back at them and motioned for them to wait.

A few second later two quick knocks followed by two slow knocks sounded out against the door. James stood up to open the door. He quickly ushered the two Slytherin girls into the compartment, hoping to get them in before anyone else saw who they were joining. He closed the sliding door and waved a hand at it causing the door to seal itself and the window to be swallowed by the wood.

"Well now that no one can see inside, do I get a hug?" James held his arms out in askance.

Daphne looked at him with obvious disdain. Everything from her posture to her expression screamed stay away, or else. She had the 'Ice Queen' mask in full effect. Most any male would be sweating under her apathetic stare, but James just continued hold his arms out and affected a pout, barely able to keep it on his face instead of a grin.

It only took a few more seconds before Daphne cracked under her own desire to hug the well built man in front of her. Without warning she launched her entire body at him, knowing without a doubt that he would be able to catch her with no problem. She wrapped her arms around his neck at the same time his arms wound around her waist. It immediately filled her with the feeling of safety and warmth that she missed ever since they parted a year and a bit ago.

"You would not believe how much I've missed this James." She whispered into his ear, "You're the only person that I could ever be close to like this and not have it seem like I'm trying to make alliances with some house. With you it's just a hug between two people that car about each other." She sighed at the end, but it was a happy sigh not the usual frustrated sigh that was heard from Daphne.

Tracey and the other girls were agog, mouths hanging open in complete and total surprise. Here was the Slytherin Ice Queen, hugging someone, and smiling while she was doing it. This girl had frozen grown men with her glare, even the Headmaster was reluctant to cross her.

"Daphne? Who the hell is this? And what the fuck are you hugging him?" Tracey was getting hysterical. She didn't know what the hell was happening. Daphne had literally never acted like this before, not in the many years that Tracey had known her.

"Uh, well. I met him when I went to that special academy to learn how to protect myself and my sister." She blushed, which was also a first for Ice Queen Daphne. "Actually he was the instructor of my whole course load while I was there."

"Daphne, you minx. I can't believe you seduced your instructor." Tracey got over her hysteria in record time. Something to tease Daphne about would always bring her playful side out, especially because it didn't happen very often.

Daphne tried to deny everything but all she could do was splutter while the other girls laughed at her blushing. Eventually James decided they had let them laugh at Daphne's expense long enough.

"Alright guys, that's enough teasing." He told the still snickering girls, "Besides she didn't seduce me, it was the other way around and that was after classes were over." He smirked at the shock on their faces.

"That is fantastic. You are so adorable when you are flustered Daphne." Hannah gushed at the unexpectedly unreserved Slytherin.

Daphne was slow to let go of James, but she eventually did. "You told me that you would be coming back this year, but I didn't really believe you. I thought you were just trying to let me down easily." Daphne whispered into his chest, "I'm really sorry I thought so little of you."

"Don't worry about it Daph. I didn't expect you to believe me after your experience with Craig. I'm glad that you remembered the code though. I wasn't sure if you would understand what was going on. It has been a while after all, right?" James laughed and waved off her apology.

"So you guys really dated?" Susan asked softly, her head dropping in despair. She was really hoping that they could pick back up where they left off last week. It looks like she would be put off to the side for a more fit, statuesque woman.

Her eyes were focused on her shoelaces when they started to get blurry. 'God I'm starting to tear up. How pathetic.' She felt a rough hand lightly grip her chin and full her head up. She was practically nose to nose with James, she was instantly reminded of how expressive his eyes could be. She could see the deep concern and caring in their emerald depths. Susan didn't look away from his gorgeous greens until he reached up and wiped her yet to be shed tears away with his thumbs.

"Hey, there's no reason to cry Susy. We can be friends all year now. Isn't that exciting? Definitely not a reason to cry." James grinned his lovely grin, making Susan's heart flutter and causing her to smile in response despite her feeling like crying still.

"She doesn't know does she?" Daphne asked the young man, her voice showing none of the condescension or haughtiness that the other girls, aside from Tracey, had come to know. It appears that Daphne was actually just a really good actor, not a bitch, since everyone could tell that this was the real Daphne.

"No. We didn't meet like you and I, Daph. She thought I was just a normal Canadian muggle that was working in Jasper for the summer. I thought she was just a beautiful, but proper English Lady. She proved me wrong pretty quickly, but I still thought she was a muggle too." He finished with a laugh, Tracey and Hannah joining him, even Hermione and Daphne smiled.

Despite the humor James tried to inject into the situation, likely intending to deflect the conversation away from that topic, Susan caught that Daphne knew something that she didn't. She tried to figure it out based on context. The only thing she could come up with was that he was seeing someone else back in Canada. This caused a deep feeling of sadness in Susan.

Luckily Hermione pulled her out of her sudden depression by asking, "What do you know that Susan doesn't Daphne?" This earned a thankful glance from Hannah, who did not want to deal with a crying and miserable Susan.

"Well Elementals have a lot of bonuses that come with being who they are, but there are always some negative aspects to every power. Elementals wield enormous amounts of strength, every type has different ones, but most of them have two or three huge drawbacks." Daphne started to lecture, almost like a professor, "Take my Ice Element for example. I can create ice at will by using power I draw from my magical core, or if I'm lucky I can draw it from my environment if it's cold enough. I can use ice to cover and help heal my injuries, I can automatically cool anything down just by touching it, I can even create snow around myself, but that is really draining unless I have someone else to help me with fueling the magic."

She looked at the three girls that knew nothing of what she was capable of as an Elemental. Their complete attention was on her, totally enrapt with her explanation. She let a small smirk grow on her face. It was very rare that she said anything worth listening to, even then it was usually only Tracey that would actually listen to her, so it was kind of exciting to have three of the top witches in her year so focused on what she was saying.

"Alright. I assume that those were all the positive aspects of being an Ice Elemental. It sounds pretty useful. It's too bad that there is no way to learn it." Hermione was actually taking notes in a spiral bound notebook she always kept on her, just in case.

"Well you can't learn to do exactly what I can, but everyone does have an elemental affinity that makes it easier to cast those elemental spells. It's unlikely that you will be able to cast without a wand, but your control will be considerable and the actual drain on your core will be negligible." James tossed out offhandedly.

"Yes, I'm sure James even has some elemental affinity paper on him so we can test each of you at some point." James grunted an affirmative. "Good. Now back to what I was explaining. So those were the most prominent positives, actually the last one was just something that I can do that I think is pretty cool. Now, the negative aspects. I am extremely weak in hot temperatures, especially so in dry temperatures, by that I mean I can't use my element at all, normal magic is perfectly okay and I still love to go to hot places for vacations. Another big negative is my aversion to fire, natural or unnatural, it makes it very difficult to do a lot of everyday things."

"Alright that does sounds a little bit annoying, but how does it make a lot of things hard?" Hannah asked, not quite understanding how it makes anything actually hard.

"I didn't really explain it that well I guess. By aversion I meant that being too close to a fire drains my energy and makes it hard to focus. I can't sit by the fire and read with my little sister, I find it difficult to complete any of the longer potions properly. I got lucky that I'm really good at the preparation part. The first half of the potion really goes well until I lose focus and start to make little mistakes." Daphne went into further detail on her biggest weakness.

"Alright. Thanks for telling us that. Takes a lot of trust to tell what are essentially strangers your biggest weakness." Susan said sincerely, "That's all very interesting. It doesn't really explain what it is that I don't know about James though."

Daphne looked to where James was sitting, only to find him staring down at his clenched fists. His knuckles were standing out in white relief from how hard he was clenching and blood was running out of the bottom of his hands. His glamour had slipped from his arms Daphne noticed, she had only seen that happen once before, it wasn't a pleasant experience. She could see the angry red of new scars and the faded white of the older ones, obviously from long before he began his dangerous elemental training.

Without looking up James whispered, "Go ahead Daphne, I don't really want to hide anything like that from people I'm close to."

"Are you sure?" James hummed an affirmative, "Okay. So there are a few different negative things that can come from an Earth Element. Usually the more strength you have in an element the more of the negative you get. James is pretty much the most powerful Earth Elemental since the dark ages, in theory anyways. Nobody actually has any proof that there was ever a stronger one. Now the biggest negative is also a positive. Strong Earth Elementals have increased instincts and senses. All five senses are at least five times more sensitive than a normal witch or wizard, James' are closer to ten times. Now the instincts are the worst part, in my opinion, every instinct is increased, including the instinct to mate and reproduce." She finished softly, almost like she was trying to soften the blow this would be to Susan.

Who was actually quite calm about the whole thing. She was looking directly at Daphne with a small little smile on her face when she asked, "So what you're saying is James' strength basically forces a hugely overactive libido on him? He pretty much wants to sleep with a bunch of women all the time?"

Daphne didn't even have to pause, she was expecting this question, she asked the same time. She promptly answered, "Yes and no. His instincts essential force him to find multiple viable mates to ensure the continuation of his genetic make up. They usually make it so he would be attracted to strong females, capable of producing powerful offspring. It's likely why he is attracted to the two of us, we're two of the strongest witches in our year." Daphne wasn't smug, but she did radiate a little bit of pride at that.

"Four." James said shortly.

"What?" Both Daphne and Susan asked in perfect stereo. Then they looked at each other awkwardly before looking back at James with intensity.

"Four. There are four of you in this compartment that I'm attracted to. Four of the most powerful witches in the school, let alone your year." He finished grimly.

"Alright. Well there are five girls in this compartment. Which one is it that you're not attracted to?" Hermione questioned him. Already turning pink at the thought of this rugged man finding her attractive.

"Hannah." Hearing this caused Hannah's face to fall, she knew she wasn't the most attractive girl, but it still hurt to hear it. "That's not because she isn't attractive though, or because she's not powerful. It's because her elemental affinity is Air, the anti-thesis of Earth."

Daphne gasped in surprise, and everyone looked to her, even Hannah, who was done moping now that she was told that she was in fact physically attractive. "What? How could you tell?" Her mind was going a mile a minute. It shouldn't be possible for someone to tell what element a person had an affinity for without seeing them use it or affinity paper. She was trying to figure out if James had seen her use any spells, but from the look on Hermione and Susan's faces they couldn't figure it out either.

"I'm possibly the most powerful Earth Elemental ever born. My senses are so heightened that the Academy couldn't even accurately test them. I scored a completely perfect score even with seven dampening seals on me. I still use three at all times. I could go into sensory overload if I take the all off, then I'm useless. I'm trying to slowly wean myself off of them all together though. A huge weakness of mine is really loud, high pitch noises, renders me incapable of doing anything except covering my ears." James explained to Daphne, who was the only person that understood exactly what that meant.

Daphne was going to ask more questions, but James held up his hand. Daphne knew it wasn't meant to be rude. James was just not going to answer anymore questions about it at this time, possibly not ever.

"You might want to sit down. The train is about to start moving. As soon as we get up to speed I'm going to start the core examinations. I'll start with Hermione, hers is obviously the most damaged at this point, then Tracey, Susan and Daphne last."

"What about me?" Hannah asked, a tremor in her voice.

"I would love to check your core Hannah, but your magic would automatically reject mine. I wouldn't be able to actually do it at all. Luckily my magic has very little to do with the ritual, so we can still do that. The only thing that has changed is that I'm not capable of telling you how much of a change it will make."

Hannah didn't ask anymore questions or acknowledge what James said with anything more than a nod. Everyone realized fairly quickly that nothing was going to happen until the train was well on its way to Hogsmeade. Daphne and Tracey sat on the right side of James who was against the window of the compartment, with Daphne forcing her way into the seat next to James. Tracey was reluctant to give up the seat next to James since he essentially admitted to being attracted to her. She couldn't believe she kept standing with Daphne the whole time since they got there, she should have capitalized and sat next to the hunk while Daphne was lecturing everybody.

The moment the two sat down and settled back into their seats with everyone else the train shifted and started to crawl forward. James still hadn't sat back or stopped looking at his clenched fists. They weren't bleeding anymore and had likely healed, nor were they clenched so tight that they were both red and white. His scars were still present and accounted for though, Tracey glanced down and thought 'I want to know more about him. And here I thought I was into chicks.' Hers was the only smile in the entire compartment, but that didn't bother her as she looked around at her new found friends and possible new found lovers.