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 254: One War Ended
The next day
"So…that's basically it." James finished his explanation while the Headmaster listened to everything attentively.
"I can't believe it…" Dumbledore muttered while hunching over his desk.
"Excuse me?" James raised an eyebrow.
"No, I don't mean it like that." Dumbledore corrected himself. "It's just…I thought this was going to be a much bigger crisis. Like…" His mind went back to several decades ago, when he was forced to abandon his comfortable position as a professor to fight against a former friend who had decided to start a wizard war.
Dumbledore was dreading having to go through something like that again, but just when things appeared to be reaching a tipping point, it was all over in one day. And he didn't even have to raise a finger.
"I feel a bit useless here. I couldn't do anything to help."
"You did enough. You are the Headmaster of Hogwarts." And fairly old, but James would rather avoid saying that.
Sure, a wizard in his nineties still had many more decades to live, but James could tell this person was already tired of swinging his wand around.
"It is not your job to deal with these situations, and to be fair…neither is mine. So from now on, let's leave it to someone else." James had already made up his mind about that.
Much like Dumbledore, he was also tired of fighting and would rather spend his remaining time in this world working on his projects and teaching others.
"And who would that be?" Dumbledore had never met a wizard as talented as James before. Even if he was someone much older than his current age represented, and magic was involved in this, his prowess in magical disciplines was still unmatched.
Dumbledore had a hard time imagining someone who could compete with him.
"You are going to have a chance to meet her soon enough." James took an object from his pocket and placed it on the table.
"A coin?" Dumbledore felt a very particular magic on it. "A portkey…"
"In two days from now, at noon…use it." James stood up from the chair.
"Hold on, James. We still need to speak about your work as an apprentice professor. The start of school is less than a week away." Dumbledore said.
"We can talk about it by then." James pointed at the coin. "I have some urgent matters to attend to now." He walked to the window and, before Dumbledore could stop him…he jumped and flew away.
"You…could have used the fireplace," Dumbledore muttered before turning his attention back to the coin James left him. "What could be so urgent? The war is over…right?"
Not that it lasted that long to begin with.
<><><><><><><><><><><><>
"Still smells funny," Sirius said to James while covering his nose.
"My mother made the same complaint. But we can't help it. Dipsy and Loory did their best, but…" James glanced around the garden.
The stench of blood and death could still be felt, although it was much fainter now.
"I think it was mostly because of Primum's venom. All that dissolved flesh must have seeped into the ground an—"
"Okay, let me stop you there! I don't need the gruesome details about what happened here." Sirius frowned. "I'm just glad that it's over." He turned to look at James. "It's over…right?"
James shrugged. "This one? Sure. But there may be more in the future. Wizards are still humans. Flawed and greedy…will always want more, and that leads to trouble. Dark Lords, discrimination, wars…etc."
"Mate…that sounds very pessimistic. I thought that was Peter's thing." Sirius commented.
"I'm just being realistic, that's all." James responded. "By the way, how is your mother doing?"
Sirius's expression immediately changed at the mention. "I don't know. Last time I saw her, they were taking her to the Ministry of Magic. Regulus wants to visit her again before we go back to school."
"The Ministry? Oh…right." The woman had escaped Azkaban once, and now that they had lost the dementors, the people at the Ministry must be considering a way to increase security at the prison.
As far as James was concerned, this was a good thing. They should never have relied on those creatures in the first place.
But it didn't help that very few people even knew what went down with the dementors, Voldemort, and his followers.
'The Auror department must be going crazy, trying to find all of the members from important pureblood families who disappeared.' James thought.
In the original timeline, Magical Britain would soon become embroiled in a bloody civil war, but thanks to James's intervention, the attack on Diagon Alley was the first and last indication that something was even happening.
The citizens would live completely unaware of how different their lives could have been.
"Guys! Come on!"
"What are you doing down there?"
Sirius and James heard the shouts coming from above them and looked up.
"How impatient they are…" James muttered, glancing at the figures of Remus and Peter, who were sitting on their flying brooms.
"You are the one who invited them to play some Quidditch." Sirius reminded him.
"I just felt that it would be nice to get together before classes start. I mean…things are going to be different this year." James said as he mounted his broom.
"What do you mean?"
"Have you forgotten?" James glanced at his friend. His broom began to levitate. "I'm no longer a student, remember? I passed all my tests already."
"When did you have time to do that?!" Sirius looked shocked.
"I have gotten really good at multitasking." James avoided mentioning his overuse of magical clones and Pepper-Up potions during the summer.
"There they are." Peter pointed at him. "I'm with James!"
"I have to play with this moron then?" Remus gave Sirius a smirk.
"Who is the moron? And I'm the only one here who plays professionally.
Now that James has retired. So you are very lucky to have me on your team." Sirius said with an air of superiority.
"Profesionaly?. You are just on the school team." Peter said.
"Okay, let's get this over with." James stretched his arms.
"I hope you don't have that attitude when you start working as a professor." Remus pointed out.
"Professor? Oh! That's right!" Peter exclaimed.
"See? I wasn't the only one who forgot." Sirius chuckled.
"Well, you better pay attention in class. Or I'll have to give you an F." James said.
"You wouldn't do that…would you?" Sirius asked dubiously.
James did not respond.