Son Of Riddle

Chapter Thirty-one - The Ministry

James woke up the next morning and winced as the bright sun peirced his eyes. He sat up, wincing, and groaned, holding his throbbing head.
"You've got quite the hangover there, Mister Riddle." James jumped when he heard Madame Pomfrey's soft voice from across the room. She was looking at him dissaprovingly from behind her desk. "What exactly were you doing last night?"
"My friends and I were drinking butterbeer." He explained horsely.
Madame pomfrey regarded him suspiciously. "There's not enough alochol in butterbeer to get you that intoxicated, Riddle."
James shrugged. "How was I supposed to know my alcohol tolerance level was that low?"
Pomfrey just sighed. "Normally, I would give you a hangover cure, but I think I'll let you stay in that state for a while to remind you that your actions do indeed have consequenses. "You're friends will be visiting you soon, so make sure you get some rest and drink that water by your bed, it'll help."
Normally, he would have tried his best to get out of that room, but his head hurt too much. He just scowled and rubbed his aching temples as he laid back down. Something in his heart always lurched when he heard Madame Pomfrey give him advice on how to get better. He still expected to be told to push aside the pain in order to train. It was bittersweet, being taken care of.

James woke with a jolt when he heard a small voice next to him. His friends were all next to him, as well as his house elves, apparently trying to wake him up.
"Madame Pomfrey says you can go now." Adam said, offering his hand. "Do you feel any better?"
James nodded and sat up. He was a bit impressed at how much his headache had gone.
"So from now on, keep James away from the butterbeer, and heaven forbid any other kind of stronger alcohol." Lucy stated, holding Benjamin by the collar to keep him from poking a vial of black murkey liquid that sat on a table next to them.
"You've got some alcohol tolerance." Wrath said, sarcastically. James chuckled and stood up.
McGonnagle suddenly burst into the room, presumably to speak to Madame Pomfrey, but stopped short when she laid eyes on the house elves.
"Mister Riddle, who are these?" She asked, surprised.
"These are my house elves, professor, they lived with me before I was in the library of time."
"...I see..." She tsked. "Well...make sure they don't cause trouble."
Riddle nodded as she walked away.
"I don't trust her, Master." Envy whispered to him. Riddle chuckled. "She's trustworthy, Envy, don't worry."
They all walked out, Benjamin slyly slipping who-knows-what into his pocket.
"So, now what?" Adam asked as they walked away, the house elves apparating back to the kitchen.
"I think now we make a visit to the ministry." James replied.
"Don't you think it's a bit too soon after freeing Firenze to do that?" Lucy asked. "What if they think you have him under some sort of mind-controlling curse?"
"I have ways to prove that he's telling the truth of his own volition, you'll see."
"What if they still don't believe you?" Benjamin asked.
"They will."
The four of them meandered the halls for a while, until James led them down one specific hall.
Lucy's stomach dropped. "Oh no, not this again."
"Yep." James smiled almost maliciously.
"I'm starting to think you enjoy seeing us suffer." Benjamin commented, keeping still exactly where he was.
"Hey, it was clear we need more training in order to defeat Rodolphus, so we need to train harder until the time comes." James answered, feeling his hand up and down the wall.
"The rest of the quartet groaned as Riddle found the door to the room of requirement and held it open for them to climb inside.

Riddle trained them vigorously for the rest of the day, teaching them new spells that Defense Against the Dark Arts hadn't taught them yet, and training them in hand to hand combat without magic, he was very well versed in that as well. He taught them the same things as last training session, helping them get better at it, plus teaching them completely new things.
By the end of it all they were all exhausted, both their brains and bones were turned to jelly.
"Can we be done now please?" Benjamin pleaded, one last spell coming from his knife.
"You could have been done minutes ago, all you had to do was say the word." James informed them, a grin on his face.
The entire rest of the quartet groaned.
They staggered out of the room of requirement, to hear a chaotic ruckus forming.
"I thought we were the ones who made all the chaos." Benjamin whispered.
They ran (Well stumbled around) to the back of the castle to see what was going on. The remainder of the students still there during break were all crowded against the pillars, watching something from afar.
"They never come out of the forest, what are they doing?" The students were all murmuring to each other, exchanging theories about what was going on.
The quartet made thier way to the front and saw the centaurs all running out of the forest, past Hagrid's hut, and running down the road towards Hogsmeade.
The quartet exchanged nervous glances, and made shoved their way out of the crowd.
"We have to find out what their doing, it could be important." James told them.
"Will McGonnagle let us?" Benjamin asked.
"Absolutely not." McGonnagle's voice from behind them made them jump, startled.
"Please Professer, it's important." Lucy pleaded.
"How do you know it's important?" McGonnagle asked, one eyebrow raised.
"We just...know." Adam answered.
James stayed quiet, silently pleading to McGonnagle with his eyes.
McGonnagle stayed where she was, stern and silent. "...Go out the great hall before the other students see you." She complied quietly.
"Thank you." James breathed. The quartet made their way to the great hall and slipped out the door, as quiet as a mouse. They ran as fast as they could to Hagrid's hut using a detour that would keep them unseen.
Hagrid was outside, waving to the centaurs as they left.
"Hagrid, what's going on?" James asked as they ran up to him.
"The centaurs are goin' ter see the minister, they are." Hagrid explained to them. "said they were goin' ter clear your name, fer bringing back Firenze."
Without another word, James took off running in the path of the centaurs.
"Oi, where d'ya think yer goin'?" Hagrid yelled to him.
"I have to be there when they tell him, otherwise they won't believe me." James yelled back to him.
The rest of the quartet took off after James, thanking a very perplexed Hagrid before they did so.
James looked back and saw his tired friends stuggling to keep up, aside from Benjamin who seemed to be enjoying this spurt of excercise. James turned into his animagus form quick as a flash and picked up his friends, in order to keep up with the centaurs.
After about halfway there, the centaurs looked up and saw Riddle, flying alongside them, but they didn't say anything, they just kept going their way.