Harry Potter and the Children of the Clan

Chapter 26

Chapter 26

James walked slowly up the path that led from his Uncle Rubeus' hut to the castle that was the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He had been up since dawn and as the sun was nearing the western horizon, he was rather amazed at how tired he was, considering that all he had done all day was to sit and talk to Ronin, the Centaur. In truth, he had mostly listened but from time to time he was engaged by Ronin, sometimes in matters that seemed to have no connection to the current situation in any way.

But now it was time for dinner, although he did have one task to perform before he could eat. He entered the Great Hall through the main doorway at the rear but instead of moving to the Gryffindor table he made directly for the senior end of the Slytherin table. He came to a halt behind the student seated next to Rutherford.

"Rutherford," James said.

The older boy ignored him.

"Rutherford."

Again nothing. The girl that James was standing behind gave Rutherford a slap on the arm and gestured with her head. Rutherford turned his head and said,

"What is it, Potter?"

"I've been giving it a lot of thought and what I did to you was wrong. I shouldn't have spelled you from ambush like that."

"Fine, Potter, you've had your say, now get lost."

"Come on, Rutherford, the kid is trying to be straight with you," someone from down the table said.

"Okay, Potter," Rutherford said, turning his head to look at James over his shoulder. "You were wrong. Great. Now maybe you high and mighty Gryffindors will leave me alone."

"That's not what I said. I said I shouldn't have ambushed you. I still think you're a sneaky little rotter that can't be trusted as far as you can be thrown. And I'm saying if there needs to be a next time, you'll see me coming. That way you'll have a sporting chance. That's the right way. Enjoy your dinner, Rutherford."

James left the outraged young wizard sputtering as a few of his table mates tried to calm him down while the rest tried to hide smiles or stifle laughter. James walked to the Gryffindor table without looking back and then began the longer walk to the junior end. When Ted looked at him with raised eyebrows he just smiled back. As he passed the third year section he gave Vee a nod and Kai got a squeeze on the shoulder.

All Fred could do was shake his head as his younger cousin strolled past. James took his seat and looked up at the faculty table. Being a Saturday, his father and uncle were absent but his godfather regarded him from behind that bushy black beard. James gave a wave and began to shovel food onto his plate. He hadn't eaten anything but a handful of biscuits that he had taken from the table the night before. He had missed breakfast and lunch and he was starving.

He managed to hold back enough so that he wasn't completely ill by the time he was done, but it was a slow walk back to the tower and the common room. His intent was to make the climb to his dorm room, crawl into bed and not move again until some time after the sun came up the following morning. He wasn't half way to the bottom of the staircase when he heard his name.

"James, a word in your ear, if you don't mind," Ted called over to him.

The boy sighed and detoured towards the fireplace and the chairs nearby. A number of Gryffindors were gathered there in addition to Ted, to include Vee and her friends, some of Ted's seventh and sixth year comrades, Fred and a few of the younger kids.

"What is it, Ted?"

"What was all that about with the Slytherins?"

With all that had occurred, James' first reaction was to tell Ted to mind his own business, he of all people should know about secret keeping, but the last twelve hours had not been in vain, so he took in a slow breath and let it out.