Like I told the others, I can give you information to tell Dumbledore and Moody. If you're lucky, it might end the war quickly. I...
[His voice cracks and trails off for a moment. He hasn't told anyone this, but he just doesn't care about school houses. Harry worries at a bit of skin beside a fingernail while he remembers Hermione telling him (over and over) that the Houses were meant to provide ways for all children to excel and feel included, but that doesn't really happen.
Gryffindors are good, obviously, Ravenclaw too smart, Hufflepuff not as swift, and Slytherin born bad. But, are fully a quarter of all wizards just innately bad people? Harry isn't sure, but he has doubts. ]
I was given the choice of Slytherin or Gryffindor and without really knowing what that meant, I choose Gryffindor.
Whatever you wanna share, mate. I'm just curious as to what the world is like for you.
[ He notices the voice cracking, suddenly wonders if he's overstepping some kind of boundary. He just met this kid - but he's not really a kid, he's older than James - the day before. ]
Hey, if this is too much- [ we can do it another time? you don't have to do it at all? Neither option sounds good to James, so he starts over. ] Would this be easier in person?
[ but then it's quiet, and James waits. It's silly, to think he's so worried about what house Harry was in. This is his son, in some strange future that hasn't happened to him yet, and rather than ask him how his life was, who raised him, what happened in the war...he just wants to know his house. Know if he's a slytherin, like snape and the other blacks, or if he's something else. something better - because when you're seventeen and were just told you're going to die, it's easier to concentrate on stupid house competitions.
James can't help but grin a little on the other end of the line - maybe out of pride. Pride for his house? Maybe, but some part of him doubts it. ]
[There's a pause as Harry gets up to move around while he speaks.]
If you want impersonal, who to fight, who to trust - that I can do in person - but, for the rest, the phone might be better.
[Even with the false sense of distance that the phone brings, it might be telling that he's far more comfortable offering up a battle briefing than discussing school days. There's a sense of obligation here, that he owes personal information to a man that might one day be his father -- no, strike that, that might be the father of some other Harry Potter.]
School was fine. I was always very busy and didn't do too well, but I've a couple friends and, and I really wish you could meet them. I think you'd like them a lot. Hermione is brilliant. She's so smart and remembers everything she's ever read and won't let you forget that she's read it. And Ron, he's my other good friend, he's solidly good and smart in a whole different way. He knows who everyone is and which Quidditch team they cheer for.
[It's unintentional, but Harry lets the conversation slip away from himself and over to other people.]
[ Seems a little odd. James is about to ask him about it when Harry continues, mentions warfare and then personal and James can't shake how strange it is. He's speaking to what's going to one day be his son and he's asking if he wants to know battle plans. ]
Like I said, whatever you prefer.
[ But talking about school - about friends and that he has, Quidditch and magic - makes James feels more comfortable. Makes it feel less like a briefing and more like they could just be friends. ]
Honestly, even if you weren't busy doing well's not all that it's cracked up to be. [ Thinking back to all the things they had to do to get Remus to have a life and not study. Really, not all that important. ] Yeah? That's brilliant - crazy how girls always end up with those kinds of smarts, isn't it? She sounds just like Lily. [ your mother. Merlin, is this ever going to get easier? ] He sounds like a good bloke to know, though. Probably even a better friend. Did he play Quidditch?
Ah, yes. Keeping's bloody difficult - I could never just sit in the hoops like that, you know? But oh, seeking. I always wished I could do that but I never had the patience. Or the attention span - snitches are fantastic but I couldn't find one in the middle of a match. Not when they're left to fly off everywhere like that.
[ Quidditch is easy, quidditch is one of James favorite things to talk about. So if he's feelings just as pleased and relaxed and it happens to come through just as much on the feed, well. Good for them. ]
What broom did you have? I just about convinced my mum to let me get the new Nimbus 1001 - she was a little wary what with the testing stages being what they were. But it's the newest broom since the 1000 and it would do wonders for the team.
I've had two, a Nimbus 2000 and a Firebolt, but they're both in bits. When I came here, I'd heard that they were just starting the new post-Firebolt series, Phaetons, and that they were something wild.
[More than anything else in the wizarding world, Harry loves to fly. At times, he's thought about it and the mere fact that he was able to do so always lifts his spirits and has provided more than one patronus.]
Nimbus 2000? Blimey that's - I can't even imagine that. Could you think of the games? The entire sport would change! [ and that's just excitement, through and through. He loves this game, okay. ] I'm going to assume the Firebolt's something else entirely.
You mean there's something you don't already know? [ That's supposed to be a joke, but even James' laugh falls a little flat. Oh well. ] 'course. What'd you want to know?
[ he might not know Hermione personally, but he can recognize it as an impression and laughs a little for himself, before pausing to think. ]
It's not easy, you know. Took Sirius and I nearly three years to master it. Of course we were doing it in secret since it's not technically allowed... [ James shrugs, not that Harry can see it. ] But I don't see why not.
Brilliant. I've always wanted to give it a go. I'm not great with books, but I'm a quick study if I can get my hands on something and actually, I guess, work through it by doing?
[Harry wonders if it's true that an animagus can only ever learn to shift into the form of their patronus and, if that's so, will he always have the same patronus he did as a child? That might be a touch awkward to explain.]
If it had to do with books, we never would have got it. No, hands-on is much more helpful if you pick up things like that. Might be interesting to see what you end up as, though. Animagi always interested me that way - how good were you at Transfiguration? Better yet, does McGonagall still teach that class?
[ So yes, Harry spoilers but your dad had a favorite teacher and a favorite subject and everything. Turns out he really does love playing with magic, just would rather it had less to do with reading most times. ]
She does and I did solidly well-enough in her class, but she said that was more to do with a lack of studying and 'applying' myself than anything else.
[Which isn't entirely wrong, but to be fair, Harry did have other things to worry about beyond his O.W.L.S. and N.E.W.T.S.
He's about to say something and James might notice a noise of surprise. Of course he can do a patronus; with the threat of Dementors having been so pervasive, it's pretty much bog standard for any student to learn as soon as they can.]
Course you did! She's a brilliant witch. Talented and beautiful beyond her years.
[ Someone has a favorite professor, but don't tell Dumbledore.
If he notices the noise of surprise, he doesn't say anything about it. When James was in school, the threat was much less physical than Dementors on your doorstep. ]
That'll make it easier, for sure. Just knowing what to work toward. They say it's got more to do with your 'inner spirit', but I needed something a little more concrete when I was working on mine.
She really is. She taught me everything I know, honestly. Probably the only reason I got to be an Animagus at all.
[ WOW RUDE and yeah because James' typist is definitely serious and not at all meta in the brackets. Not at all. ]
No one really knows for sure - it's not explained very well in any of the textbooks we did find, but mine was the same and so was Sirius and Peter's. They say it's common, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's for sure.
[ The stalling makes James curious, but he doesn't press it, thinking back to when he learned to cast his own patronus. ]
I suppose that could make a difference, but they say that a patronus is tied to your spirit animal. Usually takes the shape of it, what with you trying to protect your soul and all. I have heard of patronuses changing, more often than I've heard of an animagus changing its animal, so there's no telling. Not until we can get you to do it, at least.
[Harry hasn't cast a patronus since Voldemort's death and he wonders if the removal of the horcrux changed him and he's not sure what he'd prefer the answer to be.]
I guess we'll find out. So long as I'm not a ferret, I think I'll survive.
At the time, it was really funny. Another student was being awful and our professor turned him into a ferret, but we found out later that the professor was actually someone under polyjuice and it was a bit weird after that.
[It was funny at the time, but when he thought about it later and how he'd have reacted if someone did that to one of his friends, a bit of the lustre was gone. And yet, still, ferrets.]
The professor was someone under polyjuice? It sounds like the entire school has gone complete bonkers.
[ But James is laughing anyway because that? That sounds like a prank he might have pulled in his earlier years. Doesn't really hold the same light these days, but a laugh is a laugh. ]
Yes, well, it's not a proper school year unless one of the professors tries to kill a few students.
[Harry almost laughs as he says it and doesn't see anything all that unusual. If it was like that when he was at school, surely it was like that for everyone else?]
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[His voice cracks and trails off for a moment. He hasn't told anyone this, but he just doesn't care about school houses. Harry worries at a bit of skin beside a fingernail while he remembers Hermione telling him (over and over) that the Houses were meant to provide ways for all children to excel and feel included, but that doesn't really happen.
Gryffindors are good, obviously, Ravenclaw too smart, Hufflepuff not as swift, and Slytherin born bad. But, are fully a quarter of all wizards just innately bad people? Harry isn't sure, but he has doubts. ]
I was given the choice of Slytherin or Gryffindor and without really knowing what that meant, I choose Gryffindor.
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[ He notices the voice cracking, suddenly wonders if he's overstepping some kind of boundary. He just met this kid - but he's not really a kid, he's older than James - the day before. ]
Hey, if this is too much- [ we can do it another time? you don't have to do it at all? Neither option sounds good to James, so he starts over. ] Would this be easier in person?
[ but then it's quiet, and James waits. It's silly, to think he's so worried about what house Harry was in. This is his son, in some strange future that hasn't happened to him yet, and rather than ask him how his life was, who raised him, what happened in the war...he just wants to know his house. Know if he's a slytherin, like snape and the other blacks, or if he's something else. something better - because when you're seventeen and were just told you're going to die, it's easier to concentrate on stupid house competitions.
James can't help but grin a little on the other end of the line - maybe out of pride. Pride for his house? Maybe, but some part of him doubts it. ]
Good choice.
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[There's a pause as Harry gets up to move around while he speaks.]
If you want impersonal, who to fight, who to trust - that I can do in person - but, for the rest, the phone might be better.
[Even with the false sense of distance that the phone brings, it might be telling that he's far more comfortable offering up a battle briefing than discussing school days. There's a sense of obligation here, that he owes personal information to a man that might one day be his father -- no, strike that, that might be the father of some other Harry Potter.]
School was fine. I was always very busy and didn't do too well, but I've a couple friends and, and I really wish you could meet them. I think you'd like them a lot. Hermione is brilliant. She's so smart and remembers everything she's ever read and won't let you forget that she's read it. And Ron, he's my other good friend, he's solidly good and smart in a whole different way. He knows who everyone is and which Quidditch team they cheer for.
[It's unintentional, but Harry lets the conversation slip away from himself and over to other people.]
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[ Seems a little odd. James is about to ask him about it when Harry continues, mentions warfare and then personal and James can't shake how strange it is. He's speaking to what's going to one day be his son and he's asking if he wants to know battle plans. ]
Like I said, whatever you prefer.
[ But talking about school - about friends and that he has, Quidditch and magic - makes James feels more comfortable. Makes it feel less like a briefing and more like they could just be friends. ]
Honestly, even if you weren't busy doing well's not all that it's cracked up to be. [ Thinking back to all the things they had to do to get Remus to have a life and not study. Really, not all that important. ] Yeah? That's brilliant - crazy how girls always end up with those kinds of smarts, isn't it? She sounds just like Lily. [ your mother. Merlin, is this ever going to get easier? ] He sounds like a good bloke to know, though. Probably even a better friend. Did he play Quidditch?
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[That he's pleased and relaxed shines through in his voice. Talking about sports is harmless and he can do it easily.]
I wish you could see the broom I had. They've really done some great things with the charms in the last couple of years.
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[ Quidditch is easy, quidditch is one of James favorite things to talk about. So if he's feelings just as pleased and relaxed and it happens to come through just as much on the feed, well. Good for them. ]
What broom did you have? I just about convinced my mum to let me get the new Nimbus 1001 - she was a little wary what with the testing stages being what they were. But it's the newest broom since the 1000 and it would do wonders for the team.
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[More than anything else in the wizarding world, Harry loves to fly. At times, he's thought about it and the mere fact that he was able to do so always lifts his spirits and has provided more than one patronus.]
May I ask you something?
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You mean there's something you don't already know? [ That's supposed to be a joke, but even James' laugh falls a little flat. Oh well. ] 'course. What'd you want to know?
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[James might not pick up on it, but that was a perfectly delightful impression of Hermione and he should be impressed.]
I always wanted to learn how to be an animagus and I know that you know, so maybe, if you're interested, you could show me a bit sometime?
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It's not easy, you know. Took Sirius and I nearly three years to master it. Of course we were doing it in secret since it's not technically allowed... [ James shrugs, not that Harry can see it. ] But I don't see why not.
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[Harry wonders if it's true that an animagus can only ever learn to shift into the form of their patronus and, if that's so, will he always have the same patronus he did as a child? That might be a touch awkward to explain.]
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[ So yes, Harry spoilers but your dad had a favorite teacher and a favorite subject and everything. Turns out he really does love playing with magic, just would rather it had less to do with reading most times. ]
Have you conjured a patronus before?
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[Which isn't entirely wrong, but to be fair, Harry did have other things to worry about beyond his O.W.L.S. and N.E.W.T.S.
He's about to say something and James might notice a noise of surprise. Of course he can do a patronus; with the threat of Dementors having been so pervasive, it's pretty much bog standard for any student to learn as soon as they can.]
Yes, I got it a few years ago.
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[ Someone has a favorite professor, but don't tell Dumbledore.
If he notices the noise of surprise, he doesn't say anything about it. When James was in school, the threat was much less physical than Dementors on your doorstep. ]
That'll make it easier, for sure. Just knowing what to work toward. They say it's got more to do with your 'inner spirit', but I needed something a little more concrete when I was working on mine.
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[Don't worry. Harry won't tell Dumbledore anything. Ever. Because he's dead and Harry's typist is flippant in narration.]
So, it is your patronus that you turn into? That's for sure?
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[ WOW RUDE and yeah because James' typist is definitely serious and not at all meta in the brackets. Not at all. ]
No one really knows for sure - it's not explained very well in any of the textbooks we did find, but mine was the same and so was Sirius and Peter's. They say it's common, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's for sure.
Why, not a fan of your patronus?
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[He stalls again and tries to think through what he wants to say before he speaks. This is important to him and he doesn't want to get it wrong.]
Before I cast my patronus, I was sort of told what shape it would be and while I like it, I wonder if that made a difference.
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I suppose that could make a difference, but they say that a patronus is tied to your spirit animal. Usually takes the shape of it, what with you trying to protect your soul and all. I have heard of patronuses changing, more often than I've heard of an animagus changing its animal, so there's no telling. Not until we can get you to do it, at least.
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I guess we'll find out. So long as I'm not a ferret, I think I'll survive.
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Sorry, sorry, it's a long, strange story, but I can see your point.
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[It was funny at the time, but when he thought about it later and how he'd have reacted if someone did that to one of his friends, a bit of the lustre was gone. And yet, still, ferrets.]
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[ But James is laughing anyway because that? That sounds like a prank he might have pulled in his earlier years. Doesn't really hold the same light these days, but a laugh is a laugh. ]
morbid humour powers are a GO.
[Harry almost laughs as he says it and doesn't see anything all that unusual. If it was like that when he was at school, surely it was like that for everyone else?]
dude, your life needs to calm down
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