Paternal Instincts

Chapter 17

James was in his room, looking at a picture of Lily as recalled the last time he saw her

=Flashback=

James was in the hall playing peak-a-boo with Harry and his invisibility cloak when Lily entered.

"Time for Harry's bedtime", she announced.

"Aww ... sorry son. We'll play more tomorrow", James kissed Harry's cheeks and playfully nudged his nose as the toddler giggled before he stood up and handed him over to Lily.

"James, why don't you go visit Sirius for Halloween night? You'll be hidden under the cloak", Lily suggested.

"But ... I can't just leave you and Harry".

"It's just for two hours or so. And I know being out for a bit would make you happy".

"Lily, I'm alright really. I don't need to ..." he began.

"I know. But it would make you happier. And I want you to be as happy as you can be," Lily said kindly.

James didn't know if he could love her anymore then at that moment. "What did I do to deserve you?" he said. "You're really alright with this?"

"Of course. Would you feel better if I gave you a two hour curfew?" she teased.

He grinned as he kissed Harry "Curfew or not, I'll be back in two hours".

He looked at Lily and was sure his eyes reflected the love he felt for her. He saw it in her eyes too as he gazed into them and kissed her. "I love you".

"I love you too".

=end of flashback=

Tears rolled down James's cheeks. He still remembered her loving face as he left that night. If he had known it would be last time he'd see her alive, he would have kissed her longer. Or rather, he wouldn't have left at all. He would have been there to protect her and Harry even at the cost of his life. How could he ever give her place to another? His friends were being silly. Or was he silly for not moving on from the past? At this point he was confused. Harry had written to him that Jenny was cool and he was alright with it if he gave her a chance. James suspected it was Sirius or Remus who had written to Harry about it.

The Easter holidays were not much fun as they were loaded with homework and Harry only had time to play one Quidditch game with his dad. However, his dad was a great help with finishing his homework.

After they came back from the holidays, Harry, Ron and Hermione discovered that Hagrid was raring a dragon egg when they visited him to gain more information on the Philosopher's stone (They already suspected it when they saw him hiding something and looking at books about dragons at the library). The only information they managed to get from him about Philosopher's stone was that all the professors including McGonagall, Sprout, Quirell and Snape were guarding the stone with something related to their subject while his own contribution was Fluffy.

Hagrid said he had won the dragon from a stranger at the pub, playing a game of cards. The three friends were worried as Hagrid planned on raising a dragon in a wooden hut by simply following instructions from a book. Some time later, they were invited to watch the dragon egg hatch. It was during this that they discovered Draco had followed them and had seen the dragon through the window. The arrogant prick had overheard their conversation about Hagrid's note.

In the next week, they kept trying to convince Hagrid to send the dragon that Hagrid had named Norbert away. The gameskeeper was attached to Norbert and reluctant, but eventually accepted that he couldn't keep the dragon any longer and agreed to send it away if there was a proper home for it. Harry remembered that Ron's brother Charlie worked with dragons in Romania and Hagrid accepted his suggestion to send it to Charlie.

They continued helping Hagrid rare Norbert while they awaited Charlie's reply to Ron's owl. Charlie's reply asked them to bring Norbert up to the highest tower on Saturday to send him along with his friends who were about to visit him at Romania. On Saturday, Harry and Hermione had to do it without Ron as he was in the hospital with a dragon bite. Draco who had sneaked out to catch them was to their glee caught by McGonagall. Unfortunately, they were also caught but this by Filch after sending Norbert off. He brought them to McGonagall who fortunately believed they had invented the dragon story to fool Malfoy. Harry, Hermione and Neville had 50 points each taken off. Neville had sneaked out to warn Harry and Hermione about Draco following them.

Losing 150 points for Gryffindor at one go had turned Harry, Hermione and Neville into almost outcasts that Harry swore not to meddle again. He was almost tempted when overheard a conversation between Snape and Quirrell that sounded like Quirrell had caved in but decided he was done poking around.

Harry, Hermione, Neville and Draco had their detention for the dragon night fiasco with Hagrid in the Forbidden Forest. Ever unique in his idea of safe, Hagrid thought it was a good idea to split the group up and send Harry and Draco, two eleven year olds off by themselves in a forest full of dangerous creatures while he went off with Neville and Hermione (Draco asked for Fang, Hagrid's dog to accompany them). He told them to shoot red sparks for their wands if they encountered any trouble.

Both groups were to look for a wounded unicorn. Harry, Draco and Fang encountered a terrifying sight that made the latter two run for their lives. A hooded figure was lowering it's head over a wounded unicorn and drinking it's blood. Harry felt unbearable pain on his scar. He was saved by a centaur named Frienze who explained that unicorns were pure and their blood can used to save someone who's even an inch from death. He also explained that the centaurs who predicted the future by looking at the stars foretold Voldermort's return. Frienze left him when the Hagrid and gang found him.

Harry deduced the hooded figure drinking unicorn's blood to stay alive was Voldermort and that Snape was trying steal the stone for Voldemort who planned on returning back to life and killing him. He confided this and the centaur's prediction of Voldemort's return to Ron and Hermione when he returned to the Common Room. He was a little comforted by Hermione words that Dumbledore was the one person Voldermort feared and he wouldn't dare harm him until Dumbledore's nose. She also added that the Centaur's predictions were much like fortune telling and weren't necessarily true.

=to be continued=

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I apologize that this chapter had a lot of summarizing of the book's events. But I had to cover all those things in this chapter.