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IS - Chapter 169: The Headmaster's Call
🕑 Added 2025-07-28 10:23:50 +0000 UTCDisclaimer:
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 169: The Headmaster's Call
“Something on your mind?” Lily leaned closer.
James placed down the fork. “Many things, but I'm just not very hungry this morning.” He had spent a large amount of time in the chamber, observing the leather, looking for any changes.
Nothing had occurred so far, and he was beginning to lose his patience with that project. He had invested a lot in it for it to fail now.
‘Maybe I should have made a hat after all…’ James considered.
“Are you concerned about the game?” Lily asked.
“What game?” James looked confused.
“The Quidditch game…” Lily muttered. “Don’t you have to play tomorrow?”
“Quidditch?... right,” James said.
“You didn’t forget about it, did you?” Charlie Bell, the team captain, was staring at him from the other side of the table with an upset expression. “You are the only Seeker we have now.”
“Of course I haven't forgotten about it.” James had totally forgotten about that.
From all the things on his list of priorities, playing Quidditch didn’t even enter the list at all.
He was only on the team because Sirius insisted, and to be fair, he thought he was going to be nothing more than a spare player, not an active one.
“I hope that’s true… we are playing against Slytherin,” Charlie added.
“Don’t worry about it, Charlie. You guys are going to crush those snakes,” Peter exclaimed with confidence.
“Please, don’t mention snakes…” Sirius grumbled.
“So… anyways,” Lily ignored the others. “If it’s not about the game, are you perhaps concerned about next week’s exams?”
“We have exams?” James asked.
‘Maybe I should pay a bit more attention to what the professors say…’ he considered for a moment.
It would be quite humiliating if he failed a class despite having two lifetimes’ worth of academic memories.
“Sure, we do. Charms and Transfiguration.” Lily’s green eyes moved quickly across the table. “You know… if you need help studying, I’m going to spend most of my afternoon at the library...” she said in a soft tone, as if she didn’t want the others to hear it.
James was about to answer that he was busy, but he stopped for a moment to think. He had been meaning to speak with Lily since he returned to the school.
He wanted to make things clear to her that they could never be anything other than friends.
Even if circumstances were different and he wasn’t engaged to Bella, that would still be true.
Lily Evans would always be important to him, although the reasons for that were something he would never be able to reveal to anyone.
She was certainly a lovely girl, and he understood perfectly why his father had been so crazy about her. However, as far as he was concerned, anything more than friendship with her would be complicated on several levels, and not something he was interested in getting into.
James was about to accept her offer, when someone called for him.
“Mister Potter.” Professor McGonagall stood behind him with a stern expression on her face.
James glanced at the woman and wondered what he could have done wrong now to upset her. “Yes, Professor?”
“The Headmaster requests your presence in his office.” She glanced down at his empty plate. “If you are done with your breakfast, I will escort you there.“
“Right…” Not being given much of a choice, James said goodbye to his friends and walked out of the hall with the professor.
“What do you think this is about?” Peter asked.
“It could have something to do with what happened the other day…” Remus said. He had not been told the whole story, but whatever James had been doing, it landed him in the hospital.
It was safe to say that the school nurse must have told their Head of House at the very least.
“Oh… I hope he doesn’t get punished too harshly,” Lily said.
<><><><><><><>
Professor McGonagall escorted him all the way to the last floor of the castle without giving him any explanation about the reason for this summons.
James didn’t ask either. He was going to get his answers when he spoke with Dumbledore. Besides, he already had an idea of what the old wizard wanted from him.
“Toffee Éclair,” McGonagall said to the gargoyle before it turned around and revealed the stairs.
“Never had those. Are they good?” James asked.
McGonagall cleared her throat. “They are… a favorite of mine. Now, go on, Mister Potter. Don’t leave the Headmaster waiting.”
James walked into the office and found Dumbledore at his usual place, working on some papers while his phoenix relaxed on its perch.
“Greetings, Headmaster. And you too, Fawkes.”
The firebird let out a happy cry in response.
Dumbledore smiled gently. “Please, take a seat.” He made a gesture and pointed to the chair in front of him. “I hope I didn’t interrupt your breakfast. If that is the case, let me know and I will have one of the elves bring you something.”
“That is fine.” James sat down. “I wasn’t hungry anyways.”
“Oh?... something got you worried?” Dumbledore lifted his eyes off his desk for a moment and stared at James with a look he had seen many times.
‘He knows something about me, but wants me to be the one to bring it up.’
“I presume the reason for this call is related to my hospital visit?” James responded with another question instead.
“That would be a correct assumption.” Dumbledore nodded. “Madam Pomfrey informed me that the injuries you sustained were a product of some spell-casting practice that went wrong, and you suffered some serious burns, as well as a serious case of magical exhaustion.”
‘That must have been what Bella told her…’ Pomfrey never asked James how he got hurt, so he never had to lie to her.
But by how Dumbledore was glancing at him, and that annoying glimmer in his eye...James could tell that the old man was not buying that story.
“Mister Potter… didn’t I already warn you about what would happen if you continued with your dangerous experiments in my school?” Dumbledore spoke in a firm tone that showed how serious he was.
