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IS - Chapter 152: Pursuit Part 2
🕑 Added 2025-07-07 09:46:24 +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 152: Pursuit Part 2
After jumping off the cliff, James used a spell to slow down their fall and apparated them away before they hit the bottom.
Doing it like this would make it much more difficult for their pursuer to catch on.
The group appeared inside a dense forest, filled with immensely tall trees.
The ground was covered in thick shrubbery and a dense fog that gave the whole place an ancient feeling.
“Do I even ask where we are?” Andromeda commented as she looked around.
“Why don’t we just fight this person?” Bella asked.
“Bella, no!” Andromeda snapped. “James said it was a Warlock! Do you know what that means?”
“I do…” Bella responded. “But can we keep running away? Won’t they find us eventually?”
“What I said is…” James walked to one of the trees, “ that it must be someone around that level, at least.”
“At least?…” Andromeda raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t Warlocks like the most powerful wizards in the world? You know, like Albus Dumbledore, Grindelwald, and all those old folk who’ve been around for over a century and learned an immense amount of magic?”
James snapped a large branch from the tree and glanced back at her. “There is still so much that you don’t know about this world. There are true monsters out there… hidden in the shadows. But don’t concern yourself with all of that.”
He gave his wand a wave, and several small stones began to emerge from the ground and align themselves between them, forming complex shapes.
“What are you doing now?” Bella asked.
“Runes… what are you making?” Andromeda was staring at the ground where the stones were continuously moving. “That is the rune for fire.”
“What can I say? I like fire. It can be a very useful thing,” James said as he finished arranging the stones. He then turned his attention to the stick in his hands.
“Are you going to burn the forest?” Bella wondered.
“No, I’m just going to burn our traces. This forest won’t burn from something like this,” James said.
He was using his wand to carve symbols into the piece of wood he had grabbed.
Andromeda was watching from behind him with interest. “Are you making a portkey? Why?”
“Portkeys are harder to follow than apparition. Now…” He finished drawing the symbols. “We’re done. Grab onto it.” He pointed his wand at the stones on the ground, and these began to emit a red light.
“And you may wanna hurry up. I already activated the fire array.”
“Oh Merlin.” Bella felt the heat that the stones began to release and ran to grab onto the stick.
Andromeda did the same, and James activated it just a moment before the circle of stones erupted into a burst of flames.
Andromeda and Bella were startled by the sudden change of scenery. They were now in some dark alley inside a city.
“Manchester,” James said before they could ask. “Come on.” He walked off.
“I’m not very presentable right at this moment…” Andromeda complained.
She and her sister had gone through hell and were covered in dirt, ash, and other stuff.
Their clothes weren’t any better. Even though they had chosen some fancy robes for their visit to the Potters, these were now ready to be thrown into the garbage bin.
James pointed his wand at them and performed a quick piece of magic. “Notice-Me-Not. The Muggles won’t even look your way.”
“That’s good…” Bella looked down at herself and felt somewhat awkward because now she was realizing that even if Muggles could not see her in such a deplorable state… James could.
The trio walked into the streets of the city at night. There were plenty of people around, but no one paid any attention to them thanks to James’ magic.
After crossing several busy streets, James guided them into another desolate alley, where he apparated away.
They had to repeat this method three more times throughout Glasgow, Edinburgh, and London before James finally decided it was safe enough to apparate back to his house.
They arrived at the front garden, having the gates of the castle in front of them.
“Uff… finally.” Andromeda had to put in a great effort to avoid falling to her knees. She could not recall the last time she felt so tired.
Bella didn’t want to show it, but she was also exhausted, so she just breathed in relief.
James was still on full alert. Although he was fairly sure there was no way for their pursuer to follow them here, he would not be lowering his guard just yet.
If it came to that, he would have to kill this person to make sure his family would be safe in the future.
The main gates of the castle opened up, and several people rushed outside.
“James!” His mother Euphemia was the first one to speak.
Following her were the rest of the family members who were present during the meeting.
“Where have you been, boy?!” His father was obviously furious.
Lord Pollux and his son, Cygnus, arrived next.
“Why do you look like that?” While Cygnus looked outraged at the state his daughters were in, his father Pollux was more amused than anything.
“Looks like the kids had some fun.” Pollux chuckled.
“James Potter!” Euphemia huffed. “What is the meaning of this?!”
“Mother… I just did as you told me and kept the girls entertained for a bit. I hope you adults had time to finish your business while we were away.” James told her before turning to glance at Andromeda and Bella. “You didn’t get bored, did you?”
“No… it was very… entertaining.” Bella responded.
“Yes, James gave us a tour of the… ehm… countryside, I suppose.” Andromeda added.
“A bit of a long tour, don’t you think, James? It’s already past the time for dinner,” Fleamont told him.
“And look at yourselves. All dirty and with your robes torn…” Cygnus said.
“I don’t think I wanna know what you were up to. Just be glad your mother is not here to see this.”
“Oh, we are definitely glad for that.” Andromeda said.
“James?” His mother Euphemia was glaring at him for a further explanation.
He just shrugged. “I warned you that I wasn’t the ‘entertainer type.’ This is really on you, Mother.”
