Chapter 7
When the newest Chief Warlock, Lord Malfoy, finally introduced a change to the Wizengamot Code of Conduct that meant Lords would be screened for potion and compulsion interference before each season began, James had supported it. As had many others. It was a good idea, and had earned almost unanimous support across all factions. Oddly enough, Dumbledore opposed it and had found ways to delay the vote for well over a year, but James had merely brushed that off.
Until, of course, it came his time to be screened and some glaring issues were found.
James had been staring at the diagnostic sheet for the better part of fifteen minutes, reading it over and over as if the words would somehow change. The Healer had looked at him sympathetically, offering him time to process the information whilst she informed her higher ups.
MIND-ALTERING MAGICS - DIAGNOSTIC TEST
Test Administered to: Lord James Fleamont Potter
Date: 28th March 1987
Active Compulsions:
Compulsion of Attraction to Lily Evans (12/09/1977)
Compulsion to Join Order of the Phoenix (25/11/1977)
Compulsion to Strengthen Light Beliefs (25/11/1977)
Compulsion for Desperation to Create an Heir (04/07/1979)
Attempted Compulsions (Failed to Take Hold):
Compulsion to Believe Prophecy (13/01/1980)
Active Potions:
Amortentia (Keyed to Lily Potter) (First Administered 16/03/1978)
Further Details:
All compulsions administered by the same individual- magical signature identified as [BLOCKED]
James' marriage wasn't fucking real. Joining the Order wasn't fucking real. His desire for a child wasn't fucking real, and now he had two and had never even met one of them because of these bloody compulsions. Surely, James would love Lily even after the compulsions are removed? His feelings couldn't change that much, could they? They'd been together since they were seventeen, after all, and they had an almost seven year old son together! This wouldn't change much, he'd still love her. Of course he would.
The only real change would be the serious apology he needed to give Regulus.
Regulus Black, the boy he had been smitten with since the first time they locked eyes. The boy he was convinced was his very soulmate until those compulsions took hold. The man he had betrayed with a marriage that mysterious magic forced him into.
James couldn't even bear to think about who cast those compulsions and administered those potions. He knew, deep down, that it had been Albus Dumbledore. He couldn't process that right now. Not sober, anyway.
The Healer re-entered the room, followed by a vaguely familiar woman, who was presumably her supervisor, and the Head Auror, Madam Amelia Bones. That was just what James needed, now- his fucking boss being informed.
"Auror Potter, please report," Bones said, without her usual sternness.
James passed over the diagnostic sheet without saying a word. Madam Bones read through it, looking positively livid.
"Potter, do you wish to formally report this and have whoever did this brought to justice? You're the third Light Lord under magical influence to be flagged up today."
James hesitated, unsure, "I- I don't know. Can you have it filed in the department records? I'll decide when I've processed it all."
"Alright. I extend my most sincere apologies, Auror Potter, that this was not picked up before. It appears I shall be having some very strong words with whoever is in charge of the Auror health scans."
"Thank you, Madam Bones."
The woman inclined her head in acknowledgement and left the room with the Junior Healer, leaving James with the somewhat familiar woman.
"Lord Potter, I am Senior Healer Andromeda Prewett. I shall be cleansing the foreign magic from you once you give your consent. May I offer you a calming draught?"
Andromeda. That's why she was familiar- she was, is, a Black. Regulus' older cousin.
He sighed, "Uh- yeah. I'll take a calming draught. And I give my consent to the removal of the spells and potions."
She nodded once, before levitating a vial into his hands from the cart behind her. Once he had drank it, she began to wave her wand in unrecognisable patterns, chanting in what James believe was Ancient Greek. When she was done, James felt absolutely exhausted and far too cold.
"Lord Potter, I have removed the interference. I recommend that you go home and rest, as Madam Bones has relieved you of your work duties for the next week. The exhaustion is natural, as is experiencing a multitude of conflicting feelings. They will settle soon, but your mind must adjust to not being under influence."
"Any advice?"
"Your diagnostic sheet names an individual that you were influenced to care for. I recommend you maintain a distance for the next few days to sort out the difference between your previous and current feelings."
"Thank you, Healer Prewett," James said, with a respectful nod, as he gathered his things to floo home from St Mungo's.
______
It took James three days of confining himself to his office, telling Lily that he had a lot of paperwork to do for a department audit (which wasn't technically a lie, he was actually doing that), before he sorted out his conflicting feelings enough to be level-headed.
He had realised that he loves Lily, but he's still not sure if he's in love with her. He hadn't managed to work out if the love he felt for her was romantic or the same way he loved Remus- as a friend. James had been so sure he was gay up until his seventh year, when the compulsions and potions started, and now he had to reevaluate everything. It would take time, he knew that much.
For now, there was one thing he would be doing and that was apologising. He had written a letter asking Regulus if he would be willing to meet him, and Regulus had suggested Noir Cottage once again, that very evening.
As he apparated to the edge of the wards, he wiped the sweat off his hands onto his robes. As disgusting as that was.
Regulus must have already keyed him into the wards, as he was able to walk straight up the path. He knocked on the door once, and Regulus opened it and gestured him inside without so much as a word. Presumably, he had guessed the reason for this- though James hadn't allowed his name to be released as one of the Light Lords found under the influence of compulsions and potions.
For the past three days, James had been convincing himself that the influence hadn't truly changed or affected him that much. And yet, as he sat across from Regulus, he realised just how much it had. He hadn't truly recognised just how handsome Regulus had become the past few years, until now.
"Well?" Regulus asked, breaking James out from his thoughts, "Why did you want to meet?"
"To apologise," he replied, weakly, before straightening himself up and gathering all his Gryffindor courage, "I was dosed with Amortentia and compulsions about Lily, along with ones to want an Heir and join the Order. You always chided me about not wearing my Heir ring in Hogwarts, or any other protective jewellery, and you were right. The compulsions addled my mind, they made me seek out Lily but I had enough free will to try to keep you too. I come here to apologise, because it wasn't fair to you. I hurt you, I lied to you, without even realising that it was wrong."
Regulus gave him a soft smile, "I accept your apology. I've suspected undue influence for a few of years now, ever since I got over the hurt."
"Thank you," James said, fidgeting, "I, uhm, I would like to meet Hydrus, one day. If you are willing to allow it. Gringotts informed me that he's still the Potter Heir."
"He knows that, and he knows about you now. Has done since he was five. I'll be sure to tell him tomorrow about the compulsions and potions, though. At the moment he just thinks you lied to me about your secret family," Regulus said, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly, "I told him that he may write to you when he turns eleven. I figured it was a fitting age, since he'll be old enough to decide what he wants to do with the Heirship unless you remove it from him."
James scoffed, "I won't remove it from him by force. I may have been under the influence during that period, but I am more than willing to own up to everything now. I would be proud to introduce Hydrus to the world as Heir Potter, one day, so long as he is willing."
"You've earned the right to another photo of him with that response," Regulus said, gently, as he produced said photo from a pocket in his robes. Hydrus truly was the absolute double of Regulus, always had been. James looked at the photo fondly, smiling as Hydrus rode a toy broomstick alongside two boys that were surely the sons of Lord Malfoy and Lord Gaunt-Slytherin, respectively.
"He's all grown up now," James mumbled, with a wistful smile.
"He is indeed. He's really excelling in his tutoring, Severus has him brewing first year potions already instead of practice ones. He loves Quidditch, he's started begging for a real broom and everything."
"And the Peverell gift? What's it like, raising a Necromancer?" James asked. At Regulus' sharp look, he added, "I did my research."
Regulus sighed, leaning back in his chair, "Bloody terrifying, raising a child who has to learn things that would keep normal adults up at night. But he's picking it up well, I think he's ahead of where he should be. He will have to commune with Death soon, establishing a connection is the best way to stabilise his power."
James shuddered, "Sounds scary."
"I've had almost seven years to get used to it. It's normal for me, now. Not sure what I would do with a regular child who didn't speak to snakes or rip the souls from small animals."
James laughed at that. The conversation continued to be a pleasant one, and James felt lighter than he had in years.
______
Arriving back home, his pleasant mood soured. Speaking to Regulus had really given him a taste as to how his life could have been if he had never taken his Heir ring off, and now he had to face reality.
Regulus had told him all about Hydrus' tutoring as if the hardest decision about it was agreeing who the tutor for their group was going to be. James had had a much harder time with that, having spent the first four years of Henry's life arguing on and off with Lily about whether he was going to be tutored or not. In the end, he had went to Frank and Alice Longbottom for help, and Alice had managed to convince Lily that tutoring with her son Neville and some other Light Heirs and Heiresses would be the best possible decision. After all, their boys were good friends. Lily still didn't like it, and regularly asked Henry if he enjoyed tutoring or if he would rather find out more about the Muggle world in a primary school. Henry was very much happy with only living in the wizarding world, something that had caused even more arguments.
Hearing how Hydrus excelled in education, how he was learning far above the regular curriculum in some areas, also upset James somewhat. He didn't want to compare the son he raised to the one he didn't, but it was hard not to. Henry slacked off a lot, talked back to his tutor on occasion, and seemed to have no grand aspirations to learn any more than he absolutely had to. Hydrus was reading Necromantic tomes in the Tongue of the Dead, one of five languages he currently spoke, and Henry still struggled with words in English- never mind that it was the only language he spoke, seeing as Lily refused to let James teach him Hindi. Not to mention all the prejudice against the Dark and Slytherins that he was learning from Lily and the Weasleys. That was a whole other can of worms that James didn't have the effort to open.
Meeting with Regulus had definitely helped him out with his conflicting feelings towards Lily, though. Too many years had passed for James to still be as in love with Regulus he once had been, but seeing him without the spells and potions in effect made him realise that what he felt for Lily was truly so different from what he had felt for Regulus.
He was not attracted to Lily in the way he had been until he had been cleansed, he was still not attracted to witches. Lily was beautiful, yes, but James felt nothing but the love he would feel for a close friend.
He knew now that one day he would leave this marriage, one day he would admit to the potions, but he wanted Henry to have a childhood with two loving parents living together. He was too young to be split between two homes and two people. Besides, Lily was hoping to open an Apothecary in the next few years with all the money she had earned from being a private brewer- James would need to wait until then at the very earliest. Divorce laws in the wizarding world were a peculiar thing when it came to Lords and Ladies, as it was still assumed that a divorced couple would both have their magical family to fall back on. As a Lord, James would keep everything bar Lily's personal vault. She would leave with nothing, with no rich magical family or prestigious title to fall back on. She needed to have established herself separate from him, on sheer merit, before this marriage ended or she would have no place in the magical world. James didn't agree with the laws, not at all, but he knew they wouldn't change any time soon. The Wizengamot needed a two-thirds majority to change such an old piece of legislation, and James knew this wouldn't even get close to a third.
He sighed, leaning forward in his chair as he lifted his quill to go back to his paperwork. He paused when he heard the familiar footsteps of his son running down the hall.
Henry burst into the room with a grin. James could never decide who he was more like. He had James' own dark brown eyes, the untameable hair, the Pureblooded set of his facial features and his very bones, and skin just a few shades lighter than his own. Yet, he carried himself with the same grace Lily did, he had her auburn hair, he had her attitude, her crooked smile, her temper. He may have looked more like James, but he was definitely all Lily.
"Dad!" Henry said excitably, "Mum said you'd put me to bed 'cos she's brewing."
"Of course, son, do you want a story?" James asked, as he began to lead Henry out of his study and through the manor's hallways towards his bedroom.
Henry wrinkled his nose in disgust, "No, Ron said that bedtime stories are for babies like his sister. I'm not a baby any more."
Ah, Ronald Weasley. The bane of James' existence these days. He didn't know it was possible to dislike a child quite this much. He really didn't understand why, out of all the Weasley children, Henry had to idolise him. James had never been fond of Molly Weasley, and Ron was essentially Molly Weasley in miniature. He had inherited all of her anti-Dark prejudices, and was filling Henry's head with them. James wished that Henry was more drawn to the older Weasley children instead- Bill Weasley was in his last year of Hogwarts, Head Boy, with impeccable grades and a curse-breaker job lined up at Gringotts. Charlie Weasley was a fifth year, a prefect, a seeker, and the Head of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team with aspirations to work with magical creatures. Hell, Percy Weasley was a first year and already the best student in his year. Even the twins, Fred and George, who would inherit the Prewett Heirship, were a better choice- and they were pranksters with Slytherin tendencies. But no, of course Henry had to be enamoured with Ron Weasley- a prejudiced boy with no real aspirations who encouraged Henry to slack off in tutoring, despite the fact that the boy himself was home-tutored.
"Oh, really?" James responded, not letting Henry know anything about his disdain for the boy, "Well, alright then. How was your day?"
"Tutoring was bor-ing! Miss Blishwick was tryin' to teach us Latin! Why would I need to know Latin? No one even speaks that any more."
"Knowing a bit of Latin is very useful, Henry," James chided, as he opened the door to Henry's room. It was a mess, as usual, since Lily had forbidden the elves from cleaning it and Henry wouldn't do it himself. Biting his tongue, James decided not to mention it, and continued what he had been saying, "After all, the spells we use are often based in Latin. Knowing the language helps you work out what a spell does, even if you've never heard it before. Plus, you can even make your own spells if you know Latin."
"Oh," Henry said, frowning, "Maybe I'll listen tomorrow, then. Making my own spells would be cool, I could make one that gets rid of all the Slytherins in Hogwarts! Or- or even one that tells everyone when someone's Dark so they can be arrested!"
"Henry!" James chided, "Slytherins are not evil, it's merely a Hogwarts house. And just because someone has a Dark magical core does not mean they should be imprisoned."
"Well, actually, Ron said that Mrs Weasley said-"
"What did you do after tutoring?" James interrupted.
"Me an' mum went to Diagon Alley 'cos she needed to go to Flourish and Blotts, which was boring, but she let me get an ice cream from Fortescue's 'cos I behaved. Then we went to the Weasleys for dinner, an' me an' Ron discussed all our Quidditch plans so we can defeat the snakes when we join the Gryffindor team! Ron said he reckons the twins will be snakes when they go to Hogwarts in a couple years, an' that Mrs Weasley will send them off to the Prewetts if that happens. I asked mum about it and she said Mrs Weasley was being very reasonable, whatever that means."
Well, that wasn't remotely troubling at all. Not only would Molly Weasley disown two of her children over a fucking Hogwarts sorting that hasn't even happened yet, but she's discussing it in front of her younger children too. James might actually write to Regulus about that, seeing as his cousin Andromeda was married to Lord Gideon Prewett. He'd also he having a word with Lily when she's done brewing, because what the fuck?
"I'm glad you enjoyed seeing the Weasleys, son. Now, it's time for bed. You've to be up early for tutoring in the morning."
"Yeah, yeah, I know. Night, dad."
"Night, Henry."
James didn't go back up to his study after that, instead going down to the sitting room and having a cup of tea in front of the fire. It wasn't long before Lily emerged from her potions lab in the basement, kissing James on the cheek before settling down into the chair beside him.
"That last order I completed was a nightmare!" she groaned, throwing her head back dramatically, "Artemisia Heatherwood had ordered several bottles of Amortentia. I can't wait to see who her latest flame is in Witch Weekly."
James' blood ran cold. How had he overlooked the possibility of Lily being the one to dose him with Amortentia? She was a Potioneer, for Merlin's sake! Amortentia needed to be dosed weekly, and he was not in contact with Dumbledore every single week like clockwork. He steadied himself. He needed evidence before he started throwing around accusations.
"Oh?" he said, completely casually, "I didn't know you brewed Amortentia."
"Of course I do!" Lily giggled, "I see nothing wrong with it. It just gives people a little push, you know? Helps strengthen the feelings that are already there."
Yeah, James had definitely been too hasty in blaming all of this on Dumbledore. He was probably in on it, but Lily was surely giving him the potion. Also, that was not how Amortentia worked? It completely removed the victim's free will, forcing feelings on to them. It was a Category A potion, the most restricted class, and should not be given out to the average person.
A memory James had forgotten slowly came back to him with the realisation that his son had been conceived under the influence of Amortentia. Lily giving Henry a deep indigo potion the moment he was born, telling him it was a brew of her own to improve his health. James knew there was a potion out there somewhere that negated the effects a child conceived under influence of Amortentia would face, he just needed to research it and find out the colour...
"Ah," James replied, just as casually as he had before, "Didn't know that. On a serious note, though, we need to talk."
Lily frowned, confused, "What about?"
"Henry informed me earlier that Ron mentioned Molly's plan to disown her twins if they ever sort Slytherin, and that you told him it was reasonable. That needs to stop, Lily. It's bad enough that he's learning all these prejudices from Ron, but we as his parents should not be strengthening them."
"Are you serious?" Lily scoffed, "Do you expect me to lie to Henry about my feelings on the matter? I've never met a Slytherin who didn't turn out evil, nor a person with a Dark core who didn't look down their nose at me for my blood status. If I want to encourage our son to stay away from these people, I have every right to do so."
"Lily, I know you were treated awfully in school and nothing can justify that, but we were in the middle of a war. The Dark Lord is dead, now, and we should be trying to do everything we can to make sure another war doesn't start up. I don't want Henry to go into Hogwarts hating an entire quarter of the school, thinking that them being ambitious or resourceful means they're evil. Passing on prejudice makes us no better than those Death Eaters who fought for the Dark Lord."
Lily rolled her eyes, "I'm not going to sing the praises of the Malfoys or the bloody Blacks just to keep you happy. Henry will believe what he wants to believe, and you cannot change that. The Weasley twins have been tested before their family hourglass, Molly told me, and they have an affinity for the Dark Arts that needs to be stamped out. If it isn't, then they'll go to Slytherin, and they can join the Prewetts. Simple as that."
With that, Lily stood and stormed off upstairs. James decided that he was really glad he never told Lily everything about his own experience before the Potter hourglass, she really wouldn't have liked his own talent in ritual magic.
This week had turned his life upside down, and as thankful as he was, he almost wished he didn't know any of what he had found out. He had a lot to do now.
He needed to find proof of Lily dosing him with Amortentia as soon as possible, then divorce her and maybe even report it, all whilst trying to teach Henry not to be so bloody prejudiced.
James sighed, draining the last of his tea as he watched the flickering flames in front of him.