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Chapter 4
Order from Choas

1/31/2008
Thursday
Naval Criminal Investigative Services
Washington, DC
11:31AM local time (8:31AM PST)

James sat on the empty autopsy table as McGee tried to tell him to, "Get off of that you're going to get in trouble!" Ignoring him, James pulled a candy bar out of his pocket and unwrapped it. "Oh, that's great. Eat candy in front of the eviscerated corpse. Classy."

With his mouth almost full of chocolate, James said, "Should I offer to share?"

"That is grotesque," Medical Examiner Ducky said as he entered. He motioned James off the table and got to work. "What happened to this poor fellow?" he asked.

"Well, I'm no Oxford grad, but I think the gaping fucking hole in his face had something to do with his death," said James.

"Why are you here?" the older man asked.

James smirked and waved his hand, disrupting the security cameras in the room. He waved his hand again and a blue glow surrounded the corpse. "This man was not a squib. He was a halfblood. There are different words the Magical government will slip into your documents so that people like me know exactly what we're dealing with. This man's mother is a witch living in South Africa. My government is alerting her to her son's demise. Now, he was, in fact, killed by a Muggle, so my official ruling is to hand this case over to the jurisdiction of NCIS. If my services are needed further, please do contact me. However, this team is more than capable of handling this. My number remains the same."

James left, blowing a kiss to Agent Gibbs as he entered the elevator.

Needing a break, James took a bus to the airport and bought a ticket to San Francisco. His constant time travel and apparition was wearing him down, and he did love a good plane ride. Turbulence was his favorite.

Smiling as the plane took off, James opened the DC newspaper he had purchased at the airport; The Merlin Mailer. Though not as well-known as the Independent Mage, James found the Mailer to be more detailed, interesting, and accurate. He flipped past the pop culture pages, having no idea what techno or whatever a Lady YaYa even was, he turned to the International section.

After reading about his own cure for lycanthrope, James saw a section on a couple that were victims from the last war with Voldemort. Apparently, their Healers had tried a new course of treatment that had failed, leaving them in the same near-vegetative state they had lived in for 16 years. The treatment history outlined in the article appalled James. Basically, they had been give daily potions to stop dreams, and potions to keep them calm.

To James, that meant that they were not allowed to process what happened in their day, or store any memories, nor were they able to produce adequate reactions to stressors because they were sedated all the time.

James decided then and there he was going to intervene. When the plane stopped for a layover in Houston, James changed his ticket for Scotland. He had a family to save.

2/01/2008
Thursday
Hogwarts
Charms Classroom
9:18AM local time (1:18AM PST)

"That's right, class!" Professor Flitwick cheered, seeing the Seventh Year students mastering the bubblehead charm. "This spell is highly useful for-"

BOOMCRACK

Filius fell off his stack of books as the door was blown open by Dumbledore's unstable grandson. "Where's the Longbottom guy?" James asked as he stepped into the classroom.

"This is most irregular!" shouted the Charms professor. "I must protest!"

"Take it up with somebody that gives a rats ass. I'm a busy man and this cannot wait and where is Longbottom!?"

Eyes turned to Neville, who looked mortified. James grabbed him by the collar and marched him out of the room.

"Where are you taking my student?" Filius yelled.

"1-800-FUC-KOFF!" the teen yelled. Filius wondered if Albus was aware that he could require a mental evaluation of the heir to his line, to determine fitness for inheritance. The Charms Master decided to mention it casually the next time he saw Albus. In the meantime, he sent a Patronus to the Headmaster, alerting him to what had happened.

2/01/2008
Thursday
Hogsmeade
Gates of Hogwarts
9:35AM local time (1:35AM PST)

"Where are we going?"

After having spent four minutes staring at James in terror, Neville had done nothing but question James. "Oh holy hell. We're going to St. Mungos. Will you shut up?"

"Why are we going to-"

James silenced the other teen with a flick of his wrist, and grabbed his arm to apparate.

Apparation into St. Mungos was not uncommon, but James rarely did things by halves. He landed right outside the door to the room where the Longbottoms had lived for more than a decade. Upon seeing the door, Neville nearly fainted. James caught him and opened the door, dragging the other in. Lifting the silencing spell, James prepared for the onslaught.

Before Neville could form a sentence, James said, "Why didn't you tell me your parents are in this condition?"

"I don't talk about it much," the other boy finally squeaked.

"Hey. I just cured an incurable disease. Why the fuck do you think I wouldn't be interested in helping your parents?"

Neville looked at him with wide eyes. "You don't really seem the helpful sort. I mean, with your yelling and shouting and throwing things and all."

Shaking his head, James said, "I'm a scientist. A medical mystery like this is bound to get my attention. Now, listen. I need you to release their medical history to me, and I need you to authorize me to perform medically necessary tests and procedures… and maybe remove them from this hospital for short periods of time."

"What? What do you want with them?"

"Neville, you are a grown ass man, and I'm probably the first person to treat you like it, so here it goes. Healers here are doing fuck-all nothing for your parents. They're keeping them sedated and calm, Neville, because they don't know what else to do. They are not helping them. They are letting them live out their days as they are, and these Healers are okay with doing that. They did not take the vow I took, Neville! They did not swear on their magic to do everything in their power to save lives. This isn't living, Neville Longbottom. I want your parents to live. I can't guarantee I will help, but I try a hell of a lot harder than these Healers."

Neville looked at his sleeping mother's face for a long minute before he said, "My Gran always told me nothing could be done for them."

"Maybe nothing can be done," James said with a shrug. "But this sure as shit isn't helping. Say the word, man, and I'll do my damndest to find a cure for this."

Tears gathered in Neville's eyes as he stared at James. "I… Yes. Yes, alright. What do I do?"

James gave the other man a wide smile. "Leave me to my magic." James cocked his head to one side. "That is a much better phrase in the Muggle world."

While James waited for Neville to sign the paperwork, he looked over the two patients that had waited sixteen years for care. He shook his head and murmured, "I wish I had known about you two years ago. You shouldn't be living like this."

Paperwork in hand, James apparated the other teen back to Hogwarts and left for his lab in California.

2/01/2008
Thursday
Los Angeles Lab
5AM Local Time (PST)

When James arrived at his favorite place, he saw he had two messages on his answering machine. Few people had the landline number so James's curiosity was pretty high.

He clicked the button to play the messages to hear, "Hello, Dr. Potter. I am Erin Strauss with the FBI out of Quantico. I was given your name for help with a case one of my teams is currently working on. I'm told it's right up your ally."

She gave details on where they needed him and asked for a reply by morning. James texted Andron to give him a heads up on where he would be going, and he apparated out of his lab to his new destination.

The doors in front of him read "Behavioral Analysis Unit."

Posted 3.16.15

I have also recently updated "Boys 'Round Here" and also replaced the first eight chapters of "Gryffindors Never Die", in case you're interested in either of these stories.