The Poison We Take (Harry/open)

[Giovanni Marcos Cavaliere]

Gio had gone to take the results of his research to Riley so that she could process them. He was sure that his spell had some practical usage; it neutralized the Killing Curse. That would be sort of helpful, he thought. He could now move on to the second phase: how it fit into his overarching Theory on the Nature of Magic.

He was deep in thought, working out some calculations in his head, when he heard heavy footsteps up ahead. Death Eaters chasing someone, he was sure; he'd teach them.

He trailed the group from a safe distance. He wanted to see who they were after. Maybe he'd get to test out his spell in a real-world environment.

[Harry James Potter]

Harry was in a tight spot. When was he not? Of course, the Death Eaters recognized him, why had he been such an idiot? Taking off his cloak like that. He couldn't just let them take those people away without doing something. He didn't know if those he had saved were muggleborns, or just one the run, but if they were being hunted by the Death Eaters, he would do his best to save them. If he couldn't help those in trouble right before his eyes, then what would the whole point of his adventure be? He couldn't just let them get killed or go to Azkaban. But this stupid saving people thing he had was getting him into trouble. At least they were not the crazy big name Death Eaters chasing him. He sent a few stunning spell back at them, hitting one of the group of 7, leaving 6 in pursuit.

Harry wondered why they hadn't summoned Voldemort yet, thinking that perhaps they had yet to be granted the mark, or they wanted the glory of capturing him instead. These idiot Death Eaters began sending killing curses towards him, which he narrowly avoided.

"I thought He wanted to kill me himself!" Harry shouted back at them, hitting another of the Death Eaters. Maybe they weren't Death Eaters at all. Ron hadn't come back yet, and so he hadn't found out about the Snatchers officially yet, and so Harry didn't know about them yet. These Death Eaters really meant business, sending a killing curse towards him.

"Maybe we shouldn't try to kill him, Trent," one shouted, as they chased after the agile seeker.

"It'll be much easier for the Dark Lord if he is dead. I'm sure he'll thank us!" the largest and tallest laughed, sending another curse for Harry which he narrowly avoided. What the hell was up with these guys?

[Giovanni Marcos Cavaliere]

Gio heard them talking and finally caught sight of the child, just a child, that they were pursuing. Now intensely irate, he Apperated so that he stood between the boy and Death Eaters.

"Απορρίπτω θανάτου!" he shouted. ((It's Greek for "I reject death." I didn't get the chance to make it phoenetic.))

The Death Eaters were taken aback by the Greek, and taken even more aback when their Killing Curses collided with a dome of golden light and fizzled out.

"Hello, boys," he greeted them casually.

They withdrew quickly, clearly not sure what to make of his spell. Gio was just happy it had worked.

"Are you alright, son?" he asked as he turned to the boy.

[Harry James Potter]

Harry heard someone from behind him, but he was a little busy running. However, when he turned around to send another stunning spell, he saw the killing curse hit a shield, and seem to die out. His eyes widened. Had he really just blocked a killing curse? If that was so, then that would mean so very much to him and those fighting the Death Eaters. Without realizing he had stopped in his tracks and stared, his eyes wide with complete surprise.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Harry replied slowly staring at the elder man, so very surprised. This could mean saving so many lives. This could mean they could take the Death Eaters' biggest weapon away from them. The killing curse could be blocked. He wouldn't believe it if he didn't see it for himself. "How did you do... that?" Harry asked pointing weakly to where the spell had been blocked, "What did you do?"

[Giovanni Marcos Cavaliere]

"It's the wrong color," Gio grumbled to himself. "Livia said it was silver. I'll have to recheck my calculations, but I think that's just aesthetic. Ugh. I hope Prewett didn't erase my work...."

He shook his head to clear it when the boy asked about his spell. He noticed the scar; so this was Lily's boy. The knowledge made him feel both guilty and intensely happy. He'd managed to save Lily's son.

"That spell? The Romans called it the Shield of Hercules; it was developed to neutralize the Killing Curse, by the Greeks," he explained. "I rediscovered it by manipulating the formula of the Killing Curse...oh, I'm being rude. I'm Giovanni Cavaliere; the little-known field called Magiscience is my brain child. My, you look like James, son."

[Harry James Potter]

"Prewett?" Harry asked, having heard little of what Gio had said. Was it that Prewett guy from the Order? Harry had only briefly saw the man, and was very curious about him. He was too busy fighting against Voldemort to ask Molly if the man was related to her, as she was a Prewett before... at least that was how he remembered it.

Harry noticed that normal sense of recognition that he had grown accustomed to. It was something that he was so used to, and was almost sick of. He hated this recognizable face of his sometimes, especially the scar, because it was a dead give away, and terrible for trying to hide from the Death Eaters.

Magiscience, he should probably ask Hermione about it later. She probably knew everything about it, since she seemed to know everything. If she didn't, then he was a dementor in disguise waiting to suck out her soul. "There is a formula for the Killing Curse?" Harry asked, completely confused before he sighed at the mention of James, "I;m Harry Potter, it's nice to meet you Mr. Cavaliere. That's what they say... Though usually people mention how I have my mother's eyes..."

[Giovanni Marcos Cavaliere]

"He erases my damned calculations," Gio explained grumpily. "I think he thinks it's funny. It's not. Set me back half a week on my work."

Gio knew what it was like to have a recognizable face. He regretted agreeing to be on that Chocolate Frog card. Every Brit and their mother knew his face; it got annoying.

"Si. You have Lily's eyes," he agreed. "She was one of my favorite students...also, you would be better served by calling me Gio; there are a lot of Cavaliere running around, and Angelina speaks of you often. She was worried."

He sighed when asked about the equation. What had the DADA professors been teaching since he retired...?

"Yes, there is an equation for the Killing Curse. There's an equation for every spell; I've worked out one-hundred-and-seventy-three. By manipulating those equations, new spells can be discovered...this was all in that textbook that Dumbledore had me write. I could kill that fool Lockheart for disregarding it," he fumed.

[James "Jay" Prewett]

As Harry guided James back to their camp, they saw a group of seemingly Death Eaters trying to capture a couple of frightened people. James couldn't recognize any of them and he knew his father would try to save them. His son, wanting to be born, was completely willing to protect him while he did it and the best way to do so was to offer a good plan and a distraction. He'd try to call the attention of the assailants so that Harry would have an easier time fighting with the rest of the group.

Too bad not all plans work as advertised as only three Death Eaters bought into his diversion and followed him into the woods' outline, seven having stayed behind. Harry was under the cloak and using it strategically he could deal with the threat. James then focused on taking care of his load of Death Eaters. Using a clever combination of well fired stunning spells and apparition, he had managed to take the three that followed him in. James was used to fight in the woods. That was his territory and now he could apparate and that added another element to his usually chosen tactics.

Just as he stunned the third guy on his vicinity, James turned to see what was the situation bellow with the other group. His father was running with killing curses being fired at his back. Why the hell did he take the cloak off? That wasn't needed nor really bright. He had to remind himself that this Harry wasn't his father, he didn't know everything his father had learnt throughout his life. It wasn't his fault he was thrown into a battlefield with no true preparation to be there. James, on the other hand, had been prepared to fight for a long time. Even though his father rarely convoked him to fight in open battle, preferring to use him mostly as an infiltrator unit due to his stealth skills, James was already practically an Auror himself.

James was about to apparate down to start giving his father some very needed backup when he saw the dome used by Cavaliere to block the killing curses used against Harry. That was just amazing. If only there was anyone awake around him to see his face of bewilderment at that sight. Something like that could have saved his mother and so many others in the future, including the near one to come. He just had to learn how to do that with whomever had casted that spell. It was time to figure that out as he saw both groups, the Death eaters and their 'victims', dispersing into the woods.

James then apparated to where Harry and Gio were, but with his back to Cavaliere. The most important for him at that moment was to check on the overall state of his father. "Are you OK, Harry?" He asked, his voice worried, while checking him up. Nothing major, thankfully. James himself had some scratches due to a close encounter with a tree trunk, but nothing that was problematic. "Why did you take off the cloak? It was your advantage…" He said and then he remembered someone else was meant to be there too and keeping his back to such a person wasn't exactly smart of him even though he or she had just saved his father's very life just then.

James was taken aback when his hazel eyes caught sight of Giovanni Cavaliere as he turned to face him. He had seen him at Hogwarts before going on the run with his father. He was the new DADA Assistant Professor. He knew from his talk with Angelina that he had also been a DADA professor by the time his grandparents were in school age. Would Cavaliere believe he was his grandfather like he had managed Remus, Tonks and Harry to do? Would he remember him from Hogwarts in the beginning of this year even though he kept the lowest profile humanly possible? There was no time to think, James knew he had to act and whatever happened he'd take the consequences and try to fix the damage done to his plan to help his dad later.

"Professor Cavaliere! I should have known it was you, sir. Not many living wizards could pull such a spell out of their wands…" James affirmed in his trademark mischievous and happy tone of voice. He knew of Gio's prowess, work and way of thinking magic due to Albus' near obsession with it. The Italian man possibly had an intellectual heir on his brother. "I can't thank you enough for helping out Harry." He said truly thankful and awaited the older man's reaction to him.

((OOC: Sorry for the big post. I just had to kind of set the scene for James. The next ones will be shorter. I promise.))