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Bringing me back to the present, Ollie asks, "So, what help are you looking for Harry? Or do you want to be called HJ?"

"Harry's still fine. I need you to cast a spell in case I botch this."

"What are you going to botch, Apparition? I'm not so great at that."

"No. I'm an Animagus, or at least I think I am. I haven't tried to transform yet, but I need you to be able to perform the recovery spell if I get stuck in the middle. I can show you the motions. It's not too difficult."

"When did you learn? Damn! You have to show me. I've heard it can really help your game! What are you?"

I'm not sure how he managed to fit all that into one breath. "Ollie, this is serious business. I'll tell you the whole story if you give me a vow of silence."

Wood's eyes narrow when I say that. "People don't toss around words like oaths and vows like they're candy. Harry, are you sure you know what you're asking?"

"Damn straight, I do. When you hear it, you'll know why."

Ollie mulls it over and he agrees. The vow takes about ten minutes. I'm powerful enough to do this without a third person binding us. That alone impresses him. I really need to get this off my chest and he's the only one far enough removed from Hogwarts and those with prying eyes. I make him cast a privacy charm and then I make him remove it and show him a better one to use.

"My run in with the Dementors broke something loose in my mind. I found all these memories up there. The memories belong to James Potter. The night the Potter's were killed, there was so much arcane magic saturating that house that something weird happened, like how I picked up Voldemort's – shit, Ollie! It's just a name! Anyway, like how I picked up the ability to talk to snakes. The Hat's been helping me sort through all of memories and make sense of it all. Hell, I'm not sure if I'm Harry remembering James or part of James stuck inside of Harry – it's how I suddenly became crazy good at chasing."

Ollie scratches the tufts of hair growing on his chin. His next comment stuns me. "Damn, Harry! I wish you would have told me this earlier. I'd have gone double or nothing on Carlson."

Clearly, it is not the reaction I expected. "You mean you're not freaked out about this?"

"Freaked out? No, I'm a little jealous. Besides, the Twins gave me the whole story on the sly about you down in the chamber killing the Basilisk. The thing with Black last year has so many holes in it there must be more to it. Not to mention, everyone's pretty sure you offed Quirrell. Besides, Harry, I grew up in this world. I have a cousin that likes to be transfigured into a tree for fun and have everyone call him Mr. Woody, so I'm pretty flexible."

"Is his first name Malcolm?"

"Yeah."

"James Potter and his friends were the ones that first did it to him."

"No, shit! Now, that's a small world. So let me get this straight: James was an Animagus, so you think you're one."

"That's right."

"Okay, show me the motions to this spell."

The Lie I've Lived, Chapter 4