It is time to show some recognition to all the wonderful people who have reviewed this story at some point:

Rosa

Kibee

*Madaline*

Rainbow Kitty

me

Tropical Fishy

Dragon

Hahaha

chix [email protected]

Temptress [email protected]

Sadie

Unicorn Child

**Lady Abia**

hgjgf

Ginny Potter

key

Rose

Hermione Granger [email protected]

marie

Hermione Gulliver

kmk

Megan T

bunny chan

beth

Harrys Crush

alias name

Jennifer Longbottom

gsgfdsgh

Jennifer

Amethyst

Ana:)

Wyrren Potter

Skyflyer

SeasheLL

gdsfg

Margie [email protected]

Hazel Oculare

I love you all, but special recognition to Kibee, who is the only author that has reviewed all seven stories. What a person!! Go and read her stories after this. Read on, my friends, and review…

Thornheart was lying face up on the ground, with a horribly twisted expression on his face. Beside him stood Jackson, panting hard, but with a clear expression of guilt on his face. Before he could do so much as raise his wand, Dumbledore had stunned him. On Jackson's desk there stood one small cauldron, half full of red potion and a small goblet full of blue potion. Because of Sirius' book, they knew instantly that the blue potion was Retrovivation Potion and the red potion was Mortefermata Potion. On the floor next to Thornheart there stood a coffin, the same coffin that James had seen in Thornheart's office. Inside was a young woman, with a dark handsome face. She was undoubtedly dead

Slowly, Dumbledore walked over to Jackson and picked up his wand that had fallen to the floor. Then, he muttered something, and Jackson instantly regained consciousness. He grinned wryly when he spotted Dumbledore and the four boys staring back at him, Dumbledore with wand in hand.

'I'm thinking I shouldn't have given you that note on Tuesday, James,' he said. 'Or else my little scheme might have worked.'

'I think it would be in your benefit to tell us the details of your scheme,' said Dumbledore calmly.

'Sure, I don't mind. Thing is, you probably need this vermin,' he motioned to Thornheart, 'alive again, if you would like to know the whole story.'

'That is easily arranged. James, could you pour out the remainder of the Retrovivation Potion and give it to Professor Thornheart? It may be advisable to take his wand, also.' James nodded, and carried out Dumbledore's instructions. Within a few minutes, Thornheart had also regained consciousness, and was staring disbelievingly at Jackson and Dumbledore.

'What happened? He offers me a drink, and next thing I know I'm out cold.'

'Not quite out cold, I'm afraid, Frederic,' said Jackson coldly, his eyes gleaming. 'You were dead.'

'But how? Why?'

'I think we'd all like to know that,' said Dumbledore, his eyes blazing. 'Lee, would you be so good as to explain this to us?'

'Fine,' said Jackson. 'I have no objection. Firstly, you should know that my real name is not Lee Jackson, it is Jacob Thornheart.' Thornheart gasped. 'This man,' he motioned to Thornheart, 'is my younger brother; I was six when he was born. Now, we had one other brother, John, who I now believe to be dead.'

'How can this be?' asked Thornheart exasperatedly.

'I'll tell you. When John and I; John was, by the way, three years younger than myself. When we were young, we had a marvellous childhood. We were the sons of Jack and Sophie Thornheart,' he smiled. 'My father had a liking for names that began with J, and that is why my brother and I were named so. Now, when I was five, for I have only vague memories, I just remember my father telling me that my mother was again pregnant. Now, my brother and I were, as you can imagine, very excited about this. How could we have possibly known the pain and suffering that this baby would cause?' Jackson paused, took a deep breath, and continued.

'The first tragedy came rapidly and unexpectedly. When the baby was born, our mother, Sophie, died in childbirth. This practically destroyed my father. Because of his depression, I was sent away, and was adopted by another wizarding family, the Jacksons. I have since been known as one of them, as Lee Jackson, for they were a considerate and caring family. I did not wish to have the same name as I had had with my family – it hurt me too much. They raised me, and though I was not accepted at Hogwarts, my father, James Jackson – I always thought it was ironic how his name should begin with J, had been a teacher, and taught me the basics of magic.' Jackson's voice broke. He paused for a moment, and then carried on with his story.

'Now, back at my old home, my father was caring for John and Frederic. He didn't have the heart to name the baby with a name starting with J, as he couldn't desecrate the memory of his dead wife with a name that he liked. He never really cared for the baby, I gathered this from the letters he used to write to me, but he was still devoted to John. Now, it was not long before my father too died. He never really recovered from his depression. John was also put up for adoption, and I never heard of him again. This hurt me deeply, for me and John had been so close; there was a subtle bond of love between us that could not be broken. Now, it was probably because I was young and didn't understand fully these matters, but I placed the blame squarely on Frederic. He had himself been adopted. My father's brother and his wife adopted him. They had had no children. Now, I do not now what transpired, but fifteen years later, I heard of the premature deaths of my aunt and uncle also. I was, at the time, twenty-two. You could imagine my reaction. My mother and father, my uncle and aunt: all dead. And my only true friend, John, was somewhere where I could never find him. I tried, yes I tried to find him but it was all in vain. All this tragedy that had befallen my family was, in my eyes, the fault of Frederic. Now, the love I had for John and my deceased relatives could only be matched by my deep loathing of Frederic. Therefore, my search began. I had failed in finding John, but I swore to myself that I would revenge my family. I searched high and low, for years, until finally Frederic slipped up. Obviously he didn't realise that he had slipped up, for if someone had told him that his older brother about whom he knew nothing was coming to kill him, he would have given them directions to the closest mental institution. The mistake he made, it would have been nearly five years ago now, was becoming a Professor at Hogwarts. Now, Hogwarts is the only school of Witchcraft and Wizardry in Britain, so it didn't take me long to find out where he was. It was an article in the Daily Prophet; it caught my eye. It said that there would be a new, young teacher of Defence Against the Dark Arts, called Frederic Thornheart. Now Thornheart is not, as you can imagine, a very common surname, so when I saw this article, I knew that my search was over. But I was determined to make a good job of my vengeance; I had to have a plan that was foolproof. It took me a few weeks, but I eventually drafted a plan that I felt with hard work and effort, I could achieve.' He paused for a minute, and continued.

'Firstly, I checked the staff list at Hogwarts. I noticed that there were two teachers who were old, and likely to retire after a few years at the most. One was Professor Binns, the History of Magic teacher – it was lucky that I didn't choose him, for I had no idea he was a ghost – I could have still been waiting in twenty years time. The other was Professor Murphy, a Professor of Potions. I chose to go for this job, and then my training began. To cut a long story short, I can just tell you that I studied Potions at the highest level for three years. I knew of the impregnability of Hogwarts – I could not just walk in and curse Frederic – and felt that my best chance would be to try and become a Professor. Now, it just so happened that one of the minor courses I took towards the end of my education was to do with Highly Complex Potions. My Professor, Professor Edwards, had written a book on the subject, Complex Potions, and in one lecture he told us of these so-called blue unicorn potions. The Mortefermata potion did not interest me initially, but the Retrovivation Potion did. I made extensive notes on it, with help from my professor, and felt that one day it may come in handy.'

'At the end of my training, then, I was made a Professor. I would have applied that year for Hogwarts, but Murphy was still teaching. I waited. I had told myself a long time ago that I would have to be patient. During that year I exacted my plans. The Retrovivation potion was, as I had predicted, a little godsend to me, and it played a part in my plans. I discovered that Thornheart was married, and dearly loved his wife. His love for her reminded me of John, and it infuriated me further. I decided that I would have to offer to make the potion for Thornheart, and I knew just the person to be the victim. By this time, a year had passed. Fortunately, Murphy retired at the end of that year, and I was able to get the job. With only a month before I left for Hogwarts, I had to act fast. I managed to surprise his wife one night as she walked home. I felt bad afterwards, for none of this was her doing, but I intended to wake her once Frederic was dead. For tonight, I made three doses of Retrovivation Potion and only one dose of Mortefermata Potion.'

'Now I knew that Frederic would do anything to revive his wife, er, Anna, her name is, I believe?' Thornheart nodded.

'When I arrived, I got to know him. He has the same eyes that both my father and John had had, which made it all the more difficult. He told me of his wife's mysterious death and how he wished there was something he could do. I told him of the potion, but I told him that it would only work a year after the person's death. The truth is that it is two years. My original plan was to make him a dud potion that would not work, and would, hopefully, explode upon use – that would be crude, but it would do the trick. I thought this only because I did not expect him to have Anna in the castle – I though he would give the potion to her alone, at his house, and it would never be traced back to me, for I was the only one who knew the whole story. I never even shared it with my foster parents, though I loved them dearly. One day, I was merely strolling past his office when I noticed this coffin. On closer inspection, I found it to be Anna. I was horrified. My plans could not fail, after so much time and effort. I spent the whole week thinking about how to rearrange my plans. There was no other alternative; I could procrastinate no longer – I would have to make the potion, and give Retrovivation Potion to Frederic. It was of the utmost importance, it was imperative, that Frederic should never know the colour of the potions, for then the whole scheme would be ruined, and I would have wasted almost ten years of my life. Therefore, I had to keep him guessing.'

'The rest, as you can surmise, is fairly self-explanatory. Frederic didn't suspect a thing.' Jackson smiled at this point. 'Frederic thought he was running the show. He thought I was his underling. It was sometimes hard not to laugh when he ordered me around, but I knew, that with a little patience, I could pull it off. He was playing into my hands.'

'With a little help from Hagrid – I told him Frederic's predicament, not my own – I managed to procure the ingredients, though I got the unicorn dust from you, Albus – I only needed one sample, as I made so little Mortefermata potion. By this morning, I was ready for the "Grande finale". I have waited ten years, and I think I have achieved something.'

'I sent Frederic a secret message on Tuesday imploring him to be here at six and no later. I had, of course, written in code in case the letter was intercepted.' As Jackson said this, he smiled wryly at James.

'Evidently the code was not good enough. Frederic arrived at six, and I gave the Mortefermata potion to Anna. I hade intended to use Mortefermata because I had already told him that the potion was red, and he had to see me add the unicorn dust. He thought it was Retrovivation potion. My entire scheme would have been ruined if he had ever bothered to research it. He would have found that it was a blue potion, not red; that it would work within two years, not one, and finally that the effect was instantaneous. I told him that it would take a little time to work, and offered him the Retrovivation Potion in the form of a drink. It worked like a charm. Even I was surprised at how well I had managed to produce it.'

'If you had arrived five minutes later then I would have been gone, and I would have succeeded in my plans. I knew you would read the note, but I underestimated your intelligence, and now I know I should have never told you to take it to Frederic. Yes, that's it,' said Jackson, as Sirius pulled it out. 'No doubt you worked it out from "Be, if unavoidable, late"? Well, I was in a hurry when I wrote it, so it's not brilliant.'

'That is the story, gentlemen, and this is where it ends.' And before anybody could move, Jackson pulled out a wand that was concealed under his cloak. Dumbledore raised his wand, but Jackson was too quick.

'Expelliarmus! Sorry Albus, you can't stop me now.' He turned to his brother, with an expression of pure hatred.

'Goodbye, Frederic, see you in hell! Avada Kedavra!' Thornheart keeled over lifelessly. 'Goodbye, James, Sirius, Remus, Peter,' he said, smiling. 'I hope you have a better life than I did.' And finally, he turned to Dumbledore. 'Goodbye Albus, thank you for all your help. My work is done – my family is revenged. Farewell.'

'Wait,' said Dumbledore.

'Stop!' said James and Sirius together.

'Sorry boys, I'd rather die than go to Azkaban. Aha! I think that's what I'll do.

Accio!' The goblet of Retrovivation potion flew across the room, and Jackson caught and swallowed it in one gulp.

'Always – have – a – backup – plan –' He keeled over, next to his brother, and the two of them lay there, their eyes vacant and lifeless. The Thornhearts were no more.

Peter spoke up nervously from the corner of the room.

'Are – are they dead?' he asked nervously.

'I'm afraid so,' said Dumbledore solemnly. 'There is nothing we could have done. Jacob had, as he said, a backup plan. He knew what he was going to do from the minute I revived him. This is my fault.'

'You couldn't have known, sir,' said James quietly. 'You couldn't have known he had a spare wand.'

'Poor Jackson,' said Sirius, looking at the man they now knew to be Jacob Thornheart. 'He's had a hard time of it.'

'He did what he wanted to though, didn't he?' said Remus, motioning first to Thornheart and then to Jackson, who had a large smile playing across his lips.

'I think we had better get them to the Hospital Wing. Could you four go and alert Madam Pomfrey? Thank you. Please come straight back. I must go and alert Professors McGonagall and Lennox.' And so the four friends made their way, in the darkness and in silence, over to the Hospital Wing. James mind was still reeling from what he had just seen. Now that he thought about it, it all made sense. Jackson had been shocked when he saw the coffin, because it meant he would have to rearrange his plans. Jackson had enlisted Hagrid's help, which was why Hagrid had been using Complex Potions. Jackson had told Thornheart about the blue unicorn – it had undoubtedly been a highly clever scheme. It was just a shame that it had all ended in tragedy.

The four of them arrived at the Hospital Wing, and explained the whole story to Madam Pomfrey. When they had finished, she looked shocked, but implored them to return to Dumbledore and bring the bodies to her.

They left, and headed back to Jackson's office. When they arrived back there, Dumbledore was still not back, so they decided to wait outside. It was not until Remus glanced inside that yet another mystery was to transpire.

'Hey, where's Jackson?'

'What?' asked Sirius.

'Jackson's not in here – look.' He was right. Thornheart and his wife were still lying as they had been, but Jackson had disappeared.

'Maybe Dumbledore and the others already took him to the Hospital Wing,' said Peter hopefully.

'Yeah,' said James. 'Probably.' But at that moment, Dumbledore arrived, with Professor McGonagall and Professor Lennox.

'Where is Jackson?' asked Dumbledore.

'We – we thought you'd already taken him.' Dumbledore shook his head.

'Hey, hold on!' said Sirius, making everyone start. 'There's a note.' Beside where Thornheart lay, a small piece of paper was folded up. Sirius read it allowed.

To Albus, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter,

By the time you read this, I will be gone, and none of you shall ever hear of me or see me again.

As you might have guessed, the potion in the goblet was not Retrovivation potion at all. If you had asked Hagrid, you would have discovered that we could not find all of the ingredients, and if you had checked your book more thoroughly, Sirius, you would have noticed that at least one sample of blue unicorn dust is needed for each potion, no matter how large or small the amount being produced is. This blue potion is a potion that I discovered some time ago. It has most singular effects. It is, in effect, a fairly weak sleeping potion, but it gives the effect of death, as you have no doubt seen. That was why I had to use it. The fantastic thing about this potion is that a second dose can cancel out a first dose – as you saw when you revived Frederic. I took very little of the potion, so I was conscious about five minutes after I took it. I was banking on finding the room empty when I regained consciousness, and thankfully I did. I collected my things and left. I wasn't going to let Frederic wipe out all of the Thornhearts. Having a second wand is a precaution I have been using for a long time, and I saw the perfect opportunity to revenge John and the rest. I could not let Frederic live. The whole of my life has been spent planning how it should be done. Had I not had a second wand, I would have killed Frederic straightaway. It has been a pleasure teaching and knowing you. Don't bully Snape too much…

Goodbye,

J. Thornheart

There was perhaps five minutes of complete silence after Sirius had finished reading.

'Incredible,' whispered Dumbledore quietly after a few minutes. 'Ingenious.' He picked up the goblet of potion. 'He did say to always have a backup plan,' he said, smiling.

'I think,' said Professor McGonagall slowly, 'that you four,' she motioned at James, Sirius, Peter and Remus, 'had better go back to your common room.'

'Yes,' said Dumbledore, nodding gravely. 'There is nothing more to be known here. Now, could you three go on ahead? I would like a word with James.' Sirius, Remus and Peter nodded, and together they left.

'Minerva, Joan, could you take the unfortunate Professor's body up to the Hospital Wing?' Neither teacher looked exactly willing, but they reluctantly agreed, and they also left.

'First of all, James, I have to apologise. I admit that I didn't see the importance of the note. No doubt it was you who cracked it?' James nodded. 'That does not surprise me. You may not set much standard by rules,' he said, smiling genially, 'but I think, even if you do not wish to admit it, that you can achieve at a very high level. You and Mr. Black have already proven yourselves to be most able students, along with Miss Burns and Miss Evans (a/n No comment).' James nodded, then thought of something.

'Sir, there's one thing…how did Professor Jackson manage to get the unicorn dust from you?'

'I am afraid that I am guilty of extreme shortsightedness. I believed that Professor Jackson was helping Professor Thornheart as a friend; I had no idea of the true consequences of my actions. Professor Jackson told me of his plan to help his colleague, and I believed him. I gave him my sample of the dust. I could not have comprehended what his plans were, or else I would never have done so. I would never have hired him in the first place.' They were both silent for a few minutes.

'Well, James, there was nothing that you could have done. You almost managed to stop Professor Jackson, but his escape shows you how clever he really was. Not many people that I know could produce a blue unicorn potion after a mere three years training. I mean, even you will have a subsidiary seven years training. I sincerely hope that he now can get on with his life, wherever he may end up.' There were a few more minutes of silence.

'I think you had better return to your common room, James. Remember, none of this is your fault. The consequences of one's actions in a situation like this can never affect just one person. I, meanwhile, must go and place an advertisement in the Daily Prophet; we need a few new teachers, wouldn't you say?' Dumbledore smiled as James left the room, and turned to return to the Gryffindor common room.

James entered the very quiet common room a few minutes later. Most people were revising, but over in the corner sat Sirius, Remus and Peter, playing exploding snap. All three of them looked noticeably subdued.

'He was right, you know,' said James.

'Eh?' said Sirius, looking up.

'Dumbledore told me something, er, the consequences of someone's actions in a case like this always affect more than one person.'

'Damn right,' said Remus gloomily.

'Jackson was right, too,' said Peter, holding up Complex Potions. 'Listen to this sentence. "Each potion requires one sample of the dust to work". If only we'd remembered that, Jackson might not have got away.'

'Yeah, but he'd had a pretty rough time, I mean, you wouldn't exactly like to have had the life he had.'

''Spect wherever he is now,' said Remus, 'he's happy.'

'Yes,' said Sirius. 'And so should we be. The exams are only one day away!' James chuckled. Knowing Sirius, it wouldn't take him long to get over this tragedy.

Exam week came, and the whole school seemed to start actually doing some work. Even people like James and Sirius were working hard. As a special treat from Dumbledore, all of the first-years were exempt from their Potions and Defence Against the Dark Arts exams, as their teachers were gone.

The whole story of what had happened in Jackson's office was now public knowledge, and all the teachers were being strangely nice to James. The four boys had soon got over the shock of their experience, and loved telling their own, exaggerated versions of the story, though they did tell the truth to Frank and the girls. Everyone was impressed with how James had cracked the secret message, but he usually shrugged it off. He was very modest.

The exams, in James' opinion, were extremely easy. They were also very easy in Sirius, Lily's and Katie's opinions. The four were the cleverest in the year, and, it transpired, achieved the highest exam results. James was highest, Lily was second, Sirius was third and Katie was fourth. James had an especially high mark of two hundred and sixty per cent in his Transfiguration exam.

Before very long, the end of term was upon them. They spent one of their last nights at the end-of-term feast. Gryffindor, largely thanks to their array of high calibre students, had won the House Championship, beating Ravenclaw in second place. Therefore, the feast took place under the red and gold Gryffindor banners, and everybody laughed, talked and joked. In James' opinion, the feast summed up his whole year. He almost felt sad that he was leaving Hogwarts, but the thought of his parents helped to ease the pain. As James looked up to the High Table, he noticed the two vacant seats where Professors Thornheart and Jackson or, in literal terms, Thornheart would have been sitting. But, as Dumbledore had said, none of it was his fault, so there was no point in worrying about it.

And suddenly, their wardrobes were empty, and their bags were packed. James and the others, as first years, left the castle in the way that they had arrived, across the lake. It was a glorious summer afternoon, and the sun reflected down onto the lake; making it glitter with rays of golden sunlight.

The trip home aboard the Hogwarts Express was fairly uneventful. James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, Lily, Katie, Sarah and Frank all managed to find themselves a compartment, and spent the journey playing chess or exploding snap. About halfway through the journey, an unwelcome visitor turned up.

'Oh look, it's the champions,' said Snape sourly.

'Snapey!' said James joyfully. 'Have you come to wish us a happy holiday? Are you going to miss us?'

'Hardly, Potter. I came to tell you and your mudblood friends that – get off me, Black!'

'What did you call them?!' said James and Sirius threateningly.

'Playing the heroes, are you? I said you and your mudblood friends –'

'Petrificus Totalus!' shouted James. Snape's arms and legs snapped together, he fell onto the floor, flat on his face. James approached him.

'If you, Snape, if you or any of your dirty friends, ever – ever call anybody that again, then you will pay. Understand?!' Snape nodded, and James muttered the counter-curse.

'Get out!!' Snape left, looking malevolent but terrified at the same time.

'Dirty rat,' James said, after Snape had left. Sirius cheered.

'Oh James,' he said, in a girly voice. 'Our hero, how can we thank you?'

'What's a mudblood?' asked Lily curiously.

'It's a really bad word for muggle-borns,' Remus explained. 'It means that have like bad blood; dirty blood. Its only ratty Slytherins like Snape, with their so-called "purity of blood", that would ever say it. They think that, because they are purebloods, that no muggle-borns should be allowed into Hogwarts; it should be kept in the old wizarding families. That wouldn't have worked, of course, as they would all have died out ages ago. It was Slytherin who started the "trend"; it says so in Hogwarts: A History.'

'And you can guess what a loon he was.'

After the rest of the uneventful trip, the Hogwarts Express arrived at King's Cross. James spotted his parents standing next to another set of parents, that Remus identified as his own. He said goodbye to all his friends.

'Seeya, James,' shouted Lily, heading towards her parents and what could only be the sister she so despised (James could see why – looking at her was bad enough)

'Bye, James,' said Peter, as he too left to join his parents.

'Don't get into too much trouble, Jamesy,' said Sirius, as he turned to leave. 'You'll have to come over in the summer, with Remus and Pete.'

'Seeya, Sirius,' said James, clapping him on the shoulders.

James and Remus then walked over to where their parents were conversing.

'Hello, James dear,' said his mother, hugging him. 'You must be Remus.' Remus nodded. 'Nice to meet you too, dear. Stuart, help your son with his luggage. After a few minutes of panting and puffing, James and his father managed to load his trunk onto their car.

'Bye Remus,' James called. 'Sirius says we all have to go to his house this summer.'

'Sounds dangerous to me,' said Remus grinning. James clapped him on the back, also, and watched as he and his parents left.

'C'mon, James,' said his father, 'we haven't got all day. By the way,' he said, as James entered the car. 'Did you like your Christmas present?'

'Loved it,' said James. 'Great for sneaking to the kitchens.'

'You found them? Already? Took me three years. Maybe you're naturally more mischievous.'

'Undoubtedly,' said James. And the two of them climbed into the car, still laughing, and started the long journey home.

I finished it! Woohoo! With only five minutes until Christmas! Once again, I stress that I own no characters, places, rules, or organisations, which doesn't make me look so good. (Oh, you know whom they belong to!). I wonder if JKR ever comes onto this site to read the works of her adoring fans? No, I don't think so either. See this small green box below. Please fill this in. Now that Blue Unicorn is over (it has taken me approximately I can start on 'The Werewolf', part 1 of which should not be too long in coming. Merry Christmas. Ciao

Sirius