James blinked his eyes opened to find the the extremely worried faces of Lily, Sirius, Remus, and Jasper. There was a heaviness on his chest, and he looked down to find Rodger had planted himself like a giant orange roast chicken directly on top of his sternum.

"Oh thank heavens!" Lily cried.

"PRONGS YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO FALL DOWN LOOKING DEAD LIKE THAT EVER AGAIN OR I WILL BE FORCED TO KILL YOU!" Sirius shouted, "You scared the dung out of me!"

Jasper glanced at Sirius, "Killing him would rather defeat the purpose, wouldn't it?"

"It would be impossible, actually, as if he fell down dead he would be dead and therefore killing him would be impossible," Remus corrected.

"I said LOOKING dead!" Sirius said.

"Will you lot all shut it?!" Lily cried. She looked down at James. "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?"

"Fallengunder, originally," James murmured. "Then saving that bloke," he pointed at Jasper. "Then Grimmauld Place."

"Grimmauld Place?" Remus said in surprise.

"Ew," Sirius made a face, "Why?"

"It's where Kreacher took us," James said.

Sirius stiffened. "Oh that manky old thing? So Regulus was involved in... whatever has done this to you?"

"Yeah, he was brilliant!" Jasper said. "James was brilliant, too! Merlin's beard, Sirius, you would've loved it!" And Jasper recounted all that had happened - from his point of view, at any rate - and all three of the others' eyes widened as Jasper recounted James tearing off the invisibility cloak and storming across the stage alone against Voldemort  "...and probably three hundred of his supporters - masked death eaters included!"

James flushed as the others turned to him. "I mean, he was letting them torture Jas, and -"

There was a violent banging against the door and Lily, Remus, and Sirius leaped to their feet. Sirius yanked his wand from his hair. "You lot go hid, I've got this," he growled, headed for the door.

"Bleeding hell, you think the death eaters are going to knock, do you?" Remus demanded, getting up and walking over to the door. He peered around the curtain, hesitated, and opened the door a smidge, standing in the gap. "Good evening, Mr. Underhill," he said as calmly as he could muster.

Underhill stood on the landing, still a right mess from the battle, and a calmly livid expression on his face. "Good evening, Mr. Lupin," he said, voice level, but vibrating with the potential to be less so. "I am here to... check on Mr. Potter. My records indicate that he did not check into St. Mungo's hospital and I assume that he has arrived home, and I know that he is in a rather sorry state if he has."

Remus thought briefly of faking ignorance, but decided against it, muttering something about not as sorry as he could've been, and stepped back to allow Underhill entrance.

Sirius glowered at the man.

James was sitting up now, though still on the floor, and certainly "a rather sorry state" was rather undercutting it. Lily stepped between James and Underhill protectively. "What is it you want, sir?" She said this with a good deal of sass.

"Evans," James murmured and when she looked at him he simply shook his head. "Mr. Underhill," James said in greeting.

"What the hell were you thinking tonight, Potter?" Underhill asked. "How did you find out about the rally? Were you going through my private notes?"

"What! No! I was coming back from investigating the Marjorie Grant case - as you told me to do - and happened across a couple death eaters and followed them --"

"Followed them!"

"Yes I followed them. They looked like they were up to no good and I wanted to know what it was." James's jaw set firmly.

"It never occurred to you to summons the rest of the Order? To reach out to an auror? To me?" Underhill demanded, "Or to do ANYTHING else besides just waltz in there to face off against You Know Who?"

"I didn't have time to!" James argued.

"It takes two seconds - TWO SECONDS - to cast a patronus to get the message to somebody else. A shake of your wand! What did you do, fancy yourself a hero? Well brilliant job, you've saved the life of your friend - who also ought not to have been there as he isn't even in auror training at all," he glared at Jasper, "And you've cucked up the entire mission. A man is dead because of both of you foolishly acting on your own without back up, without a plan, without protection, without THINKING!"

"Wait a ruddy damn second, mister," Sirius said, hotly, "He didn't know you people had any plans! Maybe your aurors ought to be fully informed?"

"My AURORS were fully informed!" Underhill bellowed. "My intern was not included in the top secret mission that my need-to-know-basis team was involved in."

"Funny you should mention that..." Sirius said, clearing his throat, but Remus shook his head, cutting Sirius off with a stern look.

"Potter, what you did tonight was a failure to preservation of self in the face of danger, a negligence to detail, and a massive count of insubordination;  a complete and total failure to recognize your position and disregard of respect, to - to ANYONE else whose lives were in danger tonight - Ministry, Order, and victim." Underhill's voice was firm as he carried on, "You should be let go from the program."

James stared at Underhill. "Sir -"

Underhill held up a palm and James fell silent.

"You are suspended until further notice."

James felt a blast of cold shiver down his spine, "But sir -"

"I will deal with the proceedings from the Ministry regarding this case, and until everything involving the events that took place at the Chainwright Theater tonight has been resolved, I request for you to stay away from the Training Center and keep your nose clean. I do not want to hear about any unsolicited involvement in rescue missions of any sort. Should you encounter such an event, you are to immediately reach out to me, Alastor Moody, or Albus Dumbledore. There will be no exceptions made for this rule or you shall most assuredly be released from the Auror Training Program immediately. Do I make myself clear?"

James felt like a child. He felt the silence in the room as thick as porridge. Felt Jasper, Remus, Sirius, and Lily's presence looming around him in his embarrassment. 

He nodded. "Yes sir."

Underhill sighed. He shook his head, he looked down at the carpet, thinking a moment, then back up at James. 

"I say all of that as your instructor, Potter. I say it because not following these type rules can get you killed, which is far worse than being let go from the program. Understand?"

James didn't want to give him the satisfaction of making eye contact, so he stayed focused, staring at his Gryffindor trainers.

They don't exactly blend in with the scenery, that's what Regulus Black had said about the shoes earlier that evening, James thought.

"You have to learn to pay attention to the details, Potter." Underhill's voice was firm, "Being an auror is a lot more than flashing sparks and being brave enough to take the stage against a couple hundred brazen supporters of the enemy."

Remus's eyes were trained on Underhill as he spoke.

"To be rash and uncalculated in such a situation not only puts yourself into danger, but endangers everyone involved. You're extremely lucky that you and Odair made it out of that theater alive."

James spoke to the crimson and gold laces as he spoke, "They knew you were there."

Underhill had been about to continue on, but the sentence surprised him. "Knew we were there?"

"Yes sir," James said, and his eyes moved up to Underhill's. "You don't exactly blend in with the scenery," he said, quoting Regulus's words. "They knew where you were and that you were from the Order. They were using Benjy as bait. You walked into their plan as much as I did."

Sirius was about to comment but again Remus stopped him, holding up a palm that covered Sirius's mouth rather comically. Lily seemed on the verge of speech, too, but Remus exchanged a look with her and she held back.

Underhill faltered for only a second before recuperating.  "It was our mistake to make -- not yours."

Underhill turned and started for the door of the flat. 

"Sir," James said.

Underhill paused and looked back.

"What about Marjorie Grant?" James asked.

Underhill stood in the frame. Then, choosing his words, Underhill said, "I've already assigned it to Longbottom."

James hung his head.

Sirius wiggled, attempting to throw Remus's hand off his mouth just as Underhill left, but Remus's palm was on good and firm.