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Harry blinked, staring down at the girl before he leaned over her and moved the boy next to her’s robes away from his head to get a better look at him. Unruly jet-black hair, crooked and mangled wire framed glasses, a nose that was only slightly longer than his… Harry stared at the boys, no older than himself, and who looked like himself in so many ways. It scared him, and excited him beyond all measures he’d ever felt before. Rising her made his way over to the other two boys who laid strewn across the floor. Even standing he could see the darker haired one out of the two of them was very handsome and boyish, while the sandy brown haired one next to him had more of a mature look to him.

Harry looked back at the other boy and the girl. It couldn’t be, he just couldn’t believe it. If his assumptions were correct then they had been… they were…

“Merlin…” Harry spun around at the voice and then crashed down to his knees beside the sandy haired boy. He was stirring, breathing, and even muttering things under his breath incoherently. His eyes opened and Harry saw they were a familiar shade of brown. The boy stared at him for a moment before sitting up and holding a hand to his head. “Bugger, Prongs, my head feels as if someone’s taken a mallet to it…” He blinked and then went to move his legs but stopped, hissing. “And I think something’s happened to my ankle. Did you and Lily start dueling and get us caught in the crossfire again?” Harry stared at him and shook his head, not knowing if there really had been a duel or not. He watched the boy for a moment longer before he got his voice back.

“You… Are you alright?”

“Well beside my head and my ankle, I think I’m doing fairly well.” The sandy haired on turned and spotted his handsome friend. “Oh dear, did Padfoot get caught up in the fight as well?” Harry gulped as the boy looked back at him and blinked.

“You… You’re not Prongs…” The boy’s eyes widened at this realization and he jerked about, looking behind him at the bodies of his two other friends lying there sprawled on the floor. Both of them were banged up pretty bad from what Harry could see from here.

“No.” Harry shook his head. “You’re Remus Lupin though… er… right?” The boy looked at Harry, his eyes narrowing a great deal.

“Who wants to know? What are you called?” Harry didn’t know whether to tell him or not. Upon closer inspection of this Remus Lupin look alike though. He might be a Death Eater in disguise, but… how could someone disguise him or herself as a young Remus Lupin? Wouldn’t they turn into the older one even if they drank Polyjuice potion with a hair in it from this boy? Harry was fairly certain they would… Hermione had explained it was something to do with DNA or whatever. Going by his gut instinct, Harry decided to trust that this boy really was a younger version of his old Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.

“I’m Harry… Harry Potter.”

“Potter? I don’t remember James ever mentioning you.”

“Well… no… he wouldn’t’ve. You see, I don’t… I don’t exactly…”

“Harry! There you are! I’ve been looking everywhere.” Harry had never been so pleased to see the appearance of his smartest best friend.

“Hermione! It’s Lupin!” Harry rose from where he was kneeling and gestured frantically to the only other conscious occupant of the compartment. “And Sirius and… and…” He looked at the other two… his parents… his mum and dad… they were right there. Looking worse for wear but right there all the same.

“Oh my…” Hermione entered the compartment completely, looking around. She sat down at the heads of Lily and James and looked at them before looking at Harry in understanding. He could tell she didn’t have any idea what was going on either. He, himself, was still trying to get over the shock of it all. The only memory he had of actually seeing his parents was in the photographs in his album. He’d never seen a young Lupin, and Sirius was just a tad bit younger than the photo of his parents’ marriage, but it was still overwhelming. “Harry, we have to…” Hermione took out her wand and pointed it at James. “Ennervate.” The Harry-look alike stirred and then let out a groan.

“Bloody hell…” Remus was up as much as he could and was trying to get to his best friend. He winced as he did so, obviously his ankle was still hurting him a good bit, but he didn’t let it stop him. He had concern written all over his kind face, a sort of caring Harry had seen him use three years ago when teaching him how to make a Patronus.

“James? Are you alright?”

“Moooooooooonyyyyyyyy.” James coughed, his hazel eyes blinking rapidly as he searched the compartment for his friend. His eyes dashed right over Harry, never saw Hermione, paused on Lily and then stopped completely on Remus. “My whole body Moony… Merlin’s pants… I feel like I’ve… broken everything.”

“Hermione, is there anything you can do for him?” Harry asked rather hopefully, knowing she had to have read something on healing at some point, even if it hadn’t ever been assigned in school. Hermione biting her lip did nothing to raise his spirits though.

“I… there’re medical potions in the Prefects compartment… in case anyone on the train gets sick. I’ll go get them now.” And she scurried off, out of the room. Harry knew if would take her at least ten minutes to get all the way to the other end of the train and find what they needed before she returned. In the mean time, Harry took to staring at his father and Lupin interacting.

“You’ll be alright Prongs, we’ll get you fixed up in no time at all.” Said Lupin as he went about looking James over, checking every little bruise and wound he could find… and there were quite a lot of them. James just blinked at him and his eyes dashed back over to Lily.

“Evans…” He blinked again and then, with a loud yell of pain, he attempted to lift himself up.

“No, Prongs, lay down.” Lupin pushed him back down onto the floor. “You’ll hurt yourself worse if you…”

“Evans…” James tried to get up again, and again Lupin pushed him down, this time holding him there.

“I’ll take care of Lily, you rest.” He stated this firmly, his expression stern and unrelenting. When he let go of James, the boy stayed down, his hazel eyes fixated on the red head. Lupin looked over at Harry, untrusting written all over his face. But then he sighed and his expression softened quite a bit. “Harry, tend to Sirius would you?”

Harry nodded and made his way over to his to-be godfather. He stared at the boy before raising his wand. “Enervate.” Sirius gave a slight twinge before his gray eyes opened and he stared up at Harry. He blinked and sat up without the slightest sound, looking around the compartment rather curiously. He then looked back at Harry and grinned brightly. Harry had to smile back. He had to admit, even though it was still very shocking, he was glad to see all four of them… alive. After Sirius’s death last June at the Ministry, he’d been majorly out of it, but now, seeing him in the flesh as a boy who could be no more older than he… it made him happy.

“Hullo. Sirius Black, who’re you?” Sirius asked curiously, looking down and examining his right arm that was currently rather badly bruised and at a very odd angle. He seemed not the least bit perturbed by it, as though he’d had a broken arm more than once before, which, thinking about how reckless he’d been when Harry had known him as an adult, was very likely.

“Harry.” Harry replied, not mentioning his last name this time. He hoped Lupin had forgotten it, but knowing Lupin, he would probably remember it by heart for years to come… if there were years to come. “How old are you lot Sirius?”

“We’re all sixteen, you?”

“Same.” Though he was glad to see them, Harry was very curious as to what they were doing there, as they probably were as well. But before he could ask exactly what had happened to them, the sound of running footsteps and panting made him look up towards the open compartment door. Ron stood there, surveying the scene with wide blue eyes.

“Bloody hell! Hermione hasn’t gone completely mad then? They’re really… wow…” Ron entered the compartment all the way now, sitting down on one of the seats and staring at the three supposed to be dead, and one ex-professor on the floor.

“Yeah.” Harry nodded and watched as Lupin waved his wand at his mother, muttering under his breath. She did not stir in the slightest like the boys had. Lupin stared down at her with a furrowed brow, as did the rest of the boys.

“I don’t understand it… why isn’t it working? It should have, it worked on Prongs and Padfoot. Oh Merlin, maybe she’s…”

“No.” Harry shook his head and left Sirius’s side to join Lupin. “She looked at me… right after I came in… she woke up.”

“But she might have… in the time that we’ve been busy with the others…”

“She’s not dead Moony.” James gasped out, his eyes fixated on the back of Lily’s head. “Nor is she’s uncon… unconscious. That’s why the spell… it isn’t working.”

“Then what’s she doing? Ignoring us?”

“No. Merlin Moony… she’s in her happy place… you of all people… should know that.” Lupin and even Sirius looked relieved while Harry and Ron just blinked and stared, wondering what the hell was going on. Upon seeing this, Lupin laughed and decided to explain.

“Lily goes into her happy place… as we call it… when she doesn’t want to deal with pain, fear, annoyances… or Prongs.”

“And there’s only one way to break Evans out of her happy place without waiting for her to come back from it.” added Sirius very happily. He looked around and then frowned. “Moooooooonyyyyyyyyy I can’t fiiiiiind it.”

“Then we’ll just have to wait.” Lupion sighed and leaned back on his heels. “Oh good!” He smiled, looking up at the door. “You’ve come back.”

Hermione entered, carrying a armload of potion bottles that she haphazardly discarded right onto Ron’s lap.

“Oi! Watch it!”

“Sorry.” Hermione frowned and dug through the bottle, tossed a purple liquid filled on to Harry and then flopped down beside James, taking a red one. “Give yo-… Lily a capful of that. Mr… James, you need to drink some of this.” Hermione poured the red liquid into the cap of it’s clear flask. She looked at Sirius and then down at his arm. “Ron, there’s a pink potion in there. Give Sirius some of that. And hurry, the Heads are already very curious as to where I’ve gone to with all these. I had to run and lose them. Best close and lock that door Harry, draw the curtains as well, we can’t let anyone see them. It could cause chaos if they were to be recognized. Don’t you dare spit that out!” James blinked, looking rather green in the face as he swallowed the potion she had just had to nearly force fed to him. “Lu- Remus. I’m afraid I don’t quite know what the matter is with you just yet…”

“I’m fairly certain I’ve gone and broken my ankle, and my head feels like it’s been cleaved in two. But that’s about it. I would say the pink potion would do. Toss it here Padfoot.” Sirius grinned and using his newly healed arm, tossed the flask of pink potion at Remus who caught it without a hitch. He poured himself a capful and downed it. He then watched as his ankle bent back into a normal looking position. “Ah, much better.” He replaced the cap on the potion and jiggled his right foot. “Perfect. Not a single bit of pain.

Harry had tugged the compartment door closed, locked it tight and pulled the curtains right before there was the unmistakable sound of someone running into it, not having noticed it being closed apparently. Voices came from the corridor.

“I could‘ve sworn I saw her go in there. But it’s all locked up…”

“Well, we’ll just have to unlock it then. Alohamora.” The lock to the door clicked open. Harry clicked it again, locking the door right back up.

“Harry, your cloak.” Hermione whispered as she rose and pushed Ron down so he was lying on the seat. Harry nodded as he locked the door again. He dug into his bag and tugged out his invisibility cloak. He always kept it on his person nowadays, even at the Dursleys he’d carried it around in his school back, the heat being too intense for him to fold it up and tuck it under his shirt. He threw it to the almost completely healed James who blinked when he caught it.”

“Isn’t this mine?”

“Just get yourselves under it!” Hermione moaned and jabbed her wand rather hard against Ron’s cheek before muttering a simple spell. The red head boy’s face was instantly green and Ron clutched at his stomach. The three Marauders scurried to gather on both sides of Lily, Remus and Sirius crouching, James sitting, having had to scoot over, his legs still not quite right as well as other bits of him. He tossed the cloak open and they all disappeared as though they were experts at using the cloak already… which they most likely were. “Ok Harry, let them in.”

Harry nodded and let the door stay unlocked the fifth time the Heads tried to get it open. He flopped back onto the floor beside Hermione who had every single potion she’d swiped from the medical cupboard in the Heads’ compartment in her lap. She was looking at them and looking at Ron, muttering to herself. The door to the compartment slid open and this year’s Head Boy entered, followed by a couple of prefects… Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbot of Hufflepuff.

“I told you…” Ernie was saying. “It’s Hermione Granger, if she took all the potions then she must have a good reason too. Look, see!” He pointed at Ron who did indeed look very sick. The Head Boy stepped closer to them, getting dangerously close to the Marauders. The two Hufflepuffs frowned and left, not seeing any reason to stay.

“All right then, what seems to be the problem with Weasley, Granger?”

“He seems to be sick to his stomach. He was also ill last week, wasn’t he Harry? Isn’t that what you told me when he got like this?” Harry blinked, catching on right away.

“Yeah. He’s been perfectly all right since then though, his mum gave him some sort of…” Harry glanced at the potions Hermione was fiddling with. She tapped her finger against a murky green colored one. “Disgusting looking green potion.”

“Like this?” Hermione held up the little bottle.

“Yeah! That looks exactly like it. Doesn’t it Ron?” The red headed boy nodded, still clutching at his stomach. Hermione poured a bit of the potion into the large cap of the bottle it was in and fed it to him. Almost instantly he turned his normal shade of pale and freckled, sitting up with a sigh.

“Well now that he’s well again, would you kindly return the potions?” The Head Boy asked, holding out a bag for the bottle. Hermione nodded and slipped them gently into the bag, one by one. She was looking at them closely, Harry noticed. And he knew then, that any potion they might need to finish healing the others might be leaving them. There was nothing they could do though. When Hermione was all out the Head Boy shook his head. “There’s still a few missing… There should be fifteen potions, I’ve only counted eleven.”

“I only took what was in the cupboard. Someone else must have the others?”

“Yes… yes I suppose. Very well then. Remember, the next meeting’s Sunday night, directly after dinner ends.”

“Of course.” Hermione nodded, smiling. The Head Boy turned to leave and suddenly stopped. He looked down, shook his head and continued on his way. Harry leapt up to close and lock the door behind him. He reached down and tugged his invisibility cloak out of seemingly thin air.

“You all right?” Harry blinked. Lily’s eyes were wide open, James’s hands on her mouth, Remus’s wand pointed at James’s hands and Sirius just looked highly amused. Remus put his wand away and James removed his hands. Lily blinked, looking as though she were in some sort of state of shock. “What happened?”
“Bugger stepped on her hand.” James stated coldly, reaching down and pulling up the girl’s left hand. It looked as though it had been crushed beneath something five times it’s weight. Judging by the current bruising, it had been broken before it’d been stepped on, and the stepping on it had made it worse. “She came back from space about five seconds before he did it. Bad timing.”

“I saved these. Figured we might need them…” Sirius added, holding up the red, pink, and purple potions from earlier.

“Hermione just about made me choke on this one.” Said Ron as he held up a small vial of blue liquid.

“We need it to fix up Ha-… James and Lily.” Hermione glared at him. “You’re lucky I didn’t shove it someplace else besides your mouth…”

“Merlin’s… pants!!!” Everyone looked down as Harry’s mother came out of her shock and started shaking. She winced as she tore her hand away from James. She held it out to Remus. “Fix it Remy…” Remus snatched the potions from Sirius, one by one, and gave Lily the purple and red before holding his hand out for the blue. Ron threw it to him.

“S’alright Lils, these’ll make you better in no time flat.” Remus smiled as he recapped the blue and handed it to James along with the purple. “You take these too. You’ve already had a non-diluted version of the pink, and the purple is something entirely different. If I’m guessing correctly… the pink takes away any possible concussion and broken bones, and other general things… The purple rids you of any internal stuff dealing with organs… the blue needs to follow the purple otherwise the work it’s done won’t stay, though the order you drink them doesn’t matter, and the red is like the pink, only a lot stronger.”

“Yes.” Hermione nodded, confirming his guesses. Lily had sat up and was currently looking from James to Harry.

“Harry Potter. He’s my dad.” Harry stated, noticing. He didn’t think it’d be a good idea for his mother to know she was his mother just yet. That would be awkward as she didn’t seem to care for James at all. She hadn’t until they were all in their seventh year at Hogwarts, as he had learned from Lupin last year.

“Really?” James blinked staring at him. “That’s brilliant that is. Though I’m not quite sure I’d have named you Harry… maybe James Jr. You do look exactly like me. You… You lot aren’t death Eaters are you? Trying to bamboozle us?”

“He does.” Remus agreed. “I’m fairly certain they’re not Death Eaters. They wouldn’t have tried so hard to help us.” Lily didn’t seem very pleased with all of this, and she said so.

“Great, just what we need, another Potter. Bloody fantastic.”
“Actually…” Harry sat down beside them all. “I’m more like my mum really. Lots of people say so… Well, both of you at least.” He pointed at Sirius and Remus, unable to not smile.

“Who is your mum?” James sat up straighter, eyes shining and hopeful. No one missed the glance he made to the red headed girl.

“As if I’d marry you.” Lily glared at him and leaned so her back was against the seat. She rested her head down on Remus’s shoulder, hugging onto him about the chest. “That’d just be awful.”

“I’m not telling you any more than I’m your son. You have to figure things out on your own from there.”

“Anyways!” Remus hugged Lily back tightly, making Harry feel a bit awkward. Was there something between them that Lupin had never bothered to mention to him? “What year is it? We’re from 1976.”

Hermione seemed to agree that changing the subject as a good idea as she answered him. “1996. You’ve come forward about twenty years. If you’re not Death Eaters.”

“Hermione!”

“They could be. Prove it too us.”

“Uh… alright then… My name is Remus John Lupin. I’m a half-blood and a…a… w-.werewolf.” Hermione nodded.

“Sirius?”

“Sirius Black, member of the Black family, my mother’s a freak, my dad’s nuts, my brother’s name is Regulus, I’m an unregistered animagus with the form of a dog… Oh crap, I wasn’t supposed to tell you that last bit?”

“Great Sirius, just great.” James moaned, flopping backwards onto the floor. “You might as well tell them I’m a stag too… unless Harry already knows that, being..?”

“Yeah. We already knew all that. And Peter’s a rat.” Ron nodded, grinning. “I don’t think they’re Death Eaters Hermione.”

“No… They can’t be. No one knew James was a stag except for the ones closest to him.”

“Well, now that that’s taken care of… I think we ought to alert Dumbledore we’ve had a mishap. He’s still alive isn’t he?”
“Yeah, he’s Headmaster.”

“Oh good!” Lily let go of Remus, smiling brightly. “I don’t know exactly how we got here... anyone else?” The three boys shook their heads. “Well, I’m sure we’ll remember eventually. In the mean time, let’s just make the best of this.” She and her flows seemed completely ok with the fact that they had been put in the wrong year somehow. It was as if they believed Dumbledore could fix anything and would do so as soon as he heard they were there. Harry hoped he could… though he also wanted to spend time with his parents, Sirius, and Remus before they went and left him. He couldn’t take his eyes of Lily now that she was awake and very much alive. He wanted to be able to look at her forever and ever, never stop or be interrupted. He knew it could never be like that though. He was also trying to keep his eyes on James and Sirius, wanting to look at them for just as long. He had just spoken to Lupin last week, so he wasn’t as keen to stare at him. He needed to look at the other three though. He just needed too. They were supposed to be dead, and yet they were. Speaking with them, smiling, alive. He wanted to relish it for as long as possible.

^_^ Yep. Four more chapters before I run out and have to write more, which'll take a while. I'll add them all up as fast as I can. ^_^

Note: For those who actually haven't read Deathly Hallows... well... stop reading now. Though, since this guild is set.. well... you know.. I don't think it'll be a problem, but just warning so no one kills me.



“You know, you look very similar to Potter, but you seem much nicer than he is Harry.”

Harry blinked and looked up from the bandaging he was currently wrapping around his mother’s hand. Hermione had said they better do something for it, just as a precaution. The others’ injuries that dealt with possible broken bones had been wrapped up was well with the white, gauzy material from Hermione’s Muggle first aid kit. She’d returned with it after going to get some spare robes for Lily… from Ginny. From the few times Harry had seen her in the past, he would have never guessed his mum to be a good head and a bit shorter than him. Of course, he’d still been growing those two times, once with the Mirror of Erised, and once in the graveyard two years ago.

“Er… thanks, I guess.” He finished wrapping, making sure the medical tape was tight and wouldn’t come undone. He stared at her hand, admiring his bandaging job. He’d done better than Sirius who had woven the gauze around his arm in a rather haphazard manner earlier. Ron was still untangling him. Remus was all set with wrapping his ankle on his own and while Hermione was wrapping up James’s head, he was doing the unruly haired boy’s leg… There had been a lot of gauze in that first aid kit. “I think we should do your head as well…”

“If anyone’s head needs doing it’s Black’s. Mine’s fine.”

“If you have a concussion and the potions don’t hold out until we can get you lot up to the Hospital Wing…”

“They’ll hold.”

“But they might…”

“Harry, I know potions, alright. They’ll hold. This bandaging is completely unnecessary… Speaking of which, is the Slug still teaching?” Harry blinked. He had absolutely no idea who she was talking about and apparently it showed on his face. “Oh. I suppose…. He was starting to get on. I guess he would have retired by now… So who teaches Potions then?”

“Snape.” Upon this one simple word there was an outburst of noise from those seventies kids.

“Snivellus!?” James’s eyes grew large and he stood up only to be pushed back by a frustrated Remus who got kicked in the jaw in the process.

“That greasy git’s teaching potions!?” Sirius got himself all tangled up in the gauze again, just as Ron finished getting him free.

“…I suppose he did know his potions, but…” Remus rubbed his jaw, wincing as he spoke. “I swear Prongs, if you kick me again, I will curse you into being still for a very, very long time.”

“Oh! Sev’s teaching? That’s fantastic!” Harry blinked, staring at Lily as she smiled in a very happy manner. He looked at Ron and Hermione and they seemed just as shocked as he was. James, however, had a disgusted look on his face, so did Sirius. Remus had just raised an eyebrow.

“I thought you’d ditched him last year Lils?”

“Oh! But don’t you see Remus? If he’s teaching at Hogwarts, and Dumbledore is still Headmaster, then it’s highly probable that he didn’t become a Death Eater! Oh, he listened, he must have listened! Something must have happened at some point to make him change his mind and ditch those horrid dark magic using Slytherins.”

“Snivellus is one of those dark magic using Slytherins, Evans!”

“Shut it Potter, you know nothing about him!”

“Feeling defensive over you’re boyfriend again Evans?”

“Potter! I’ve told you a thousand times! He’s not my boyfriend, he’s just my best friend!” It was like something had hit Harry repeatedly in his stomach. Snape was his mother’s best friend? How could that be possible? He’d been told she was nice, but he’d never thought she’d be THAT nice… Nice enough to befriend a greasy haired, friendless Slytherin.

“He is a Death Eater.” Harry felt guilty watching his mother’s happy expression fall into a frown, her brow furrowing.

“He is? How do you know?”

“I’ve heard him talking to Dumbledore… And he’s got the Dark Mark on his arm.”

“You’re kidding!”

“No, I’m not.” Lily paled and her face found it’s way into her hands as she leaned forward. Remus winced and rose from his seat across from them to sit down beside her. When she started rocking back and forth he hugged her to him.

“Sevvy, oh Sevvy, why?”

“Lils… Lily…”

“Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?”

“Shush Lils, we all knew it’d happen.”

“And Dumbledore knows? He knows, and he’s still letting him be a teacher?”

“Yeah, well…. Dumbledore thinks he’s changed his ways and is on our side.”

“And is he?”

“Who knows.” Harry shrugged, unable to answer her question. He never knew if Snape was good or bad, Dumbledore believed him good, but Harry hadn’t any idea as to why he was. Snape hadn’t proved himself in his eyes. And now hearing that he had wanted to be a Death Eater from Lily, well, it just made matters more confusing as to what was really going on in the whole idea of Snape being on the light side or the dark side.

Lily sighed and leaned up against Remus who patted her on the back and hugged her ever closer. The awkwardness that had come with finding out Snape had been her best friend, increased now as Harry wondered again, what was up between the werewolf and the flower. He looked at James, trying to see what he thought of it. James however didn’t look as surprised as Harry felt, in fact, he was smiling in a slightly smug manner, as though the news that Snape had become a Death Eater as pre-assumed, has lightened his mood considerably. And even when he glanced up at Remus and Lily his smile didn’t falter. It was as though the hug meant nothing to him, like it was something he was used too, as though he wasn’t afraid of losing the girl he loved to one of his best mates.

“Cheer up Evans. You don’t need Snivellus, you’ve got us.”

“I don’t want you, Potter!” Lily spat and glared down at him with such loathing it made Harry blink. Ron looked at him questioningly, as did Hermione. That was right… they hadn’t been into Snape’s memories, they didn’t know…

“Aw, c’mon Evans, you know you love me!”

“I most certainly do not!

“Er… I’ll be right back. I’ve got to go find Ginny and see if she has an extra pair of shoes you could borrow as well Lily… those broken flip flops won’t be good in this weather… Not that you’d be able to wear them again anyway.” The end of Harry’s sentence was met with a loud booming roar of thunder as he pointed down at the discarded pile of torn up foam and plastic that used to be a pair of flip flops, but hadn’t made it through whatever ordeal the four had gone through. There wa no way even a repairing spell would get them back into shape, they didn’t even have all the pieces to them. In the past hour or so, a storm had picked up and it didn’t seem as if it was going to blow over any time soon. The red headed girl nodded with a smile at him as he rose from the seat. Hermione got up as well.

“Well why the bloody hell not?!”

“I’ll come with you Harry… It’s unlikely that Ginny has an extra pair… but we can also ask around, I’m sure Lavender or Parvati will. What size are you Lily?

“Because! You’re an egotistical… Five… no good for nothing, toerag who struts around like you own Hogwarts!” Hermione blinked as though the number shocked her slightly, though it was probably the fighting as well.

“Better yet, let’s go talk to some of the younger girls… Fourth years I think… Or maybe third years, they’re feet probably won’t have stopped growing too much yet. Anybody else need anything?”

“Time to start learning some new comebacks Evans, your’s are over used.”

“Biscuits?” Sirius asked, his eyes lighting up as he rose from the floor, still tangled in the gauze. He tripped over it and landed with an ‘oomph!’ on James’s lap. Remus sighed and dug into his pocket, pulling out a doggy bone shaped cookie. He tossed it as Sirius who caught it in his mouth and rolled to sit down beside James, munching away at it happily. “ ‘anks ‘oony.” Both Remus and Sirius seemed as unfazed to Lily and James’s fighting as Harry was to Ron and Hermione’s.

“They may be overused, but that doesn’t make them any less true than they already are!”

“Food would be good.” Remus stated, holding his stomach, his other arm still hugging Lily. “Unlike Sirius, we can’t live off dog biscuits.”

“Oh yeah? Well if those are true about me, then mine must be true about you!”

“Alright then… I’ll find food.” Ron stated, glad for a reason to be able to go with Harry and Hermione as well. He seemed ready to get away from the bickering pair.

“No they’re not…” Lily’s voice had gone from fire filled to small and weak, as though James had momentarily doused it with his words. Harry didn’t want to stay and see what happened.

“Right then... off we go. You lot stay here, lock the door and don’t let anyone in until we get back… here.” He tossed Sirius his invisibility cloak. “Use it if anyone does come.” Sirius saluted him, still munching away as his doggie cookie. The handsome boy rose and followed the trio to the door, sliding it shut behind them. A click told them that he had locked it. They looked at each other and then bolted down the hallway to the first empty compartment they could find, shutting and locking the door there.

“This is insane!” Ron stated, drawing the curtains close and flopping down on the nearest seat. He brought his legs up and leaned back against the wall. He took a chocolate bar from his pocket and broke it into three separate pieces, handing two of them to his best friends before they sat down.

“I know, but there’s not much we can do until we get them to Dumbledore. He’ll know exactly what to do, though… after we destroyed the entire supply of time turners back at the Ministry… I’m not so sure how he’ll get them back to their own time, but he will.” Hermione bit into her chocolate.

“What if he can’t? What if it’s impossible?” Harry frowned, playing with the bar in his hand. Usually it made him feel better… after third year with the dementors and the chocolate making the presence of them feel as though it had never happened, it had become sort of a comfort food for him, but it did nothing now when he chewed on the corner of his piece.

“He will.”

Ron looked confused at Hermione’s positive answer. Normally these situations frustrated her, but she was actually smiling at the moment. “How can you be so sure?”

“Harry’s still here. If Dumbledore can’t get them back, he’d have poofed into non-existence the moment they appeared here.”

“Oh. I guess that makes sense then.” Harry blinked, glad he hadn’t ‘poofed’ and sent the Wizarding World into chaos. After all, the prediction in Dumbledore’s Pensieve was enough to tell him that if he disappeared, well… Voldemort would take over completely and no one would be safe. Yes, that would be bad, very bad indeed. “Well, I guess we should go find those shoes and some food now…” He rose from his seat, biting into his chocolate at last, convinced that his parents and their friends would make it home safely since he was still alive.

“Er, Harry wait.” Hermione put a hand on his shoulder. “Do you... I mean it must be hard for you to…”

“They’re fighting like a cat and a dog.” Ron stated, raising an eyebrow and not moving from his seat.

“Yeah… Mum hated Dad up until their seventh year… I asked Lupin about it last year after…”

“After what Harry?”

“Well, there was a reason Snape stopped the Occlumency lessons, but I can’t say. He told me never to tell anyone… It involves one of his memories that had my parents in it, and they were fighting there as well.”

“You broke into Snape’s memories? Oh Harry…”

“It was in Dumbledore’s Pensieve… I was curious and tempted and stupid, let’s just leave it at that.” Harry’s tone had become sharp. He wanted to forget about what he’d seen and heard in that stupid Pensive. It’d be best that way. He knew his parents would get together eventually, even after seeing how much they didn’t get along only a little while ago.

“Alright mate… you’re ok though right? I hate it when my parents fight, it’s awkward.” Ron stared at him with a worried expression, reaching his hand into his pocket to get more chocolate just in case.

“I’m fine. They’ll work things out. I know they will… Dad just needs to deflate his head a bit first. Now c’mon, let’s go get those shoes…” The other two nodded and followed him out of the compartment and on down the corridor. They made their way back along the train, Hermione peeking into compartment of friendly students every once in a while, looking to see if they might be small enough to provide the shoe size they needed. They didn’t have any luck until they reached a compartment near their old one.

“Here.” Hermione nodded to a gaggle of girls who looked to be anywhere from their second year to their fifth year. All Hufflepuffs. Harry stepped back. He’d had a bad enough time with girls in the past two years to know it most likely wouldn’t be safe for him to show his face with this bunch. Hermione seemed to notice. “You cans tay there Harry…” He sighed in relief and stood back, out of view of the door.

Hermione slid the door open and she and Ron peeked in through it at the girls who stopped their excited chattering to look up at them. The oldest one, a brown haired girl, responded to them first.

“Can we help you?”

“We’re looking to borrow a pair of size five shoes… A friend of our’s forgot her’s at home and her flip flops are destroyed beyond repair.”

“No shoes? In this weather? That’s awful!”

“Can you help us out then?”

“Er…” The brown haired girl looked at her friends. “I wear a size seven… Marie? You’re a five. You’ve got an extra pair of sneakers don’t you? Those ones your Mum made you bring even though they were your sister’s years ago? Would those work?”

“I don’t know. They fit me fine…” A strawberry blond girl with pigtails frowned shaking her head. “I dunno if Mum would…”

“Please?” Harry had had enough of listening to this girly chatter and popped his head into the compartment. “We could really use them.” He winced at the sound of squealing. The girls rushed about the compartment suddenly, trunks opening and shoes appearing. He had four pairs of shoes thrust towards him at once and he blinked. “We only need one pair…”

“Take mine!”

“No mine! They’re cleaner!”

“No take…”

“We’ll take Marie’s since she offered first.” Hermione stated loudly over the chatter. The pigtailed girl beamed as the others girl’s smiles dropped. She held out a pair of sneakers, black and round toed with little red hearts and green stairs painted on the sides and toes in glitter glue. Harry took them with a gratified smile.

“Thanks Marie.”

“Welcome Harry. D’you need socks too?” The small girl held out a pair of plain white socks before forcing them into the shoes. “Here, take them anyways.”

“Er, alright then, thanks.”

“Anything else?” This girl seemed rather eager to please. She couldn’t have been more than a third year judging by her size. It made Harry feel rather odd. He hated the attention he always got, just because of what had happened when he was a baby.

“No, this is enough thanks.” Harry stated, holding up the shoes and backing away. “We’ve really got to get back to our friends now. Thanks again. See you.” With that he disappeared from their sight and started down the corridor, swinging one shoe in each hand back and forth. Ron and Hermione smiled at the younger girls and left, making sure the slide their door closed again. As soon as it had clicked there was squealing and laughter from inside it along with shrieks of ‘Harry Potter! The Harry Potter! Needed my shoes!’

“Nutters, the lot of em.” Ron said as they continued on their way. They ran into the trolley lady and got a bunch of Cauldron Cakes and Pumpkin Pasties for everyone; relieved they wouldn’t have to go looking for it at the front of the train. With their arms laden with the goodies and Harry’s hands still swinging the shoes, they made their way back to the compartment.

I love it!! razz Can't wait for the rest!!

When the carriage finally got up to the castle, it’s six occupants were very relieved to be rid of it’s bounceyness. They climbed out of it and ran, slipping in mud and puddles, to the steps of the main door of Hogwarts and into the Entrance hall. Looking around, Harry saw no sign of the seventies kids and frowned. He hadn’t really been expecting them to be here, after all, they’d probably left the train a good bit after him and the others, so it was rather unlikely that they would already be here.

“Hurry Ron, I’m getting claustrophobic.” Harry blinked and looked over at Ron and Hermione. Ron was fumbling with the top button of his cloak, and Hermione’s head seemed to be stuck somewhere below it, hidden from view except for the hair that was currently caught in the button Ron was fumbling with.

“I’m trying. This button really seems to like your hair Hermione… or your hair’s trying to eat it, I’m not sure which.”

“Just sever it then!”

“It’s quite a bit of hair… almost a whole lock. It’s gotten caught in at least three buttons…” Ron stared down at the brown hair rather curiously, still picking away at it, strand by strand, gently trying not to rip it.

“I don’t care! It’s just hair, it’ll grow back. Just get me out of here!” The pair had, by now, drawn quite a few eyes to themselves, mostly those of people who didn’t recognize them at a glance. Harry sighed and decided to stay out of it. They’d figure it out soon enough without his unneeded help. And so, he made his way into the Great Hall, glancing up at the ceiling with a smile before he took a seat beside Neville at Gryffindor Table.

“Bit of a predicament they’ve gotten into, eh?” The brown haired boy grinned, gesturing towards the Entrance Hall where, if one listened hard enough , Ron and Hermione were still arguing among the laughter.

“Yeah. I think everyone but them is enjoying it.”

“They are rather amusing…” Harry jumped and turned to watch as a brown haired girl he didn’t recognize sat down beside him, a familiar smile on her face. “Hello Harry. We haven’t taken too long have we? Sev wanted us to be perfect…” Her voice dropped to a barely audible whisper on the last bit. Harry blinked and suddenly realized three boys accompanied the girl, sitting down next to her and acrossed from her. Blinking again he turned to look up at the teacher’s table, and sure enough, there was Snape, sitting right beside McGonagall as he always had. Putting the pieces of the puzzle together he blinked again and turned back to the girl with a smile.

“No, not at all.” He had to admit, Snape had really done a good job at disguising the four. Besides now having brown hair, Lily’s eyes had been changed to blue, all freckles besides those on her cheeks and nose taken away, and her skin changed to a ton of light tan rather than that of the paleness of a redhead. The boy beside her looked nothing like any of the Marauders. In fact, he looked almost exactly as Lily did now, only taller and a boy. Same blue eyes, same shade of brown hair, same skin tone, if Harry didn’t know any better, he would have assumed them twins, which, thinking about it, was probably what they were supposed to be.

The boys opposite Lily and the other boy, looked as different from any of the Marauders as they could be as well. The one on the left acrossed from Lily now resembled a Weasley in every manner possible. He had the same brown eyes Ginny did, startling red hair, and so many freckles it would be impossible to even attempt counting them all. He even had the tall and gangly thing going for him that Ron had always had to him.

The boy next to him however, had dirty blond hair that fell into place as if it’d never need to be combed, steely blue-gray eyes and was neither pale nor tan. He didn’t look like anyone Harry knew, and that was probably the idea. Change them so you couldn’t recognize them if you tried. It was smart… probably Dumbledore idea since he seemed to know from the start that they were here. Harry wasn’t about to question how he knew though, Dumbledore usually just knew things like that and there was really no point in asking because you’d most likely just get a twinkle of the eyes and that would be that.

“Made some new friends then Harry?” Neville asked curiously, glancing at them all.

“Yeah. This is…” Harry blinked as the boy beside Lily cut him off at once.

“I’m Romulus and this my sister, Sage. Those two… the blond one is Jacob and the red head is Sam... Drop it Sam!”

“But Rooooooomy…” The red haired boy pouted, setting the doggy biscuit he had just been about to eat down on the table in front of him. Harry grinned. Now he knew who was Sirius. And if he got it correct, only Lily’s name had changed with it’s first letter, so the blond boy had to be James and Romulus had to be Remus. Why hadn’t he noticed it before? Sirius’s tie was still wrapped around his head and hanging down the right side of his face.

“You can wait to eat like the rest of us. And don’t call me Romy.”

“Yes mother.” Sirius stuck his tongue out at Remus and took to nibbling on his doggy biscuit anyways. Apparently he didn’t care what anyone said. Harry laughed at his godfather’s antics before looking over to the teacher’s table to see what they thought of this. None of them even seemed to have noticed and were busy conversing with one another as though nothing had happened… of course. They would remain normal even if they did know. They’d have too so as not to cause suspicions among the students, but then again… things tended to spread like wild fire among the students of Hogwarts.

“I swear to Merlin Ronald! No! Just leave it!” Hermione flopped down into the seat on the other side of Harry from Lily and Remus. Harry grinned despite himself. The hair hanging in her face on her right side was a lot shorter than it was on the other side.

“Please Hermione, it’s just a simple spell. It’ll go back to normal…”

“No. I could use a hair cut anyway. I’ll just have Lavender finish severing it later. She always does Parvati’s and has really good aim with that spell.”

“But Hermione…”

“I haven’t had a haircut in.. I don’t even remember the last time I had one, that’s how badly I need one.”

“It’ll be so short.” Ron muttered looking down at his empty plate as he sat down beside her.

“Change is good.”

“I could do it Hermione. I always cut my friend Alice’s hair.”

“That’s right…” Remus grinned placing an arm around Harry’s mother and giving her a squeeze, causing Harry to feel awkward once more. “She’s good at it. She’s cut mine, and Sam’s, and…” He stopped short, glancing up at the teacher’s table before looking back at the rest of them. “…before.”

“Alright then. Later?” Hermione smiled brightly, tugging at the short lock of her hair.

“Definitely.” Lily smiled back and Harry noted, it was the same smile he’d seen her use earlier when she was a redhead. He sighed, glad that not all of her had changed completely.

“Attention!” The hall grew quiet at once as Dumbledore stood up. He barely ever said anything, but tonight everyone was especially loud and therefore he had opted for stating the word to draw them in. Though he needn’t’ve. Everyone worshiped him so much, ok, so the Slytherins didn’t, that they grew quiet as soon as he’d shifted in his seat. “Welcome new and old! I’m am sure you are all waiting desprately for a feast and therefore I shall prolong you no longer! I dare say, tuck in!” The tables filled at once with food and everyone went at it, calming their growling stomachs.

Harry laughed as Sirius grabbed a chicken leg and a piece of corn and started munching away at one and then another as though he had been starved. When he finished his chicken he took a bite of his doggy treat and then continued on with the human food as well. It was a little sickening to watch, but very amusing… at least he chewed with his mouth closed.

“Mister Barkley! I dare say! Chew your food rather than swallowing it whole.” McGonagall had come down to them for some reason or another. Though, the fact that there were four students who should not have been at the table this year was probably a good reason as to why she was there.

“Ello Minnie! Miss me?” Sirius waved his half eaten corn on the cob at her, smiling brightly, the tie tied around his head swinging and hitting him against the cheek lightly as he did so. Harry blinked. Either McGonagall’s lips had just twitched slightly, or he was seeing things.

“Call me that again and it’s detention Barkley. And get that thing off you’re head. You look ridiculous.”

“Aye aye cap’n Minerva! You mean riddikulus.” Sirius saluted her, giving her a very cocky grin.

“Barkley…” McGonagall’s tone was warning. She reached up and tugged at Sirius’s tie, making it lock tighter about his head. She sighed, giving up on that bit.

“Yes Professor.” Sirius pouted, but didn’t bother to try and annoy her anymore.

“Good boy. Now, Professor Dumbledore wishes to see you four in his office after the feast. I daresay you know the way?”

“Yes Professor.” James nodded, grinning like a maniac. Harry grinned as well. They must have been to Dumbledore’s office before for some sort of pranking or other.

“Good.” Professor McGonagall gave them a nod and left to return to her seat at the teacher’s table.

“Wonder what old Dumbles wants...” Sirius stated curiously, poking at his mashed potatoes with his corn.

“Gee… I wonder.” Remus rolled his eyes sarcastically. His arm had left Lily’;’s shoulder’;’s by now and he was poking at his own potatoes.. with a fork as he was supposed too. James laughed at this, but Lily seemed distracted. The latter was proven to be correct when she next opened her mouth.

“I wonder if Sevvy ever got married…”

“L-Sage!” Remus blinked and the others all paused in what they were doing.

“Why. Did you want to marry him Evans? I’m sure he’d have you if he’d had the chance.” James stated scathingly, dropping his spoon and smashing a hand into his own mashed potatoes that he’d just been about to scoop up. He doesn’t seem to notice as he stares at Lily, his eyes wild with anger.

“No. I most certainly do not P-…” Harry covered her mouth before the word could come out. His last name. If she said it out loud it was cause havoc around them if anyone heard, and she was being awful loud.

“Oi. Sage. Don’t.” Harry shook his head and then yelped, tugging his hand away. There was a red mark on it now. She’d bit him… his own mother had bitten him. He hoped this didn’t scar… it’d looked great his right hand would. With a bite mark on one side and the words ‘I must not tell lies.’ on the other. “No fighting right now. Or at least call him something different. Like... Portor… or whatever. Just not… not the other one.”

“Sorry Harry.” Lily frowned at him and raised her eyebrows before giving him a small, guilty smile. “I forgot.”

“S’alright.” Harry smiled at her, unable to help it.

The feast ended with a bang as Sirius set off a firework he’d had in his pants and everyone made their was out of the Great Hall in good spirits. The trio headed for the common room while the three Marauders and Lily, made for Dumbledore’s office as they had been told to do earlier.

“What do you think he’s going to tell them” Ron asked, watching as they turned the corner and made their way towards the portrait of the Fat Lady.

“Probably to keep a low profile.” Harry suggested, shrugging.

“Or he might be sending them back.”

“What” harry frowned. He hadn’t thought of that. He immedietly turned around and headed in the opposite direction at a run. Ron called after him.

“Where are you going mate!?”

“I have to say goodbye!” Harry shouted back. “I’m not going to let them go without being able to say goodbye this time!” A wave of panic flooded over him. He didn’t want them to go, he realized. If they had to now, he’d never get to know them really. He had barely just started. He didn’t want to lose them already. He barreled past students and staff on their way to their common rooms and offices. No one bothered to stop him. Nothing stopped him until he slammed straight into someone and they both went flying to the floor. “Bloody… sorry.” He gasped, looking at the figure sprawled beneath him. It was just a redhead with a tie tied around his head… and there were dog chews scattered on the floor around them. Realizes who he’d knocked into Harry grabs hold of him, hugging him tightly.

“Woah mate!” Sirius struggled. “I know I’m sexy… well… not as sexy as I would be if I looked like myself… but…” Harry laughed and let go of him before standing up and holding out a hand. Sirius took it tugging himself up. Harry immediately hugged Remus once he was sure Sirius was alright.

“I just… I just didn’t want you to go... without saying goodbye…” he let go of remus and latched onto James before moving onto Lily who giggled and hugged him right on back.

“What do you mean goodbye? We’re not going anywhere for at least two months. Dumbledore said it’s going to take a while to build another time turner. Appearently someone broke the entire stock of them at the ministry. Can you imagine? Who’d do such a thing?” Harry grinned sheepishly, opening his mouth and thinking better of it. No, they didn’t need to know that that was partly his fault… He let go of Lily with a sigh.

“So, you’re stuck here for a while then?”

“Cheh cheh.” Lily nodded. Harry sighed in relief. He needn’t say goodbye yet.

“Sorry, but.. that’s great! Now we can… play Quidditch, or.. whatever. Just… just great!” Harry grinned brightly back at them and they started on their way down the hallway. Back the way Harry had just come. On the way there they ran into Ron and Hermione.

“Guess what!” Harry stated enthusiastically, unable to help himself.

“What?”

“Two months. They’re staying at least two months.”

“great Harry, that’s great.” Hermione smiled at him. He knew she was happy for him, but not happy that he’d probably get attached and not want them to leave. Which he already was. It was too late for him not to be. And with that. The seven students made it back to the common room and headed up to bed, one of them rather gleefully I might add.