A/N: Hi everyone. first of all I apologise for disappearing from fanfiction. But no worries I'm back and I'm most certainly going to finish this project. For all the new readers, I wanted to write a marauders reading the books series but copyright issues won't let me. So I've decided to give them a chance to alter their destinies in a different way. For all the returning readers, thank you so much for keeping up with me. I've missed you lot. And most importantly... Welcome Back :D

James felt comfortable mattress beneath him. It was strange because he hadn't had such sensation for last 17 years. He was dead after all. At that fateful Halloween night James and Lily Potter were killed by Voldemort who was after their baby boy Harry. From that day onward Lily and James had been watching their son from above.

They watched as their son grew in a loveless household, they watched helplessly when Dursleys treated their boy like a slug. They watched when Sirius was sent to Azkaban for the crimes he never committed. And they watched when Remus broke down internally having lost his every single friend in a time span of 24 hours. They watched but couldn't do anything.

And then, after so many years, one day they welcomed their old friend Sirius in afterlife. hardly another year later they welcomed their mentor and headmaster Albus and when war was going on at full force, they welcomed too many other old friends and acquaintances. But now was the time for celebration. Harry had just defeated Voldemort by his own wand. Afterlife never felt any better. All the marauders were there, together, and everyone was celebrating the demise of one Lord Voldemort.

That was the last thing that James remembered. Now his eyes were closed and he could feel himself in a horizontal position. And was that a pillow under his head?

James opened his eyes. As normal as an action that was, it felt exceptionally strange to do something like that after 17 years of being dead. He blinked and looked around. That was definitely not the afterlife as he remembered. If anything, this place resembled his childhood bedroom. Same Gryffindor decoration, same giant four poster bed, same bedside table and his glasses.

He stretched his hand and fumbled for his glasses. He jumped out of his bed and looked around. This was definitely his childhood home. He could hear familiar voices from downstairs. Voice of his mum and dad chattering happily about something. But how was that even possible. He entered the bathroom in search of mirror and had a mini heart attack when he found one.

He was staring at the face of his younger self.

"That's some sick joke." He muttered and walked back in his room. He took the calendar from his bedside table and dropped it when he saw the date, 1 September 1971.

"What the-" He couldn't finish his sentence.

He looked around and found his brand new school trunk with initials J.P. , his desk was covered with brand new first year school books and his uniform robes were placed on the chair neatly folded, ready to be packed away.

If his memory served him correct and this was actually the world that he remembered then his wand must be in his cupboard. He opened his cupboard and found his loyal wand, waiting to be packed away with other stuff. He picked it up and it felt like greeting an old friend after years of separation.

"I missed you too." He murmured softly.

He sat on the edge of his bed, thinking about what was happening . Somehow, he was alive again and on top of that he had every memory of his life and afterlife. He had no idea if was feeling happy or sad. He just knew that he was back to life by some mismanagement of destiny. He couldn't help but think about his friends. There was not enough time to write letters, it was already September 1st. He would have to wait for a few hours to figure out whether his friends were also having a similar experience or if he was on his own. He shuddered at the thought of his friends not remembering the things that he remembered.

'Why not utilise the chance that I have been given.' He thought after few minutes of introspection.

With this thought he got up and waved his wand. His entire luggage flew and settled in his trunk in neat piles.

'I owe Lily so much for this spell.' He thought and let his thoughts wander off to Lily.

He was just finished with his magical packing when he heard a voice from downstairs.

"James wake up! It's time for breakfast dear."

He froze in his tracks. Of course he had met his mum and dad after his death but seeing them again alive and happy was going to be completely different.

He ran out of his room after carefully tucking his wand in the waistband his pyjama, he was never going to let go of his wand again. Last time it had cost him his life and Lily's too. If he had any say in this matter, nobody was going to die this time around.

"Slow down James, you will-" Mrs. Potter started, but rest of her words were silenced by a bone crushing hug that she got from James. Mr. Potter watched in fascination as James inhaled the scent of his mother like Oxygen. After few seconds Mrs. Potter broke the hug,

"What happened James?" She asked, sounding worried. James mentally kicked himself for worrying her.

"I am going to Hogwarts. I am excited." He said and then jumped on his father who chuckled fondly and wrapped his son in a bear hug.

"Ouch dad, can't breathe." He muttered as his dad ruffled his hair affectionately.

"Alright now sit down and eat something." Mrs. Potter said in a stern voice but her twinkling eyes gave her away. James felt so strange noticing for the first time how much his parents cared about him. Last time he was too naive to notice these little details.

'Of course you were naive. You were actually 11 years old last time.' A voice in his head reminded him.

His father immersed himself back in his newspaper as his mother poured pumpkin juice in his goblet.

"Dad, if you don't mind may I have a look at the newspaper?" He asked suddenly. Those were the days of rise of Voldemort. He was not out in public yet but one could always find the news about his activities if one knew what he was looking for. Last time James had never paid attention to this till it was too late.

His dad folded the paper and handed it to James, suddenly looking apprehensive. James scanned the newspaper while eating bacon. He found an article about one missing Muggleborn witch. Though there was no mention of death eaters or Voldemort, James immediately understood it was their doing. Her disappearance was eerily similar to Bertha Jorkins. His blood started boiling as he thought about how many families Voldemort had destroyed before being reduced to a lifeless shell.

"Son, are you alright?" Came the voice of worried Mr. Potter. James came out of his thoughts and realised that he was holding his piece of beacon close to his mouth and was staring at the newspaper like he was trying to burn it with his eyes.

"Yes I am fine." He said but when he looked at unconvinced faces of his parents, he added,

"I was reading about this Muggleborn witch who disappeared. How did that happen?" giving emphasis on the word Muggleborn.

"Don't worry about it son. Either she will come back on her own or ministry will send someone to find her." His father said soothingly.

"Now put that paper down and finish your breakfast or you would be late for Hogwarts Express." Mrs. Potter said taking the paper from his hand.

Potter family finished their breakfast in silence which was a peculiar situation considering James was present. After breakfast James went back to his room to add some new stuff in his trunk which was not there the last time. He packed an entire Muggle first aid kit, healing potions, salves, some advanced defence books that he nicked from his dad's study. Then he realised he had no wand holster. Last time they had started using holsters after their 4th year, when keeping the wand within reach every single second of the day became essential, but this time he was not going to wait so long.

He called Mr. Potter to take his trunk downstairs. He could have easily levitated the trunk by himself but he let his father help him. After all, he was not supposed to be aware of even the incantation of levitation charm yet. He checked the cage of his owl Snowy and brought it too downstairs. Snowy was a beautiful snow white owl similar to Hedwig. Personally, James speculated that Hagrid would have thought of Snowy when he bought Hedwig for Harry.

He sat on the dining table downstairs, and made a short list of things he needed from Diagon Alley. He also made a mental note to owl order some complicated healing potions for Remus to help him with his werewolf injuries. Last time they had found these potions during their research about werewolves but it turned out to be useless as Remus could not afford these potions and he wouldn't let James and Sirius help him financially. This time he promised himself not to let his best mate act like a 'noble git', as Ginny sometimes called Harry. He gave the list to his mother and apologised for not remembering that stuff when they were shopping. He heard his father mutter,

"Is it just me or he really is acting strange?"

James smiled and got ready for his supposedly first ride of Hogwarts Express. He felt the familiar excitement and anticipation of going back to Hogwarts. Now the only thing left was to meet up with Lily, Sirius and Remus as soon as possible.

A/N: I'll try to update every weekend, so as to finish this story sooner rather than later. Please read and review and let me know what you think about this story :)

-AS