Hey everyone! I know that there are lots of stories rather similar to this out there, but please give mine a chance! And a promise I'll make to you now – this will be finished. Enjoy reading and please review, it really doesn't take that long

Disclaimer: Well, obviously JKR owns the entire Harry Potter world and series; I'm just privileged to be able to play in it.

Harry closed his eyes quickly, trying in vain to prevent the tears from falling.

They'd won. Voldemort was dead, yet Harry did not feel victorious. His heart ached with sorrow for all those who had lost their lives, and guilt consumed his soul. Could he have done anything differently to save them? Would things have turned out better if he had made different choices?

The tears were falling in earnest now as he leaned back into the soft back of the couch, his unfocused gaze staring blindly at the dancing flames that played in the fireplace. He'd gone to the room of requirement in search of refuge, to get away from everything, from everyone – just for a while. He could hardly walk two steps without being mobbed by a crowd of well-wishing congratulators. They treated him like a hero, praised him, drank to his name. Yet they couldn't understand his desire to grieve for all whom were lost, the pain that filled his heart with every step he made. The knowledge that he had lived, but so many had died – for him. Because of him. Remus, Mad-eye, Tonks, Fred, Sirius, Cedric, his parents…

He brought his knees up to his chest, resting his head against them.

What would his parents have said? What would Sirius tell him? Would they understand? Or would they blame him for their untimely deaths – Remus and Tonks who had left their little Teddy behind, now in Harry's care…

He turned his head slightly to gaze at the sleeping bundle cradled in Ginny's arms besides him, and a fresh wave of tears obscured his vision. He felt a slim, warm arm wrap around his shoulders and he realized his sobs must have woken Ginny, pulling her out of a dreamless, well deserved sleep.

"Sorry," he chocked out, but her gaze was filled with understanding and her eyes mirrored the pain he knew was reflected in his own. She didn't speak, simply held him until his tears ran out and he slipped an arm around her waist.

Eventually Teddy stirred quietly in his sleep, shifting his little form in Ginny's arms. As the young couple gaze down at the infant, their souls filled with love for one another, Ginny's head dipped slightly, coming to rest on Harry's shoulder.

Harry, calmer now, looked at his love and his godson nestled quietly in her arms, and felt a small glow of joy and hope, appeasing slightly his pained emotions. They were all alive, they had each-other. In a way, they were already a small family; albeit a young one that had suffered much, but not without hope for the future.

Harry felt drained, yet slightly more at peace as his eyes began to close, his body finally surrendering to sleep. If only the others could understand like Ginny did, if only he could have explained to them before they died…

Lily Evans was in turmoil. Her eyes bore holes into the souls of the three boys standing before her, Remus shifting uncomfortably by her side as McGonagall surveyed the situation, eyeing both parties warily. Peter, finally catching up to the group stopped abruptly as he took in Lily's smoldering green eyes locked on Sirius, James and Severus, tripping over his feet and falling ungracefully to the floor. Remus bent down to help him up as McGonagall appeared to be trying to figure out a way of resolving this issue without Lily releasing so much magic that they'd all end up in the hospital wing, and her eyes darted around for help, locking with Alastor's who was having a quiet conversation with the young Mr. Black.

"What the hell is wrong with you three?" Lily finally exploded at her most unfortunate victims. Can't you take a break? For once? Or do you actually enjoy making your lives miserable? I can't believe you boys, it's just so…" And then, to the utter astonishment of everyone standing there, Lily Evans burst into tears.

James and Severus were now feeling extremely awkward; their argument now seemed definitely not worth making Lily cry. James moved forward to try to comfort his distraught girlfriend, glaring intensely at Snivelus as he noticed the other boys' involuntary move forward as well. Sirius simply stood there dumbfounded, startled at seeing Lily cry.

An incredibly loud grating sound snapped them all out of their astonishment as nine pairs of eyes shifted to the usually smooth wall of the seventh floor corridor, locking onto the massive mahogany double doors that had appeared there.

There was silence in the hall.

Harry was pulled into consciousness by the sound of voices and shuffling feet behind him, and he was on his feet, newly restored wand at the ready in an instant. His eyes observing the intruders, he moved quickly to place himself in front of the couch, barring their way towards a now wide-awake Ginny who was clutching a teary Teddy tightly.

As he inspected the intruders, Harry's eyes went wide and his wand hand began to tremble.

"Ginny," he said shakily, "you see them too, right?"

"Y-yes," she replied, "Yes I do." And then she burst into tears, her sobs mingling with his Godson's the only sound in the room.

Harry simply starred.

"Hey Prongs!" Sirius exclaimed, "He looks just like you!"

Harry wavered, certain he was on the verge of passing out. He couldn't believe his eyes; young versions of Snape, Remus, Sirius, McGonagall…

He thoughts were cut off as Moody pointed a wand at him from across the room.

"Who are you?" He barked out.

Harry didn't know what to say. Thankfully he was saved by McGonagall exclaiming, "Alastor! Stop! Can't you see the lad's distraught?"

"You think he's a death eater?" That was a tall, auburn haired boy who looked like Harry with Hazel eyes. He was instantly recognizable from the pictures Harry had spent hours on end staring at.

"James?" He chocked out. What was going on? What the hell was going on?

"How do you know our names?" James demanded, and Harry noted Sirius's wand was trained on Ginny. This alone shook him out of his stupor as he moved sideways, shielding her and Teddy bodily from any potential threat.

Suddenly the door in the wall swung shut with a clang, and disappeared.

"It's a trap!" Remus exclaimed, drawing his wand.

"Stop." Harry's voice rang over their panicked mutterings. "Look, I don't understand what's going on here but I swear we mean you no harm." To prove his point, he lowered his wand, gazed locked with Mad-eye's.

None of the others moved an inch.

Anger swelling in his chest at all the wands trailed close to Ginny, Harry locked eyes with each of them in turn, willing them to understand as he spoke.

"Please, I don't have a clue what's going on, but I can prove that I do know you even though you clearly don't recognize me." He took a breath. "Padfoot," he said, locking eyes with Sirius, "You're a marauder along with James (Prongs) and Remus (Moony). Suffice it to say I know how you earned your nicknames and about Remus's 'furry little problem', as you call it. You're a dog in every sense of the word." This left the marauders dumbstruck, and nervous that a stranger knew so much.

"Ugh!" Harry exclaimed, "Look, I solemnly swear I am up to no good!"

The four marauders expressions as that detail was revealed were priceless, and the others looked confused. Harry plowed on.

"I suppose Peter, aka Wormtail, is also a marauder. Lily, your sister's name's Petunia and spends her life looking like she swallowed a lemon and hates everything to do with magic." Here Harry's voice softened, hoping he wasn't hurting her too much by saying it out loud. "Any one magical is a 'freak', and she treats them accordingly. Snape was your first magical friend."

That drew raised eyebrows from around the room.

"You're boyfriend's James, though he's been asking since you met him you only got together in 7th year. Snape, the marauders give you hell, call you Snivelus, and you give them hell. Your worst memory is the day after your OWLs when James had you upside down and you called Lily a 'mudblood'. She never forgave you for it. You're also on of the bravest men I knew." Harry said, images of his death flashing before his eyes.

"Professor McGonagall, you're a cat animagus, transfiguration professor. You think divination's a load of crap. Mad-eye Moody… " he trailed off, unsure what to say. "Auror, slightly paranoid. You're favorite phrase, or at least what I swear you've told us all at least a hundred times is 'Constant vigilance!'" This had Mad-eye staring at him curiously, blue eye whizzing wildly around the room.

Harry then turned his attention to the dark haired seeker he recognized as Regalus. "Regalus Black. Sirius's little brother – you're friendship broke when you were sorted into Slytherin, then shattered when Sirius left to live with the Potters at 16."

Silence.

More silence.

Then Ginny spoke, "Oh come on! Lower your wands, you're scarring Teddy!" At the sight of the baby with watery eyes, Remus sighed and stowed his wand. He wasn't going to attack a baby, after all.

"Ouch!"

Harry lay sprawled on the floor, a heavy book having dropped out of nowhere above him being the main source of his pain. "You've got to be kidding me," he muttered, frozen, as he gazed at the offending object. "Can't I ever catch a break? What the hell am I supposed to do with this?! Review all the happy memories?" Harry was frustrated beyond belief, not understanding what was going on. It was torture to see all these people so close, yet totally out of his reach. He wanted nothing more than to run over to Sirius, to hug him, tell him he was sorry, but couldn't. This wasn't his Sirius.

"Who are you?" the question came from Severus, of all people.

"I'm Har-" He was cut off as a paper airplane swooped down to hit him in the eye.

"Dam it all!" he exclaimed, then realized it was a note. He read it, looked up at the others, read it again, and wordlessly rose to go take Teddy from Ginny, his eyes wide as saucers.

"I'm Harry." He looked at his young dad. "Harry James Potter."

"Potter?" James asked, surprised.

Harry nodded as Sirius, curious, picked up the abandoned page and read it aloud.

Harry,

I am sure it is easy for you to understand when I say that I, Hogwarts (yes Sirius, the castle's very much alive), owe you. You're wish of discovering if your loved ones thought you'd done the right thing and your pain at having lost many of them gave me the opportunity to return the favor.

I have sent you, Ginny, and of course I wasn't going to leave out little Teddy, back into the past to your parents seventh year.

This drew gasps of surprise from most of the people in the room. "You're from the future?" Lily asked. Harry simply nodded as he gazed at his mother-to-be.

Everyone was left speechless for a second, digesting this information, and then James exclaimed, "YES!" and began dancing around the room like a maniac.

"Umm… James?" Remus asked nervously.

"Don't you see?" James asked grinning from ear to ear. "He said to his parents seventh year! And he's a Potter… So I marry Lily!" He finished triumphantly; his hazel eyes alight with delight.

He turned to Harry after a second, pausing and then said, "Well, it's an odd way to meet you but hey son!" Ginny couldn't take it she broke into peals of laughter.

"James, what the hell makes you think that means I'm the mother?" Lily asked, incredulous as she stared at Harry.

"Simple," he replied, totally serious as he gazed at his girlfriend. "There's no way I'd marry anyone else."

I've arranged for several people from their time to join you in the room of requirement, as you've probably figured out by now, and I've sent you a book about your seventh year. I am sorry, but the easiest way to make sure everything would become clear was to take your memories so this book is from your point of view.

I apologize in advance that you'll have to share your inner thoughts, but these people can be trusted. Well, Peter needs to be here anyway.

Everyone turned to look incredulously at Peter, who looked stunned at what the castle was implying.

James cleared his throat, pointed to the letter in Sirius's hands saying, "moving on."

You are all trapped in the room until you read the book, cover to cover.

Harry, let me impress upon you that you now have the chance to change everything. If in the end the majority of the people in this room decide that it isn't worth attempting to meddle with time and change the future, everyone's memories will be wiped of this time here, so they don't retain future knowledge, though you, Ginny and Teddy can keep your memories.

"That's not fair!" Sirius exclaimed.

Lily rolled her eyes, "Yes it is – they've already lived through the future so they know what happened. Wiping their memories would be pretty pointless."

Again, you can now change everything. But if you decide that time is worth meddling with (as I know you've already made up your mind to do), plan it carefully out together before you leave. Remember, changing one thing can have unexpected repercussions, even on how you would have acted in previous situations. If you mess things up badly, Ginny may not have survived the war.

Here Harry winced visibly, and wrapped an arm around Ginny's waist, holding her tightly.

She gave him a small smile.

I do enjoy watching drama take place, so I'm going to forbid you from explaining everything to them from the get-go and make them have to discover everything as they read the book, at the same pace as you originally did. There will be times when they can ask questions, so I'll let you know.

Remember – no cursing each other until the end. You could come to regret it.

Enjoy, and good luck!

"Well then," Mad-eye broke the silence as more chairs and couched popped up around the fireplace, "Who's reading?"