Christmas 1976 –
The cosy Gryffindor common was deserted on Christmas morning, except for a group of five who were sat before the fire, excitedly opening presents.
James Potter was lounging across the sofa, flicking through a new quidditch book he had received and pointing his wand at his broom, attempting the cleaning spell which supposedly could "keep your broom shining whatever the weather!"
Remus and Lily were immersed behind a pile of books, each excitedly reading their new found favourite.
Sirius had received a massive pile of gifts from Zonko's joke shop, and was happily looking to see what could be used to 'spice up' Christmas dinner that day.
Peter was staring at a glass ball which he held in his hands. Inside the ball was a dark cloud of crimson smoke.
"Guys" he said absently, "what is this?"
"It's a rememberall you dumb ass" laughed James. "It turns red when you've forgotten something".
"But, what've I forgotten?" replied Peter. There was no response, instead just laughter from the rest of the group. Frowning slightly, he bent down and placed it on his pile of gifts, before he turned around and noticed a small package by the foot of the chair next to him. Picking it up, he observed it closely before showing everyone.
"Hey guys, who do you suppose this is for?" he said inquisitively. The small package was passed around the group, and looked at from every angle, but no one could fathom who the parcel was for.
"Well" began Sirius, "No other Gryffindor stayed this Christmas, and it was left right by us, so it's got to be for one of us lot! Or maybe all of us!" And with that, he snatched the package and tore it open before anyone could stop him.
"No Sirius wait!" cried Lily, "We don't know what it is, it could be dangerous…"
Too late. A blinding white light filled the room, and when it disappeared a few seconds later, the five occupants of the room were gone.
HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP
Summer Holidays 1995 –
In Number 12, Grimmauld place, things were a bit crowded. There was yet another Order meeting taking place, and seeing as though Mrs Weasley found the last of the extendable ears and confiscated them, the six teenagers living in the house could be found upstairs in the attic, on the very top floor.
Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George and Ginny were rummaging through dozens of boxes, looking for anything that might tell them about, well, anything interesting.
A massive cloud of dust enough to choke anyone to death lingered in the room, swirling as though angry at the disruption. There was an extremely mouldy corner which the people in the room thought might be the work of dark magic, so they discreetly shied away from that corner.
Bending down, Ginny rummaged through an ancient looking chest until her hands found a shiny object. Pulling it out, she discovered an ornate mirror, covered in dust. Using her sleeve, she cleared the mirror but caught her arm on a sharp ruby stone.
"Ouch" she exclaimed as she dropped the mirror suddenly. It smashed into a thousand different pieces, and one of the rubies rolled across the floor, echoing until it came to rest against another box. Everyone else had turned to stare, and as Ginny held her arm, she saw a pale crimson glow surrounding her, and spreading out slowly, until it reached the corners of the room.
"What's going on" muttered Ron uncertainly. The floor began to shake, and boxes began to rattle slightly. There was an air of terror as the room suddenly turned black, and the teens cried out for each other, groping around in the darkness. With an almighty crack, they were sucked towards the centre of the room, and promptly disappeared into a suffocating darkness.
HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP
Easter holidays 2018 –
Godric's Hollow was full to the brim of children and teenagers over the Easter holidays. Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley had just made it up to bed, even though it was seventeen minutes past midnight. Hermione was in the library, doing some late night reading, and Ron had made his way to bed over an hour ago, leaving Harry and Ginny to deal with an eight year old, two ten year olds, two first years, three second years, two fourth years, one fifth year, one sixth year and two young adults. "Lazy Bastard" thought Harry idly to himself as he pictured Ron snoring away next door. He settled down in the soft warm bed, and drifted off to sleep, not knowing what was about to happen the following day…..
A soft, warm glow had settled over the room, the sun peering out over the hilltops and bathing everything in golden light.
"MUUUUUUM!"
No response.
"MUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUM!"
Still no response. "Better try something else" whispered Albus in James' ear, giggling slightly.
"DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!
Nothing.
"Oh well" said James exasperatedly. "Nothing else for it". And before eleven year old Albus or Rose could protest, James lunged for dads wand and snatched it up, before shouting "Aguamenti!" and pointing it at the bed where his mum and dad slept.
Fifteen minutes later, after his mum had shouted herself hoarse, his dad had grounded him for the rest of the year, mainly for thinking of using his wand so that he could use undetected magic, and Fred had walked in and nearly wet himself laughing, James finally managed to get a word in.
"I was just going to ask you" he began sweetly, "whether it was okay for me and Fred to go to London today?"
"Certainly not!" cried his mother. "You are thirteen years old, you expect us to let you two go wandering off into a large city by yourself? Who knows what kind of trouble you'd get in. And after this wake up call, you won't be going anywhere for the rest of the holidays, that's for su-!"
Ginny was abruptly cut off as a tremendous crash came from downstairs, reverberating through the floor.
"That sounded like the fireplace" said Harry, and like a shot, he and Ginny were flying down the stairs before James or Fred even had time to blink.
"Ah well" said James. "At least we know how to get my mum and dad out of bed now".
"Mate, I don't even have that problem" said Fred smugly, laughing. "You just catch my parents when they're half awake, ask whatever you want and they'll say yes" he grinned.
"Oh shove off" was the playful reply, and the two boys sauntered off down the stairs to see what the commotion was about.
When they got down the stairs, it was to find Harry staring at the fireplace, and four strangely familiar figures staring back.
No one spoke for what seemed like an eternity.
"Uuuuh" began Sirius. "Prongs, isn't this your house? But, different?"
"Yes Padfoot, it is" replied James distractedly. He was still staring at the adult Harry in front of him. "You look very familiar" he questioned, puzzled as to what was going on.
"Well, I, that would be because…" but before Harry had time to finish his sentence, there was another almighty crash from the fireplace, and a whooshing sound filled the room followed by a massive cloud of dust that had everybody coughing.
When the room cleared, it revealed six teenagers, one with bushy brown hair, one with messy black hair, and four with strikingly bold red hair.
"Hang on dad, isn't that…?" began James.
"Me" Harry finished softly, awestruck.
