Chapter One

Vials and Precious Stones

Speechless, he stared at what could only be an apparition standing in front of him. He tried to say something if only in order to confirm to himself if he were dreaming but all that he could manage to say was: "W-what...?!" and then, "I don't understand..." He almost blurted out, 'but you're supposed to be dead,' until he realized, as it dawned slowly, so was he. So what was happening here?

The green eyed witch who stood before him looked just as surprised as he. Unlike his gaping self, however, she smiled sweetly, the smile looking the same as he remembered it from when they were young.

"I...I'm just as confused as you," she flustered.

Severus Snape continued to gaze into Lily's soft green eyes, still at a complete loss for words. This simply did not make sense. He had long ago resigned himself to believing he would never be looking into her eyes again, never mind standing in her presence. It had been years and he had mourned over her, her loss had been so great to him and he had never quite recovered, if truth be told.

But now...was he dreaming? There had been the Whomping Willow, then Nagini, the Dark Lord's snake, who had...and then the swirling of time and thoughts mingled with–something else, voices, events spilling over his mind and vision...

"I have a feeling I know what's happened," he said suddenly.

"Why not enlighten me then?"

"...your son..." He walked over to the nearby table and noticed a few objects lying about. He then examined a vial and held it up to the light coming from a nearby lantern, then took off the stopper to sniff the liquid.

Lily was watching his face when she asked, "Well?"

He brought it over to her. Taking the vial from him as he offered it to her, she sniffed it too, and instantly understanding dawned.

Their eyes met, and they both said at the same time, "But I thought that..."

Jinx. Neither one said it aloud, but they muffled the attempt to giggle, feeling quite silly.

"I don't suppose they would have been foolish enough to leave the stone about as well," he muttered softly. And then he added thoughtfully, "I should have known better than to have believed that Albus would have actually...destroyed it. I wonder now if we should expect to see James walking through the door."

As if his words triggered this, they heard the door open, and their heads snapped in the direction of the door. Two guilty looking young adults entered the room.

"Oh...well, I guess you are awake now...we were hoping to be here before then," Hermione spoke.

Harry was staring at the woman before him, the woman whom he knew to be his mother, as they had just revived her—and of course, he had recognized her because of all those years spent staring at the pictures of her, wishing he could see her in person—, but now as she was standing here before him, he could not help but find himself staring at her the way Severus had done only moments before. He did not look as surprised as Severus had felt, but surprised all the same.

"Mother..." Harry said breathlessly.

Lily's eyes bore into his identical green ones. "Harry...what have you done? Your father—?"

"No, no—he can't make it—er, that is, I mean—" Harry started.

"Yes, well, apparently he is still in some other realm...it's difficult to explain," said Hermione.

"We used the elixir to revive you after we went back to the events that killed the both of you with The Time Turner."

"Ahhh, so you have been up to more than a little mischief. Philosopher's Stone and The Time Turner," Severus sneered. "Well, that should earn you some time in Azkaban."

Hermione looked fearful at that, but she quickly said, "Well, it wasn't really our doing—entirely, that is—"

Without warning, the door opened again, and the doorway was filled with the presence of a long blue robe and a white flowing beard.

"Well, I see that all the usual suspects are now present."

Another wave of shock rushed through Severus, and he eyed Albus Dumbledore warily. "Something tells me you are behind all of this."

Simultaneously, Harry and Hermione said, "No—well actually—it wasn't really—"

"I must take full responsibility here, Harry, Miss Granger, as you know this could not have been done without my assistance."

Severus and Lily both turned from the younger chorus back to Dumbledore with growing apprehension and concern.

"Somebody please tell us what is going on here," said Lily.

"Well...the good news is, it's not about Voldemort," Dumbledore smiled ironically, his blue eyes twinkling from behind his half moon spectacles.

Severus cleared his throat. "Are we to assume that we now have a new nemesis?"

At that moment, a knock at the door was heard, and Harry and Hermione both jumped at the same time, exchanging worried expressions.

"Let me guess, that would be the third member of your trio?" Snape snapped sarcastically.

Harry and Hermione both looked very skittish. "Um..."

Dumbledore opened the door confidently. "Ah, yes. Right on time Ron and—Edwardis it?"

As the two young men entered the room, everyone was aware of a distinct subtle smell of what seemed like apple pie.

"Mm...what's that smell?" Hermione asked.

"Mm, yeah, it smells like freshly baked apple pie," Harry offered.

Ron and 'Edward' looked at each other, strangely uncomfortably,

"...smell?" asked Edward slowly.

"...I don't smell anything," Ron mumbled.

"So what took you guys so long?" asked Harry.

Edward scowled. "It was hisfault."

"Was not!" Ron exclaimed indignantly. "I was willing to wait until Mum returned from Josie's, but it was his idea to sample the pie!"

"How was I supposed to know that there was a spell on the apples?!" Edward returned defensively. "Maybe it's because she doesn't trust her own son. I mean, I wouldn't trust you!"

"What kind of manners do they teach you in your world? Do you just go in and help yourself to your host's food?!"

"Well we're here now so, that's all that matters," Edward responded with a bitter expression.

"...what exactly did happen with Mrs. Weasley's mischief keeping spell?" Hermione asked carefully.

Ron and his fellow conspirator looked at each other uncomfortably while they both absent-mindedly rubbed their own posteriors.

"We were trying to un-stick our bums from each other—"

"Heads together, heads—idiot! We were trying to put our heads together!" Edward raged while furiously turning a bright red.

"Right! Heads together, I meant to say." Now Ron's face turned as red as Edward's, and it clashed with his hair.

"Oh get on with it!" Hermione said impatiently.

"...and now we're here," Edward said by way of explanation, leaving the obvious elephant to be ignored.

"Which way did you take to get here? The Floo Network or the back of a broken broom?" Hermione waspishly inquired.

"We're not that late," Ron said, recovering. "It's not like we had The Time Turner you know. We just had a slight detour."

"Sounds like it! Or should I say, smells like it? Let me guess, a spot of Mrs. Weasley's apple pie backfire on you?" but Hermione quickly moved on from there. "But more importantly—you do have it, don't you?"

Ron looked confused. "...it?"

"Yes, we have it." Edward reached into his coat pocket and pulled out something that looked like a magnifying glass.

"Now this is all very interesting, I'm sure, but you have dragged us back among the living, and we do hope for more worthwhile matters than sticky pies and teenage shenanigans," said Snape, with a condescending look.

"Let's go to my office so that we may discuss what each one of us knows," suggested Dumbledore. "Oh, and Harry, I believe we have an appointment with a memory."

At which point Snape, seeming slightly miffed and irritated, remarked, "I'm glad I've offered my participation in these plans..." But he then turned to Lily. "Although, this is a very interesting turn of events...but not exactly altogether un-welcomed."

AN:

First of all, yes, I'm still working on my other stories. However, I've been working very hard over the last few months, balancing high school, social issues, family issues, and writing. I am even toying with the idea of starting an original story, too. I've been pretty busy, keeping everything in check! Keep in mind that I can't write super duper fast like I used to! (Yes, there is a time when that actually happened.)

I also can only take half credit for this story. My mother (you may address her as "Electra") and I are in this together. Our minds work brilliantly when together, and she is the most amazing writing partner I have ever worked with. I'm so glad to have a mom who appreciates writing just as much as I do. Go Mom! (=D

Also, for those of you who have not finished the last book of Harry Potter and/or have not finished the original series of Fullmetal Alchemist (if you haven't seen the FMA movie, don't worry, the events of the movie are completely ignored...and I guess, to an extent, you can call this a different version of the movie), I would not read this if you hate spoilers. There will be millions of them. Trust me. We've got thirty pages of rough drafts so far...I don't think I'm exaggerating too much here. We probably won't warn you when they come up either, since there are so many that we can't even keep track of them all anymore. =P

And to those I have not emailed/edited for in a while...again, I'm sorry. I'm so busy right now, it's driving me insane!

Well, I hope you've enjoyed! Read and review! Feel free to ask questions if you're confused too! We might answer them!

One more thing...I know the cover we have is not the actual Philosopher's Stone, but we couldn't find a good picture of it, so we had to look for something else. Lol, we'll fix it eventually. You'll just have to ignore it for now. ^^; The picture is also not ours, and if the owner finds it and wants us to site the links of where we found it, you may let us know, owner...

Well, goodbye! Hope you enjoyed!