Chapter 2: Padfoot's Panic attack
Bill toppled backwards as the soil in front of him caved in on itself.
"What the…" Bill whispered, he then got up and looked in on the hole before him; two coffins had their lids torn off, but surprisingly to Bill, there was no one inside of them. A flash of red light behind him shone for a moment then went and he looked up to see a house across from him that had a gaping hole in the side of it. Bill already knew what house that was; he brushed his himself off of soil and slowly walked up to The Potter's house.
Closing the door behind him, Bill took a deep breath and looked around the hallway, pictures of family and a few of Harry as well where neatly hanging on the wall. Bill gave a weak smile as he put a portrait down of baby Harry Potter that was smiling and trying to grasp the camera. After wondering around the living room and kitchen he decided to look upstairs. As he climbed up he saw a foot wobbling slightly at the top, Bill froze, he pulled his wand out and slowly climbed the last few steps.
"Bloody hell" Bill gasped, there in front of him with his eyes closed was James Potter about the same age as him, he looked asleep more than dead. Bill noticed how much Harry looked like his father; a small breeze caught Bill on the side of his head, a door was open at the end of the landing, Bill cautiously headed towards the room. As he entered he saw a cot with teddy bears inside of it, moving pictures of cartoon wizards and witches on the wall and toys where sprawled across the floor, he also saw a small broom propped up against a cupboard. Moonlight flooded through a hole in the wall that looked across to the graveyard. Bill saw a woman not much younger than him with red hair lying slumped against the cot.
"Lily Potter" Bill said, but then noticing something very, very strange, small breathing noises came from the body of Lily Potter. Bill who was now officially freaked out conjured a chair from his wand and sat down; he was staring at the 'breathing' body of Lily Potter.
'Breathing? No, must be something else?' Bill thought, then a loud groan made him jump up, his wand pointed at the door; a few seconds later he saw James Potter stagger through the door he was pale, his glasses askew and his messy black hair waved on movement.
"Lily?" James muttered and ran over to his wife, Bill felt slightly odd as James did not even look at him.
"Lily!" James shouted and he shook her; Bill stepped backwards but knocked into a toy that made a popping sound, James looked up, his expression was a mixture of fear and anger.
"WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY WIFE AND I?!" James roared at Bill who was now shaking, James stood up and launched himself at Bill; he grabbed him around the collar and stared into his.
"I…I'm Bill Weasley" Bill stuttered.
"Weasley?" James muttered, slightly loosening his grip on Bill.
"Y…ye…yes" Bill felt like running and jumping out of the hole in the wall but James watched him like a hawk.
"I didn't know Voldemort had a Weasley on his side, slightly obvious that his Death Eaters have caused this mess?" James said, his eyebrows raised, Bill stared at the man in front of him.
"I'm not with Voldemort? I…I've just come from Hogwarts after talking to Dumbledore!" Bill said quickly.
"Have you? Have you seen Sirius and Remus around here, I bet they will want to know what has happened to us….by the way what did happen to us? One moment I was playing with Harry the next I found myself laying at the top of the stairs…" James released Bill, who then fixed his collar; James looked around at his wife then into the cot to look at his son, Bill shifted his weight slightly as the look of terror found itself onto James's face.
"HARRY" he screamed
"Where's my son?" James looked around the room thinking that his son would just crawl towards him.
"Bill, where is my son!?"
"At Hogwarts..." Bill replied
James froze, and his head snapped to Bill.
"Why is my 1 year old son at Hogwarts?"
Bill thought for a moment; how was he to explain to the alive and terrified James Potter that is son was now nearly 15 years old and that he just fought Voldemort.
"Well…!" James screamed, this brought Bill back to reality; but before Bill could reply a voice called from in front of the cot.
"James? What happened, why is there a hole in Harry's room and who is he…?" There slowly rubbing her head was Lily Potter, James flew towards her, hugged her, and kissed his wife on her head and then held her at arm's length.
"That is Bill Weasley who is a friend of Dumbledore's and I have no idea what happened here, I only woke up a few minutes ago!" James said ruffling his hands in his messy black hair. Lily looked at Bill; she narrowed her eyes at him.
Bill gave a little wave at her trying to put a smile on his face but it turned out to be more of a grimace.
"Harry's at Hogwarts!" James said, Lily looked at him and turned around to look into Harry's cot.
"Why?" she said looking back at her husband, he pointed at Bill and said.
"No idea, he was about to say something then you woke up"
Bill felt anxious; the two people who were dead less than an hour ago were looking at him with pure terror.
"Err…I don't think I am the best person to tell you what happened here, however I can take you to Sirius if you like?" Bill said straightening his jacket, the two Potters looked at Bill suspiciously but then nodded; they followed Bill downstairs, out of the front door and into the chilly night sky.
"Side-along Apperition" Bill said holding his arms out for James and Lily; the two Potter's held onto Bill tightly and Bill turned on the spot.
With a crack the three people appeared at 12 Grimmauld Place's front door; James and Lily looked up at the house.
"Why are we at Sirius's old house?" James asked, Bill waved his wand and the door slowly opened, he turned to Bill and put his index finger to his lips, James and Lily nodded and they stepped over the threshold. As they slowly walked down the hallway he looked up at some curtains.
"Loud bugger" He said quietly, they had come to a wooden door that said 'living Room' on it and knocked.
"Come in" said a raspy voice, James's eyes widened and went to open the door to see his best friend, but Bill put a hand in front of him.
"I'll call you, don't talk to loudly in here and don't knock anything over" Bill told them and he entered the room.
He saw Sirius in an armchair with a bottle of Mead next to him; his eyes were puffy and red.
"Oh, hello Bill, what are you doing here?" Sirius said wiping his eyes which just made them redder; Bill thought for a moment and went to sit in the armchair across from Sirius.
"Is Harry alright?" Sirius asked quickly.
"He is getting better, a few scrapes and bruises but nothing that Madam Pomfrey couldn't handle, however mentally he has a lot to get over" Bill explained, taking the bottle of Mead from Sirius and having a swig.
"I bet, poor lad, been through a lot recently" Sirius slumped further down his armchair; Bill heard a few faint shuffles outside the door and looked at Sirius who clearly didn't hear them.
"I have actually came here for another reason Sirius, something a bit more 'happier', well depends on how you take it, however when I ask the people who are currently outside this room to come in I want you to stay sitting down" Bill said with a forced smile, Sirius eyed Bill, then waved his hand to let him go on and then looked into the empty fireplace.
"Err…alright…well, yeah. You can come in now!" Bill shouted. The door opened and slowly, looking nervous, James and Lily walked in, they walked up to Sirius's armchair.
"Hi Padfoot" James said smiling down at his best friend as if he had only saw him yesterday, Lily grinned as well; Sirius however choked on thin air as he heard James's voice.
Sirius looked at Bill for a split second who gave a guilty smile, then slowly turned to look at James. Whatever James and Lily were expecting this was not what they had in mind; Sirius had fallen out of his armchair and was crawling quickly backwards towards Bill.
"What the hell is going on Bill?" Sirius gasped
"You think this some kind of funny joke?"
Bill looked down at Sirius who was now red with anger and then at the two startled Potters.
"N…no?" Bill whispered.
"Then why on earth are two people who look like my godson's dead parents in my house and looking at me with startled expressions?" Sirius growled, Lily whimpered.
"D-dead? We aren't dead Sirius, we have just come from our house in Godric's Hollow, Bill brought us here to explain why we woke up there with a hole in one of our rooms and why Harry…" Lily stopped for a second
"…and why is a Hogwa-" she didn't finish as James had cut in.
"Hang on Lily, there's something odd about Sirius, he looks slightly different, I can't put my finger on it though" James said, tilting his head slightly at Sirius, Bill could hear the bounding of Sirius's heart.
"Sirius, what has happened to you, you look like you have just had a few years put onto you…?" James asked and Bill looked up.
'Uh oh, this is when things get a bit scary' he thought.
Sirius fell back into his armchair, and then he slowly put his hands through his black long hair.
"14 years…" He mumbled
"Sorry, I didn't hear you" James replied, Sirius then got to his feet, grabbed James by both of his shoulders and started shaking him, his eyes poured with tears.
"14 YEARS, 14 LONG BLOODY YEARS AND THEN ONE DAY YOU TURN UP AT MY HOUSE, ALIVE AND KICKING AND ACTING LIKE YOU ONLY SAW ME YESTERDAY" Sirius shouted, Bill now put his hands through his hair.
Lily clasped her hands to her mouth.
"What do you mean by 14 years and 'alive and kicking'?" Lily said in a soft tone, Sirius stopped shaking James who stumbled getting his balance back.
"You died in that house, I saw you both dead on the floor and Harry not knowing what has just happened was giggling as he saw me enter, then Hagrid came and took Harry to your sister's place…" Sirius said moaning, a few dog like whimpers added to the moans.
"W…what?" James and Lily said together as they watched Sirius cry, his long hair wet with tears; Bill felt slightly out of place now.
"14 YEARS!" Sirius screamed, he then lowered his voice into a forced soft raspy tone.
"I hunted down Petigrew knowing after that, that he had told Voldemort where you were…we shouldn't have made him your Secret Keeper" growled Sirius; he paced the room, James and Lily hanging onto every word that came out of his mouth.
"…That little rodent…I finally cornered him in street, then the little bugger shouted for everyone to hear 'WHY SIRIUS, JAMES AND LILY, YOUR BEST FRIEND?!', he then sliced his own finger off and blew the whole bloody street up, Muggles everywhere all dead, a few came out of shops wandering what had happened; I however saw the bastard turn into the rat and scarper down into the sewers…As the Ministry arrived and saw me standing there with Petigrew's finger in my hand they stunned me instantly, I was put into Azkaban without a trial…" Sirius finished and breathed heavily.
"Wormtail…told Voldemort where we were?" James said with a croak, Sirius just nodded.
"…and you were sent to Azkaban for nothing?" Lily asked; Bill looked between Sirius and the Potters.
"12 years I was in there for, until I broke out two years ago and went after Petigrew, who again got away" Sirius said, his tears had stopped and now he was frowning at his feet.
"However I am not going into that now, we have much bigger things to sought out" Sirius said looking up at James and Lily, a quivering smile on his face; he then turned to Bill.
"How did this happen, how are they even here?" Sirius asked Bill.
"I don't really know to be honest, I found myself at Godric's Hollow, and my mind kind of took over, the next thing I realise is that I'm muttering something in Latin I think over James and Lily's grave and BAM, their graves are empty; I saw a red flash of light coming from their house and went to have a look…and the rest is standing in front of you now" Bill explained his head felt light, he took another swig of Mead.
"14 years" murmured Lily who had tears on her cheeks.
"I want to see our son" demanded James, ruffling his hair again and glared at Bill and Sirius.
At that moment the door had opened and Remus Lupin looking pale walked in, everyone turned to see him, Remus froze and went even paler, his mouth opened a jar and his eyes widened as they looked from Bill and Sirius to James and Lily.
"Oh bugger" Sirius said, he ran towards Remus, he then held Remus's arms in place making sure he didn't collapse or try to attack.
Remus stared at James and Lily then looked at Sirius who was holding him.
"Remus…Moony mate, before you start to…well question everything you see, sit down and have a drink"