Thanks to everyone who is reading this...I have some rather...interesting plans for this story which I will edit myself as I go, so bear with my mistakes please. Thanks!

HOGWARTS 1997

"Professor McGonagall, we need to speak with the portrait!" Harry Potter said desperately to the new headmistress outside the office with his two friends. She looked down at them warily but nodded and waved them in.

"I need to go teach a class...I expect to find the room in the same condition it was left in, do you understand me?" The three friends nodded and dashed inside. Hermione Granger was reading off a checklist.

"Alright...we have one more to find...let's go over it...the diary."

"Check." Replied Ron Weasley.

"The ring." She read.

"Check."

"Hufflepuff's cup."

Check.

"The locket."

"Yep." Ron said, suppressing a yawn. Hermione looked pointedly at him and continued the succession.

"And finally...Nagini, the snake, who will have to be destroyed when we face Voldemort since he is never without her."

Harry grinned at his friends as they approached the wall of portraits in the headmaster's office. His decision to return to Hogwarts had been very wise indeed since most of the clues to the horcruxes were hidden within it's walls, not to mention, being able to talk to Dumbledore's portrait gave a bit of comfort though it wasn't really him, just a memory. The familiar silver beard and half moon spectacles sent a shiver of relief coursing through Harry as they neared it.

"Ah, Harry!" Dumbledore's voice came from the painting. He grinned.

"Professor, we found the locket! Or, the clue as to who destroyed it shall I say!" Harry said with pride in his eyes.

"I knew you would of course Harry! Who was it then?"

"Sirius's brother Regulus..." He said excitedly. Dumbledore nodded.

"I had my suspicions...what have you yet to destroy...?" He asked. Harry gulped looking at Hermione and Ron for support.

"The snake..."

"I see..." Dumbledore replied. "Well, then the final battle is imminent. Are you three ready for this?" They all nodded, Hermione instinctively grabbing Ron's arm. His hand found hers and squeezed it reassuringly.

"Love Harry...it's the most important weapon you have..." He nodded toward Harry's two best friends who were now in a relationship as it were. The smile however, left Dumbledore's face as he looked past Harry.

"What in the world..." He uttered as the other portraits grumbled in response and Harry followed his gaze to the desk where there appeared to be two ghosts clinging to each other. Hermione shrieked, grabbing Harry's arm as well.

"Who's there?" Harry called hesitantly. The female figure, still a bit blurry looked up at him, blinded by the sunlight streaming into the windows, her red hair gleaming. The male, looking very confused, tried to stop the female from moving toward the unfamiliar people. They were young, around Harry's age, and obviously frightened. They both became solid beings and looked around in wonder.

"Where are we?" She asked softly, looking at her companion and then at Harry and then back again the boy she'd come with before pushing him away from her.

"You're at Hogwarts." Hermione answered softly. The girl stared at her for a moment, taking in her clothes and hair. "You can't disapparate into Hogwarts...you can't...Professor..." The girl's eyes flitted to a calendar and around the office.

"What year is this?" The girl asked suddenly, and Harry forced himself to look away from her face to her foreign clothes.

"It's 1997...of course!" Ron said a bit irritated, making a face. "Are we related?" He asked the girl, pointing to his hair.

She shook her head.

"No...I don't know...what is your name?" She asked, eyeing him in fear.

"Ron...Ron Weasley..." He said and she laughed.

"Oh...no...the only Weasleys I know are Molly and Arthur...they have three boys. You must know them! Bill, Charlie and Percy, although she is pregnant again...I've seen them...are you a cousin?" Ron's mouth had dropped as he gaped at the girl who lost all color in her face.

"1997 did you say...oh...oh no..." She put her hand to her cheek and positively looked angry enough to burst. "Potter..." She growled. Harry put his hands up defensively.

"What? What did I do?"

The surprise was evident on the girl's face as well as the boy she'd come with.

"You're a Potter? I should have suspected...you look just like him!" She said, waving at the other boy irritably.

"Well, how in the bloody hell was I supposed to know what that thing did?" He asked, crossing his arms and peering down at her.

"Um...how about trying not to play with everything you touch? After all...I was the one doing all the work...and you were the one that got into trouble in the first place you sodding git!" Harry watched this scene trying to put the pieces together watching their row with fascination.

"I...I'm sorry...you're a Potter?" He asked the boy, who looked away from the girl long enough to look at Harry.

"For sure...best damn Chaser Gryffindor ever saw too..."

"And modest." The girl's dry voice came.

Harry's mouth dropped as he recognized the two of them from an accidental trip into someone's Pensieve.

"Your James Potter aren't you...?" He asked the boy who smiled at the recognition.

"Hey...yeah!" He said, throwing the girl a triumphant look. Harry turned to her.

"And y-you're..."

"Lily...Evans..." She said suspiciously. "And you are...?"

"Oh...uh...Harry. Harry Potter."

"I'm sorry," Hermione interrupted reluctantly, trying to regain some control over the situation, bizarre as it was. "But what year are you from?" Lily looked at her in confusion, realization dawning on her.

"1977...oh dear God...Potter! We've gone twenty years into the future..." She sank to sit on the ground cross legged. "I'm stuck...in the future with James Potter...could my life get any worse?" Ron's eyes widened as Hermione began to dig into her book bag..

"Hey Harry! Isn't your dad's name James?" Hermione made to shut him up but not before he'd said it. James's head snapped back toward Harry, Ron and Hermione.

"Sorry..." Ron said softly to Harry. Lily looked amused.

"Hey isn't that funny Potter...your son, I'm sure...you do look just like him, though your eyes are a bit different. James Potter...someone's father...that's a frightening concept."

Harry stared at his seventeen year old father in disbelief. Though it wasn't like having his parents sitting her in front of him even though they were, it was like having distant relatives like cousins or the like visit and it was uncomfortable. Especially given that they had no idea they'd end up married and have a baby...who incidentally would be him. They had no idea that they would die. That poor pretty girl had no idea she would one day lay down her life for her son. Yet, here they were, alive and fine and, well...bickering enough to challenge even Ron and Hermione.

"I need to speak with Professor Dumbledore...is he still here?" Lily asked the three who just gaped at her. Harry found his voice first.

"Actually, er...Lily...Professor Dumbledore was killed this past school year...his portrait is just over here though if you want to..." Lily's face dropped as had James's.

"He's dead?" James said quietly. The three friends nodded.

"But...who?" Lily asked in disbelief.

"Professor Snape." Harry bit out, unable to hide the bitterness. James and Lily looked at each other quickly before James let out a bit of a laugh and a cough.

"Professor Snape?" He said, raising an eyebrow at Harry. "As in, people let old Snivellus teach here?"

Instantly, Lily's hand had come to smack James's arm hard.

"Don't call him that!" She said indignantly as his eyes widened in disbelief.

"Evans...how can you defend him after the horrible things he said to you? He called you a...a...you know!"

"A Mudblood Potter, say the bloody word, that's all it is anyway! I know it wasn't my fault that I came from a Muggle family, and it wasn't my parents' fault that they had a daughter who just happened to be a witch!" A voice broke through the argument.

"Is that James Potter and Lily Evans I hear?" Dumbledore's voice came from the portrait. They both turned as the other three gaping teens moved aside so he could see them. "Ah...yes...so this is where you got off to just before...oh nevermind...the point is you're hear and I see you found my time turner Mr. Potter." The portrait Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling, giving Harry a small sense of relief.

"I...uh...oh this? Yeah." James said in defeat, looking over at the boy who looked so like him for help.

"It's okay..." Harry said with an encouraging smile. "We'll just get you up to Gryffindor tower and get some food before we try to figure this whole mess out. You can borrow some of my clothes and I am sure Hermione could loan...Lily...some of hers." Harry had to pause when calling his Mum by her first name. Especially since the girl hadn't the foggiest idea who she was to him.

"Excellent idea Harry...take Lily and James up to your dormitories...we'll talk later. I'm not going anywhere."


"So," Hermione began, all business. "Here are some pajamas and a dressing gown...thankfully Hogwarts robes haven't changed." All of the teens were gathered in the seventh years girls' dormitory which was thankfully, empty. Lily's eyes averted and a smile came to her face.

"You've read Hogwarts: A History?" She asked incredulously. Hermione looked at the girl, surprised.

"Yes...of course, it's surely been revised since 1977 but nonetheless..." She threw a triumphant look at Ron. "You see Ronald, other people care about that book!" Ron was ready to retort when James raised an eyebrow at the bushy haired girl.

"Yeah well...old Evans here isn't like most people." He quipped and Lily positively glared at him.

"Was that supposed to be your pathetic excuse at a compliment, because it didn't work." She said and huffed off to sit on Hermione's bed.

"Look you two...Dad...er...James..." Harry stuttered. "I know you don't like each other much...but we have to work together to figure out how to get you back."

"Time turners aren't supposed to go forward...Professor McGonagall told me third year...she said time is one of the most dangerous things you could ever deal with! It's why the ministry destroyed all the remaining ones fifth year..." Hermione said looking extremely worried as she flipped through one of her library books. She sighed. "I think we're going to have to look in the Restricted Section of the library for this." Harry nodded.

"I'll get out the Invisibility Cloak tonight." He replied, chancing a glance at his father who looked mildly surprised then realized.

"Oh...yeah...it's mine, huh?" Lily punched his arm.

"You stupid prat...you left your kid a tool that would get him into trouble?"

James looked at Lily incredulously.

"How the devil should I know? I haven't even lived it yet..." A mischievous look came into his hazel eyes. "So then...I get married right...?" He asked Harry. Extremely uncomfortable and hesitantly he nodded.

"I'll bet she's a real looker eh?" He said hopefully. Harry almost had to laugh at how much his Dad reminded him of Ron. Looking at Lily, who was now sitting beside Hermione and flipping through Hogwarts: A History.

"Yeah...you could definitely say that..." Harry said in response. Lily bit her lip looking up at him, curiousity getting the better of her.

"Was it one of our schoolmates? Do I know your Mum?" Harry had to hold back a grin as he looked at Ron who was pretending to inspect the wrinkles on Hermione's bedspread.

"Yeah...I think you just may..." Harry said with a nervous laugh.