I'm changing the times around a bit so that Harry was in fifth year at 2012, because the Doctor's general 'present day' is modern and I really don't feel like doing research on the sixties/seventies. (When the Marauders were alive.)
In the past few minutes, Harry had learned a few things about time travel…
Traveling into personal timelines was strictly forbidden. (Except for cheap tricks.)
The physics behind it were amazingly simple, according to James. However, no matter how many times he heard his father explain it, Harry couldn't make sense of the idea. (Although judging by the exasperated look on Lily's face, the confused one on Ron's, and the frustrated one on Hermione's, he wasn't the only one.)
Never stand next to Sirius when the Tardis is going, because he gets terribly space-sick.
Harry clung on to the one of the gold pillars in the control room as the strange blue box whirled around in the time stream. James was leaping around the console, pushing buttons and pulling levers with seemingly no idea what he was doing. After another tremor knocked everyone to his or her feet, Hermione cried, "Are you absolutely certain you can drive this thing?!"
"Of course!" James said, straightening up, looking indignant. "And even if I couldn't, the old girl's smart enough to get around herself. I'm just parking her in space so we can have a real talk."
Harry raised an eyebrow. "You make it sound like this thing is alive."
A tinkling sound, much like laughter, filled the room. "Let's not talk about it being alive," Ron said. "Please?"
The jolts and pitches of the ship stopped just as suddenly as they started. Remus stood up and turned to Ron. "Well, if you don't want to talk about Prongs' weird need to anthropomorphize his spaceship—"
"Hey!"
"—Then let's all answer some questions instead," he finished.
Later, they were all sitting around a table in another room that seemed to be the kitchen, though it was strangely devoid of any food. Sirius leaned forward with a determined look on his face. "Right, then," he said. "Who exactly are you?"
"Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Ginny Weasley, and Harry Potter," Hermione said quickly. "And before we say anything else, I'd like to point out that we are also from the future and revealing anything to you four could possibly change the course of history and screw up everything that we all know—"
"Whoa!" Sirius leaned back and held his hands forward. "Slow down. Rewind. That is waaaaaaay too many words for me to deal with all at once. We've already got someone who doesn't know when to shut up. CoughProngsCough."
"Oh, really?" James said lazily, reclining in his seat. "If my memory serves correctly, Padfoot, you are the one who seems to have been born with no filter between your brain and your mouth. I think you just bark to hear your own voice."
"Well, at least I actually say things that make sense, instead of scientific mumbo-jumbo that no one on Earth will ever understand—"
"Can't you two see how pointless this argument is?" Lily said, rolling her eyes. "You're both idiots, now be quiet!"
Displaying more of the amazing maturity the Marauders were known for, Sirius and James stuck their tongues out at each other. Harry had to bite his own to keep from laughing.
Suddenly James sprang from his seat and stared at Harry. "Wait a moment. Did you say your name was Harry Potter? As in, the British wizarding family?"
Harry felt his stomach sink in dread. "Yes…" he said cautiously.
Sirius promptly burst out laughing. "You're kidding me! Stop the presses, the Doctor has procreated! Let me guess—Lily's the mother?" He paused and frowned. "Or does your species reproduce asexually? No wait, I think I've got it—you're actually a female and have been in disguise all this time because of the differences in our culture."
James glared at Sirius. "No," he hissed. "My species does not reproduce asexually, and I. Am. Not. A. Girl." He looked back at Harry with his eyebrows raised. "You're not from the Yuleiana Galaxy, are you?"
Harry stared at him. "Um, no."
James sighed in relief. "Thank God." Then he suddenly sprang around to the other side of the room and ran out the door. When everyone caught up with him, he was holding on to the console grinning madly. "Right then!" he announced, suddenly looking deliriously happy. "Welcome to the Tardis, Harry Potter, possible future relative, and all the rest of you. Judging by your outfits and the date in that fellow's rucksack"—he pointed to Ron—"I'd say you're from London, England, 20th century, specifically, Grimmauld Place in 2012. Sirius's family house! Why on Earth would you go there? Never mind, it's not important. What is important is that apparently I have a new relative who could possibly be my son—although I doubt it because I would have at least taught you advanced triple-parallel physics by now, honestly, you humans are so behind on refined sciences it's not even funny." He vaulted over a very strange-looking bench and started typing rapidly on a keyboard hanging from one of the wires. With his long coat, wild hair, lopsided glasses, and positively manic grin, James Potter looked rather like a mad scientist.
Hermione slowly backed away.
Harry, however, approached the teen (now talking excitedly to Remus about something on the screen) more concerned with his way of speaking than his appearance. "Wait," he said, staring at James. "That's the second time you said something about humans—as though…you're not…"
Ron burst out laughing. "Oh, right, are you some kind of time-traveling alien?"
James turned and looked at the group. "Yeah," he said, shrugging. "I am."
Harry stared at his father in disbelief. "But—you look human…"
James leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, looking rather amused. "Need proof?" He offered his arm to Ginny. "Take my pulse."
She grabbed hold of his wrist. After a few seconds, her face went to confused to shocked. She dropped James's hand and stared at him. "But I—you—oh my God—"
"What! What is it?" Hermione asked.
"There were four beats," Ginny said frantically. "Two pulses."
"Four beats, two pulses, two hearts," James said pleasantly.
"And I still can't get him to watch anything romantic with me!" Lily called from the console.
"You've got two hearts!" Ginny said, clearly freaking out. "You're an alien. A real, proper alien! How the hell did nobody know that James Potter was a bloody Martian!?"
James looked at her, insulted. "I'm not a Martian!"
"Well, what are you?" Harry asked, less bothered and more curious about this news than expected.
James straightened up proudly. "I told you, a Time Lord. From the planet Gallifrey. Orange sky, red grass, absolutely lovely silver trees, although I would stay out of the chemistry labs, they tended to get a little unstable—"
All of a sudden, the Tardis jerked to the right. A whirring noise sounded throughout the room. Sirius looked at the console with some puzzlement. "Prongs, is that light supposed to be glowing red?"
James's eyes widened as he bent down to inspect the screen next to the button. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no!" he chanted before looking up. "You seriously couldn't at least wait until we'd all gotten introduced?" he yelled.
"What's this? What's happened?" Hermione cried, frightened.
"Apparently, the Tardis got bored and decided to take us all along for a little trip. She's tricky like that. Never really takes you where you want to go!" James cried. The Tardis tinkled in response. He rolled his eyes. "All right!"
Lily looked curiously at the Tardis doors. "Where are we going?"
James strode over to them, flinging them open and looking about before closing them again. He turned around and flashed an excited smile at the group. "How would you all like to meet Socrates?"
…Aaaaaaaannnnnd that's another chapter done. They'll get longer, I promise, but this was such a good ending point I'd thought I 'd stop here.
Next time! What awaits the Doctor and his friends in Ancient Greece? How will Harry cope with being half alien? Will Sirius ever learn to speak with the use of his brain? All will be revealed!
