"Is something wrong Ms. Evans?" Minerva McGonagall asked Lily Evans. The girl had just been complaining to the Transfiguration Professor and Deputy Head Mistress about the appointment of the new Head Boy, James Potter when she suddenly stopped and began looking all over
"I heard something, Professor." The Head Girl answered, still looking all over at the empty, or so the Professor thought, corner.
"It's probably just Peeves, causing more trouble." The girl shrugged her shoulders and the two continued walking to the Great Hall. "I'm sure the Sorting has already occurred, we have to hurry up. Now back to our discussion. I might not agree with Professor Dumbledore either, but…" The two had walked out of earshot of the people occupying the corner. They all let out a breath that they didn't know they were holding.
"Now do you see why we have to go to Dumbledore's office? What if one of our feet was sticking out, or something, and she saw it? We would be screwed." James whispered urgently to his sister, praying that all the other inhabitants of the castle were celebrating the Welcoming Feast.
"Fine, fine, fine. But can we take a look in the Hall, just to see them?" Lily pleaded, or as best as she could plead while trying to whisper and not get down on her knees. Albus was the one to answer.
"As much as we'd all love to see them again," he paused, and looked towards the doors into the Great Hall, as if wishing he was there too, "we can't risk being seen. Besides, we rode all the way up here with the Marauders." Lily rolled her eyes, about to open her mouth to argue, but thought better of it. The feast was probably almost over anyway, and she thought that they might get risked being trampled if they went now.
"Well, let's go to the Headmaster's office then, there's nothing else to do." Albus stated confidently, but then he looked around the corridor and a puzzled expression spread across his face. "Where is his office anyway?" Albus was the type of student that didn't get in trouble much, and when he did it was nothing the Headmaster had to deal with. James also looked confused. On the other hand, Lily was smirking; she had been to that office many a time.
"Follow me boys." She said and pointed which direction they had to go. She muttered in a joking tone, "Do I have to do everything around here?" The two followed her for a bit until Albus spoke up.
"Wait, before we go any further. Do we tell him who we are?"
"Why wouldn't we?" Lily answered.
"Well, if we tell Dumbledore we might change the future."
"But, we need his help."
"We don't have to tell him what happens, like with dad and everything. We'll just tell him who we are, and who our grandparents are." James said after some thought. The other two agreed and continued to the office.
The siblings continued the walk to the Dumbledore's office, still under the cloak. They could tell from the noises behind them that the students were now heading to their common rooms. The three stopped right in front of the gargoyle guarding the office and Albus whipped the cloak off. James walked up to the statue and studied it.
"How the hell do we get in?" James questioned, still looking at the statue.
"We tell it the password, obviously." Lily answered.
James gave her a look, "I'm not stupid." At this Albus let out a very loud and fake cough. James ignored him and continued. "But we don't know the password." He looked from one sibling to the other, waiting for an answer.
"Maybe if we ask nicely, it will let us in." Albus said to no one in particular, and walked over to the statue. Lily looked at him like he was stupid. "Could we please go into the Headmaster's office? It's really important."
"Oh yeah, because if you ask nicely, you-" Lily's sentence was cut short as the gargoyle jumped away from the entrance and revealed the moving staircase. Albus looked triumphantly at James and Lily and jumped on the stairs. Lily and James just shrugged their shoulders and jumped onto the staircase as well.
Albus had waited for them at the door, and James knocked on the door.
"Come in." Someone from inside replied. The siblings opened the door and entered. The calm face of Albus Dumbledore looked up at them. He had a quizzical expression on his face. The Professor put down the quill he had been writing with and studied the three siblings. The only noise that could be heard in the room was the whirring of one of the many instruments in Dumbledore's office.
"Well since no one else feels like talking, I guess I'll introduce all of us." Lily said, breaking the silence. She pointed to herself, "I'm Lily Potter," She then gestured to Albus, and that's Albus Potter." Lily could have sworn she saw Dumbledore's smile widen when he heard the first name. "That over there" she said pointing to her oldest brother, "is James Potter. We're all siblings," Lily finished and looked to Dumbledore.
"Very interesting." He said, looking the siblings up and down. "I wonder, any relation to a certain James Potter." Lily couldn't help but roll her eyes. No, it's a complete coincidence, she thought.
"Yes, he's our grandfather." Albus answered; with much less sarcasm then Lily could have managed. The Headmaster nodded his head. "You have obviously traveled in time, do you know how far? The year is 1977." James quickly did the math in his head, and answered Dumbledore.
"45 years, we're from the year 2022."
"How extraordinary. Now, do you have any idea how you came to time travel?"
"That's what we were hoping you would help us answer."
"Of course, of course." The Headmaster stood up from his chair and walked around to the front of his desk, moving closer to the three siblings. His eyes strayed for a moment on the Slytherin crest on Albus's robes. He addressed Albus this time. "What year are you three in?"
"Lily is in fifth sir, I'm a sixth year, and James is a seventh year." Albus responded.
"Albus is a prefect, and I'm a Head Boy. Well I guess we were supposed to at least." James added.
"And what about you Miss Potter, no Prefect's badge?" Professor Dumbledore asked, addressing the youngest sibling.
"Let's just say I take after my grandfather in the rule-following department." Lily smiled and shrugged her shoulders. The professor's eyed twinkled at her answer, and he nodded his head.
"Now, I have one more question to ask, and then I will try and figure out how to send you back. We're you holding or using anything with magical properties recently?" The three siblings looked at each other, almost communicating without words. They were all thinking of what would happen to the Marauders if their map was found out. They all nodded.
"We were on the Express, sir. There must be a lot of magic floating around the train." Lily answered without faltering. She was the best at lying. She had a lot of practice. The Headmaster's calm eyes seemed to be boring into Lily's brown ones, but she didn't shift her gaze. She wasn't lying, just not telling the whole truth. He nodded his head and moved back behind his desk. He fingered his wand and looked at Albus.
"I will study the matter for now though, I'm afraid we'll have to change you appearance, you look extremely like the elder James." He then shifted his gaze to James and Lily. "Should anything be changed about you two, maybe the red hair?" the Professor asked, with mirth written across his face. He obviously wasn't stupid when it came to guessing parentage or this time it was grand parentage.
"That would probably be a good idea. I think I'm fine though, I look more like the other side of the family." James answered.
The Professor pointed his wand at Albus. His hair turned to the color of James's hair, only a little darker. His eyes turned hazel and his face became more round. Then he directed it towards Lily, and her long red hair changed to a dark brown.
"Now, I would prefer if you three were to stay hidden from the student population, but what do you think" Dumbledore stated after putting his wand down.
"But professor, what if we go back, and it's November in our time? We would be behind in so much work." James responded, before win king at Albus and Lily. Lily couldn't be prouder of her brother for coming up with something so fast, even if he put a reason for school in it.
"Yes well then, a second James Potter or someone named Lily Potter might cause a little tension, at least from certain people." He smirked and then continued, "So I suggest we change your names. You could all stay siblings, though. You can be John, Allen, and Lucy Parker."
Lily couldn't hide her grin. Professor Dumbledore was going to let them out of here. They were going to meet the Marauders!
"Yes, that's fine." Albus responded, also trying and failing to conceal a smile. He looked at James, he wasn't even trying. The Headmaster left his seat and walked over to the phoenix, Fawkes. He whispered something into his ear and the bird disappeared.
"We have to make this as convincing as possible. I have called Ms. Evans and Mr. Potter, our Head Girl and Boy to show you the Gryffindor Common Room. The Slytherin seventh year prefect, Mr. Snape, will show you the Slytherin Common Room, Allen. While you are here, act like you have never seen the castle before." Professor Dumbledore walked over to the trio, and whispered his last instructions. "My last request, tell no one of what has yet to happen in this time. It could change your entire future."
"Yes sir, not a peep." Albus said and mimicked zipping his lips. The other two nodded their agreement. There was a knock at the door, and all four inhabitants of the room looked towards it. The Headmaster moved towards his chair
"Come in." Dumbledore instructed once he was seated. The door opened and three teenagers entered the office.
The first had a pale face and greasy black hair. The badge on his robes said that he was a Slytherin prefect. The expression on his face looked like he had gone through hell and back, just being with the people behind him. The next teenager to enter was a girl with red hair the same color that Lily had possessed just a minute ago. She looked almost as upset as the first boy, but her face was red with anger. You could almost imagine steam poring from her ears. She had a Head Girl badge pinned to her chest. The last to enter was taller than all the rest, and he had the opposite of expression as the first. His eyes were stuck on the girl, which might have been why she was so mad. Lily almost gasped, he looked just like Albus. She also noticed the way his hair stuck up, it was exactly how her two brother's hair looked. Now, however, it was a different color.
"Thank you all for coming. I'd like to introduce out Head Girl. Lily Evans." HE gestured to the red haired girl. She smiled, but her expression did not soften much. The Headmaster then moved to the last boy to enter "This is Head Boy, James Potter." He pointed to the firth boy next. "This is Slytherin Seventh year prefect, Severus Snape." His name made Albus look closer. This was the man who his parents had named him after, or at least his middle name. He didn't think he looked like much.
"These are the Parker siblings," He pointed at James, "John," then to Albus, "Allen," he gestured to Lily last, "and Lucy. They are new students here, they have already been sorted."
"It's a pleasure to meet you and all, but does Hogwarts usually take new students after first year?" The Head Girl questioned, looking over the three siblings. The Professor moved his mouth and made to answer, but Lily beat him to it.
"Well, our mother was teaching us, but she felt that we couldn't learn everything we needed to know from her. So she sent an owl to Professor Dumbledore, and we are so fortunate to be able to attend Hogwarts." Lily responded without missing a beat. Evans and Potter looked satisfied, but Snape still looked mistrusting.
"Well, actually I was the most advance one, but my mom decided that all of us should go together, or not at all." James added in a very conceited tone, but you could tell he was joking. Evans almost gasped when she saw him smile. It was just like Potter's trademark smirk.
"Right, you'll be the smartest out of us when the sky turns purple." Lily responded in a facetious manner.
Albus moved over to Potter, Evans, and Snape and whispered just loud enough for his siblings to hear.
"Don't listen to them, I'm the smart one."
Lily rolled her eyes and turned her attention to the other three as well.
"Sure, we'll let you believe that. Anyway, I'm pretty sure the Headmaster said I'm a sixth, no wait a fifth year. Allen's the sixth year." She looked to Dumbledore who nodded his head.
"Correct. John will be a seventh year. Please show them to their respective Common rooms, John and Lucy are in Gryffindor, and Allen is a Slytherin." Potter, Evans, and Snape all nodded, but looked surprised at the fact that the siblings were not in the same house, and even more that the houses chosen for them were rivals. Sure other siblings had ended up like that too, but these three seemed so close.
"Follow us then." Evans directed to Lily and James, or as she thought Lucy and John. Snape motioned for Albus, and they all left the office. Snape and Albus headed in one direction, while the other four left in the other.
"See ya later, Allie poo." Lily called from behind her back, while her brothers buried their heads in their hands. She could be so embarrassing sometimes.
The four walked to the Common Room, Lily trying to act like a first year all the way. James thought she was overdoing it a bit, but tried to act surprised too. The Head Boy and Girl seemed to believe they were new, because they just laughed when Lily screamed as a ghost flew through her.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you," Potter said, walking back a bit to be level with James and Lily, "We're showing you the way now, but if you need any help, just talk to me or Evans, or any Gryffindor prefect, they'll help you out. We'll most likely be in the same classes, so we can help you figure out where you are going. The fifth year prefects can help you out Lucy." He finished. Evans had walked up to the portrait of the Fat Lady and turned to the two.
"To get into the common room, you just go up to this portrait and tell her the password. Right now it's," She then directed her attention to the woman in the painting, "Hungarian Horntail." The picture swung open and Lily let out a soft "wow."
"The boy's dorms are over there," she said pointing to a staircase. "And the girls one's are over here, you can follow me." She instructed Lily.
The two girls walked over to the staircase and walked up, while Potter whispered into James's ear.
"Don't try going up those, they're rigged."
James laughed, but he had already known that. He had tried a few times to get up there. James followed his grandfather up the stairs, wondering how lucky he could get. HE was sleeping in the same room as the man who he had wanted to meet since he had stole the map. HE concealed a smirk as Potter opened the door and showed him his bed, while also introducing him to the other Gryffindor seventh year boys, the Marauders. When James crawled into bed that night, he wasn't even worrying about how they would get home or how they would keep their charade up. He was only worried about spending as much time with the Marauders and his grandmother, Lily Evans, as possible.