Everyone had a wonderful day, filled with the sound of delighted laughter from the children and chuckles from the adults. Quidditch was an interesting affair, with each team battling it out, as family members could get extremely competitive.
The twins were pitched against George's kids as beaters, and both teams had to watch out, for a fierce competition raged between the four. It felt as though there were a million different bludgers flying in all different directions!
After an extremely tough match, which saw the younger and older Harry fight for the snitch, the younger Harry saw it and dived, leaving adult Harry still flying in the air. It was too late for the older man as by the time he saw his younger self, the snitch was clasped tightly in teenage Harry's hand. Cheers went up around the garden, and the seven team members which consisted of Harry, Ron, Fred, George, both James' and Sirius yelled in delight and hugged each other. Adult Harry was surprised and pleased to see how well his son interacted with James and Sirius when playing his chaser position. "He really did inherit his grandfather's talent" he thought to himself, chuckling.
Everyone took a quick break for lunch, which was served magnificently by Kreacher. After they had allowed their stomach's to settle, Harry announced "Pool time!" which sent the kids and teenagers, marauders included, into fits of delight. They all moved around chaotically, the kids who were occupying Godric's Hollow flying up the stairs to search for their swimsuits, and the newcomers asking adults to transfigure their clothes. Five minutes later, James, Sirius, the six teenagers (except Hermione) and all the other kids and teenagers had changed and were splashing around in the magically extended swimming pool.
Hermione and Lily had decided to opt out, preferring to lye peacefully on the sun loungers and read books.
"It's incredible for Harry to meet you" said Hermione shyly. "All his life, he's dreamed of what it would be like to have parents that loved him, and cared for him. His favourite photo is of you and James, holding him as a baby. I know you aren't even married yet, but, when you are, and you have baby Harry, know that he loves you as much as you love him."
"Oh Hermione" said Lily sadly. "It's amazing that we've been granted this opportunity. I don't believe in fates, and think divination is a load of rubbish, but someone out there has granted us this wonderful time together. I don't even know Harry yet, but I already feel such a strong bond with him. I already love him as my own son."
Hermione smiled, and the two continued to converse, exchanging conversation about all manner of things, including school, subjects, and the differences in their generation. They swapped tales of adventures at school, Lily succeeding in making Hermione laugh with many stories about the Marauders tricks and antics.
Remus had chosen not to swim, in case he frightened the younger kids with the many scars across his chest. So instead, he walked over to where Peter sat in the shade, a look of deep thought etched on his worried face.
"Hey Pete" said Remus softly. "Mind if I join you?"
"Uh sure moony" said Peter nervously. "Don't you want to be over there with the others though?"
"No, didn't want to scare the kids with the effects of my 'furry little problem'" he said dismissively. "Anyway, I wanted to talk to you alone".
"You did?" squeaked Peter.
"No need to be so worried, I'm not like Padfoot or Prongs" said Remus comfortingly. "Unlike them, I have realised that you haven't actually betrayed us yet, and won't do for a couple more years. Pete, listen to me. No matter what you think, no matter how many times James and Sirius pick on you, they aren't doing it because they hate you! That's just the way they are! Hell, they do it to me to enough times! The point is they love you so much. The four of us, we're brothers, marauders to the end. We all care about you so much, and though they won't admit it because of their stupid pride, they would be truly devastated if you did leave us!"
Peter smiled weakly at Remus, tears in his eyes. He loved his friends dearly, and would keep them safe, no matter what.
"I promise Remus, I won't ever betray you, ever" said Peter. "I love you guys, and couldn't do that".
"Well, that's good to hear" said Remus, smiling jovially. "Let's go and join the others shall we?" Peter nodded, so the two headed over to where others were scattered about on different seats.
"Everything okay you two?" said adult Harry concernedly.
"Everything's fine Harry, just had a little chat, nothing to worry about" said Remus kindly. Harry nodded, and the two settled themselves down.
The afternoon continued wonderfully. After Ginny had declared that everyone had had plenty of time in the pool, she watched amusedly as her younger self and everyone else climbed out looking like rather shrivelled prunes. Several towels, drying charms, heating charms and switching of clothes later, every lazed around in the garden, some lying on the cool fresh grass while others grouped together, swapping conversation and laughing here and there.
After a while, adult Harry clapped his hands and called out to get everyone's attention.
"Alright everybody!" he said. "I think it's time to finish the story I was telling you yesterday; the second half of my time at Hogwarts. Now, seeing as though my younger self is fresh from his fourth year, I think you should tell this bit, if that's okay with you?" He looked as his teenage self expectantly, and after the young man nodded, he sat down, allowing the teen to continue with where they left off.
"Fourth year was… hard" began Harry. "In the summer holidays, I started having visions, about Voldemort. I couldn't really explain them, and didn't know what they were about. I also went to the quidditch world cup. The match was the most incredible thing I've ever seen" he added, causing James and Sirius to grin with delight. "But in the night, death eaters turned up, putting a family of muggles in danger and attempting to kill everyone else. There was chaos. The entire area had been burned. Luckily, we got away safely, and no one was killed".
Stony silence filled the garden before Harry continued. "When we got to Hogwarts, it was announced that the Tri-Wizard tournament had been reinstated, and was being held at Hogwarts. That year, Alastor Moody also came to teach defence against the dark arts. It turns out, that he had been captured and imperiused, and the person pretending to be him all year was Barty Crouch Jr., another death eater. He entered my name into the tournament, under a fourth school, so that I would be forced to compete, even though the tournament was for people who were seventeen years old.
It was possibly the worst year at Hogwarts, except perhaps fifth year. People who were my friends turned against me, half the school hated me, half the school only liked me because I was a selected champion, and people argued all the time. On top of that, I had to defeat dragons, recover my best friends from the bottom of the black lake, and try not to get killed.
The third task, which happened in late June, was supposedly simple. Enter the maze, find the cup first, you win. But the impostor Moody was planning for me to 'win'. He imperiused Victor Krum, another contestant, to take out the other two, but Fleur was rescued and we managed to defeat Krum. I and the other remaining champion, Cedric Diggory, agreed to take the cup together. Turns out it was a portkey, so off we went to the grave of Voldemort's muggle father. There, Peter killed Cedric, under instruction, and performed a ritual, even sacrificing his own flesh, to bring Voldemort back to life. He called the death eaters, and then proceeded to duel with me. But, the twin cores of our wands connected, and Priori incantatem took place. I saw…. I saw mum and dad" he choked, tears welling up before he could help it.
No one spoke as Harry composed himself for a few moments before continuing. "The shades which had appeared, including Cedric's, protected me while I ran for his body and the cup. We came back to Hogwarts, Dumbledore eventually unveiled Alastor's impostor, and I gave Fred and George the winnings from the tournament, as Cedric's parents wouldn't take them. They started their own joke shop" he added, causing James and Sirius to laugh impressively.
"Harry, mate, uuuuh, what about mum?" whispered Fred aggressively, jerking his head in the direction that Molly sat.
"Ah don't worry, she knows" said adult Harry, grinning. "She thought you were gambling again, or got the money illegally, and somehow blamed Ron, so I said it was okay for Ron to tell her, so no one got blamed".
"Phew" said George dramatically, as both twins pretended to wipe their heads and slump in their seats, causing people to laugh. Molly just smiled at her troublemakers.
"So that was fourth year" said adult Harry to everyone. "I'll take it from here, as not even our younger selves have experienced the rest yet. I'm afraid this year is going to turn out rather awful" he said solemly, causing the teenagers to look up worriedly. "You see, this was the year that Dolores Umbridge came to town".