CHAPTER TEN

Anything you recognize from Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling

The man had shining hazel-brown eyes behind round glasses and messy black hair which went slightly his past his ears. He wasn't too tall, just a bit bigger than Harry, James Sirius Potter's father. "Your son?" James spluttered. "That's not possible. That would mean you would be ..."

"James Charles Potter, at your service." The man bowed.

Sirius frowned. "Wow. That means there are two James'es. How are we supposed to tell you two apart?"

James (the adult) waved a hand. "Just call me Prongs. This is my father, Charles Robert Potter," James said. The older man lowered his hood and smiled at them.

James frowned. "Why are we here?" he asked. "Aren't you two supposed to be dead?"

"Ah. Yes, well, we can explain-"

BOOM.

James and Sirius jumped. Another tall man strode inside. "Merlin's Beard, Padfoot!" Prongs exclaimed. "How many times have I told you not to throw the doors open like that!"

"Prongs!" the man said, his gray eyes shining. "Don't be like that. And, just in case you wanted to know, you've told me not to fling the doors open 39 times."

"39?" Charles gave him a slightly impressed look. "My, my Sirius. That's quite a lot."

"Yes, sir," the man called Padfoot said, beaming. He turned to James and his gray eyes widened. "Merlin's beard! He looks like Harry!"

"He's his son, Padfoot," Prongs said, rolling his eyes. "James, Sirius, this is Sirius Orion Black."

"Hi," Sirius Lupin said, beaming. "My dad named me after you."

Sirius Black grinned. "Ah, well, we don't want our names to get mixed up now, do we? Call me Padfoot."

"Sure," Sirius said.

"Can you tell us why we're here?" James interrupted, frowning. "Uncle Remus is gonna be furious if we don't return soon."

Charles and Prongs chuckled, while Padfoot let out a bark of laughter that slightly startled Sirius. "You lead us to your home, and we tell you."

Harry and Ginny - they were in the Lupin Manor because Remus had called them, saying that James and Sirius were gone - were pacing anxiously when they heard the door open. "Uncle Remus?" a voice called.

"James!" Harry hurried forward.

"Dad! What are you doing here?" James looked shocked, while Remus was furiously scolding Sirius.

As the relief dissolved, anger pierced through, and Harry snatched his son up. He promptly gave him five hard smacks that made him cry out.

"All right, all right, that's enough of the poor boy's punishent," Prongs said, sharing an amused glance with Charles.

Harry went pale. His emerald green eyes widened and he stood up. "How - what?" he spluttered.

"Yes, it's me, Harry. James Potter, and your grandfather, Charles Potter," Prongs said quietly.

"And me! Don't forget me!" Padfoot exclaimed. "Harry, you've grown so much!"

Harry's jaw dropped open. "You - you're supposed to be dead!" he stammered.

"Padfoot? Prongs? Mr. Potter?" Remus spluttered. "This isn't possible!"

"Hi, Moony," Padfoot and Prongs chorused.

Remus and Harry glanced at each other, then demanded, "What in the name of Merlin is going on?"

"So ... you're really alive now?" Harry murmured.

"Yes," Prongs said, after thirty minutes of explaining.

"But .. how exactly-?" Remus began.

"Be patient, Moony, we're getting there!" Padfoot exclaimed. Remus rolled his eyes and shut his mouth.

"You see, we were all having a nice walk behind The Veil - that's the place where you go when you ... pass on - when there was a sudden flash of light. It knocked us out for a few minutes, until Charles woke up first and waited for us to wake up. When we did, we found ourselves in this house." Prongs gestured to the house they were inside right now. "I don't know how, but all of us knew why we were there. It was because our life wasn't finished yet. The Veil wasn't supposed to take us until we were ready, but the unexpected happened. My wife and I were murdered by Lord Voldemort. Padfoot here was killed by his cousin, Bellatrix. Charles was fighting off a huge group of Death Eaters on his own." Prongs paused, and Padfoot took over.

"You see, in the future, we had all died around the age of 115-120. But that didn't happen. It was because there was a disturbance in Time. A man called Lord Tromedlov who was just as evil as Lord Voldemort himself appeared behind The Veil. You see, he is the twin of Lord Voldemort. When Voldemort died he didn't really die. There was still a tiny - very tiny - fragmant of his soul left. He passed it on to his twin brother, Lord Tromedlov. Tromedlov is still behind The Veil, but it won't be long until he joins us by coming through the portal," Padfoot explained.

"And when he does, there will be utter chaos," Charles added.

Harry's emerald eyes gazed at nothing in particular. "It's just like when Voldemort was alive," he said softly. "The second Wizarding War took so many lives ... and there's going to be a third one?" His eyes shone with grief.

"We're gonna fight too!"

Harry's eyes snapped toward the rush of small children. Teddy, James, Sirius, Albus, and Scorpius beamed up at the adults. "Eavesdropping, were you?" Remus sternly tapped Sirius' nose.

"Ah, let them off for once, Moony," Padfoot said, beaming.

"Yeah. Doesn't hurt to have fun for a while." Prongs ruffled James' hair, who laughed. He had taken an immediate liking to his grandfather.

"Some things never change," Charles murmured, his eyes twinkling with laughter.

"Remus?"

Remus jumped up. "In here, Severus!" he called.

Padfoot and Prongs gave him a shocked look. "Snivellus?" they spluttered as Severus walked in with Daniel in his arms.

Severus' eyes flared. "Black! Potter!" he spat eyeing them with loathe.

"Come here, Daniel," Remus called softly, and Severus nudged the small child toward his guardian. Remus picked him up. "Feel better?" he asked Daniel.

Daniel nodded. "Yep. Uncle Severus gave me lots of yucky potions, though. He scolded me when I didn't drink them."

Remus looked up to see Severus and Prongs eyeing each other with hate. "All right, Prongs, Severus. Time to end this little rivalry. Shake hands. You too, Padfoot." He watched as the three men slowly extended their hands shook before letting go quickly.

"Where are you planning to stay?" Remus asked Prongs. Prongs hesitated.

"You could stay with us," Harry said immediately. "You and Grandfather, too, dad."

Prongs smiled at him and thanked him.

Remus looked at Padfoot. "Padfoot, you can stay with us."

Padfoot grinned and patted Teddy's head. "Thanks, Moony. We'll get into lots of trouble."

Remus rolled his eyes. "Padfoot, you're an adult now."

"Never!" Padfoot exclaimed, grinning. Everyone laughed.

END OF CHAPTER TEN

Please review

So, how do you think I came up with the name Tromedlov? That's right, I spelled Voldemort backward! :)