Disclaimer: Harry Potter still does not belong to me but to J K Rowling.

Harry Potter and the Sand of Time

By Willowcharm

Chapter 11: Talking

To say that Harry was gob smacked would be a gross understatement. His mouth opened and shut a few times as his brain searched for something to say. Meanwhile his legs gave way under him and he collapsed onto the floor. A few disjointed words eventually managed to make their way to his vocal chords.

'How long… when did… how?'

James came over to him, putting his wand away and pulled Harry from the ground, depositing him in one of the armchairs by the fireplace. He then took a seat in the chair opposite and watched in silence for a couple of minutes while Harry tried to come to terms with the fact that he had been unsuccessful in keeping his secret. Eventually he spoke.

'You remember that day when McGonagall had Sirius and I fetch you?' Harry nodded mutely. 'Well,' continued his father, 'Sirius took you down and generously held the door open for you while I …'

'Sneaked in under your invisibility cloak,' interrupted Harry. He didn't really need any more explanation and his father seemed to realise this.

'Exactly. I'm surprised you thought even for a moment that you could hide your little secret from me for long.'

Harry had no reply to that. He was still in a state of shock and he was also rather nervous since James' voice had a slightly hard tone to it. So he waited in silence to hear what else his father had to say. James himself seemed slightly unsure of how to proceed. After a moment he had evidently made up his mind to go straight to the point.

'Look, how much do you know about the four of us?'

It was obvious what he meant and there was no sense in Harry telling anything but the truth.

'I know Remus is a werewolf and that the rest of you are animagi.' Harry tensed as James stood up and advanced towards Harry's armchair.

'You knew? And you still went out that night and sat in the open under a full moon? One of my best friends is terrified of being sent to Azkaban and all because my own son is stupid enough to go wandering around outside when he knows there's a werewolf running around?'

James' voice increased in volume as he spoke and by the end of his speech he was shouting, with his hands on the arms of Harry's chair and his face four inches from his son's. It was too much for Harry. Still aching all over from his full moon ordeal., upset by his mother's attitude towards him and now facing a furious father he was powerless to stop the tears which started rolling down his face.

'I'm sorry,' he sobbed. 'I was just upset because of Mum and I forgot. I'd never have gone out if I'd remembered. I wouldn't do anything to hurt Remus. Please don't hate me too, Dad.'

Harry's final incoherent plea seemed to cool James' anger instantly. He withdrew to his own seat and sat silently for a while as he watched his son try to control his sobbing.

'I don't hate you,' he said quietly after Harry had calmed down a little. 'I do want a few explanations, however. But that can wait until tomorrow. You look in a worse state than even Remus and you need some sleep. Come on.' And he went over to Harry once more, pulled him up and led him upstairs.

Harry would gladly have slept for the whole of the next day but he knew he couldn't draw attention to his weakness just after the full moon. He muddled through his lessons as best he could and tried to look innocent when Professor McGonagall smiled and awarded him five points for the roast beef dinner which Sirius had conjured on his behalf. When he had time to think he worried about the impending talk with his father and hoped that James would understand that some things could not be revealed.

James wasted no time after the last lesson, motioning for Harry to follow him and leading him to a small disused classroom on the fifth floor. He lazily transfigured the teacher's desk into a couch and they both sat down and James sealed the room against eavesdroppers.

'So,' he said, turning to face Harry. 'How about telling me your real name?'

Harry hesitated, then decided it wouldn't do any harm to tell him. After all, it would ensure that he would be given the proper name when he was born. But he wasn't so sure when James then asked how Harry had arrived in this time.

'Er, I don't think I should tell you that. If people know then they're going to try and stop it happening and it must have happened because I'm here and if someone stops it then I won't be here and…'

'Okay, stop there I get the message.' James cut off Harry's rambling. 'So what can you tell me? Or are you going to go all goody goody on me and tell me nothing about yourself? Just remember who'll be punishing you for playing around with time turners when you get back to your own time.'

If James wanted Harry to talk he was going the wrong way about it. With all that had happened to him his emotions were in a very volatile state and he stood up to face James, his eyes blazing.

'You don't have a clue, do you? Your as bad as Dumbledore and Mcgonagall, assuming I was deliberately trying to cause trouble when I came here. Well I wasn't. And since I've been here I've had to hide my identity and put up with unfair punishments because if I tell the truth I could change time and cause untold damage. And then my mother starts treating me like dirt and on top of that when I go out to get some fresh air and try to calm down I get bitten by a werewolf because you four think your above rules yourselves.'

But now Harry had touched a raw nerve in James.

'How dare you? How dare you try and blame Remus for your own stupidity? Well if that's the way my son turns out I've a good mind to make sure you never get born. I've had it with you. And I wish I hadn't paid for those apparition lessons for you. You don't deserve them and you're hopeless anyway. I've had it with you!'

Harry's father stormed out of the room. He must have bumped into Lily because Harry heard him say,

'By the way, Evans, you can take back all that I said last night. Jenkins is a jerk who should never have come to this school. I'm having nothing more to do with him.'

Harry couldn't believe how badly that had gone. He slammed his fist down on a desk in frustration. When that did nothing for him except give him a sore hand he picked up a chair and flung it across the room. It hit the wall and fell to pieces. Harry then threw another chair and then another. After ten minutes all the furniture in the room was destroyed and Harry turned to leave the room only to find Professor McGonagall standing in the doorway.

'Mr Jenkins, how dare you destroy school property? My office now!' But Harry was in no mood to listen to a lecture from her.

'Stuff it, professor! I quit! I'm not coming to another class in this time. I'll stay in my dormitory until someone comes to take me home. The lot of you can go to Hell! And if you try and do anything about it I'll tell everyone the future and change the whole world.'

With that he barged past the irate teacher and headed back to Gryffindor tower. Of course, he had no intention of actually telling anyone about the future but he fully intended to keep the rest of his promise. He would leave the dormitory when he needed to eat but at no other time. No one, not even Dumbledore was going to change his mind.

He stayed in bed for most of the next day getting incredibly bored but found a certain relief in the fact that no one came to disturb him. He didn't go down for meals, thinking that it wouldn't harm him to wait till the next day and not really wanting to bump into McGonagall again so soon after being so offensive to her. Towards early evening he emerged from behind his curtains and went to sit by the window, staring unseeingly across the grounds as the light faded and the stars started to emerge.

'Chris?'

Harry turned round with a start to find Remus Lupin in the dormitory with him. Then he turned back to the window without speaking.

'I need to tell you something.' Remus sounded rather distressed and this time Harry turned to face him properly.

'What?' he asked in a flat voice.

'It's my fault your life's been ruined. I was the werewolf who bit you that night.' Remus sounded close to tears as he said this. Harry realised Remus must be thinking that being a werewolf was the reason for his behaviour.

'No it's not. I should have remembered about you being out there.'

'But how could you have known? No one knows about it except…' Remus drew to a halt, obviously not wanting to give his friends' secret away. Harry suddenly realised that James hadn't told Remus about their relationship. But he couldn't see anyway to explain himself other than by telling the whole truth.

'I know because I'm James' son,' he said. 'I managed to get sent back in time twenty odd years and now I'm stuck here until someone comes to get me.'

'You stupid selfish idiot!' James' voice came from the doorway. Harry hadn't noticed him come in with Sirius. His father went on. 'I didn't tell Remus because I didn't want him to feel guilty about biting a worthless piece of dung like you just because you happen to be my son. But of course, you have to go and tell him. You wouldn't dream of having consideration for his feelings, would you?'

Now it was Harry's turn to round on his father in fury.

'I was only trying to convince him it wasn't his fault. I wouldn't hurt Lupin for anything. He's all I've got left in my time!'

There was a stunned silence from James, Sirius and Remus. It took Harry a moment to realise what he had given away. When he did realise he swore and tried to leave the room but Sirius grabbed him.

'No you don't,' he said. 'You stay here and explain just what you meant by that. You can't honestly expect us to believe that James, Peter and I are all dead in twenty years time along with James' wife, whoever she may be.'

Harry said nothing, but his face must have spoken for him because James suddenly collapsed onto a bed.

'I can't believe that Lily's going to die so young,' he said. Although he had not spoken of it, he must have realised that Lily was Harry's mother. Harry's anger at him receded and he said quietly,

'I'll go and talk to Dumbledore. He can perform a memory charm on you all and no harm will have been done. You'll be just the same as you were before I came.'

'No.' James looked up. 'That won't work. Because You'll still be a werewolf and you'll still remember all this fighting.' Harry shrugged.

'I can cope.' But James shook his head.

'I don't think so. Not on your own. You can't go back to your own time with only memories of us fighting and then the three of us forgetting all about it. I think we should start again from tomorrow. Maybe we can work things out.'

Could they? Harry wasn't sure. But he was sure that he wanted another try.

Okay, I'm not completely happy with this chapter but it will have to do.

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