Hello again! Sorry for the long wait in updating, but I wanted to have a decent chapter to post, not something that sounded stupid... And along came this! The longest chapter (I think) so far! :D Sorry if it seems a bit rambly, especially at the end, but hope you like it! Special thanks to lilyevans126819998, Books are air, Lil-Lioness-Cub, Guest, MaimOrSeriouslyInjure, and hpandthemaraudersrock for commenting on the last chapter! (Especially because now I am up to 50 reviews! Happy!) And thank you all for reading! :D Enjoy!


Chapter 12

The next morning I woke up feeling more rested than I had since I had traveled back in time. Smiling as I opened the curtains around my bed to let in the early-morning sunlight, I hummed as I started preparing for my day.

It was about half an hour later, when I was just finishing tying my burgundy and gold Gryffindor tie, when the other girls in my dorm started to wake up. Valarie's bed was conspicuously empty, and I shuddered slightly to think of where she had been the night before, but I quickly turned my thoughts to more pleasant things. Namely, the war Marlene was having with her blankets and sheets.

"Need a little help there?" I asked, laughing as Marlene simply got further and further entangled in her bedclothes.

"Hm?" she questioned sleepily, blinking her eyes tiredly. "Oh hi Luna. Just a bit stuck is all. I'll be f-f-fine."

She yawned loudly on the last word and made a renewed effort to free herself from her bed's clutches.

"Is Marlene stuck again?" asked Lily's tired voice from behind me.

"Yep," I replied cheerily. "Sixth time this month."

"Shall you do the honor, or shall I?" Lily asked, standing up and smirking at our friend's failing attempt to disentangle herself.

"I'll do it. You got to last time."

"Have fun!" she called over her shoulder, heading towards the bathroom.

One quick wave of my wand and a whispered incantation later, Marlene found herself falling to the ground next to her bed. Her sheets and comforter were suddenly perfectly situated on her bed , not even a wrinkle in the dark red fabric.

She groaned loudly, holding her head, and Ellie sat up quickly, looking around. Catching sight of Marlene on the ground she giggled. "Your blankets trying to attack you again?" she asked with faux concern.

Marlene grunted in assent, still rubbing her head. "You could say that," she muttered darkly.

My stomach growled suddenly and I realized I had only eaten a piece of toast and some soup for almost two days. Needless to say, I was starving!

"I'm heading off to breakfast now," I informed Ellie, the only person who wasn't glaring at her bed or getting dressed. "Could you tell Lily when she finishes in the loo and Marlene when she finally forgives her bed?"

"Sure thing," Ellie said, nodding and giving me a thumbs up. "See you down there, Luna." She muffled a yawn and stretched as she got to her feet.

I gathered up the books I would need for the day and headed out. Just five minutes later (I had used a few shortcuts my brothers had shown me) I was setting myself down at one end of the Gryffindor table and tucking into some porridge with fruit on it, one of my favorite books open on the table.

It took another twenty minutes before the rest of my roommates found their way down to the Great Hall, by which time most everyone else in the castle was enjoying breakfast already. Including the Marauders.

I eyed them suspiciously from where I was sitting. They weren't as loud and obnoxious as they usually were, and had their heads put together, obviously discussing something in secret. I wished I had one of my uncle's Extendable Ears so I could hear them. I was pretty sure that whatever they were discussing was the same thing they had been trying to cover up the evening before, and wanted to know what they were doing.

Turning back to my book, I resolved to find out what they were doing. I was stuck in the past – why not try to solve this mystery?

Throughout the day I tried to follow the Marauders around. It was difficult, because even when we were going from class to class together, I was with the rest of my friends and it would have looked suspicious to randomly desert them. To top it off, they didn't show up at lunch or dinner and I couldn't find them anywhere. It was times like these that I really wished I had the Marauder's Map to try and find out where they were going…

Hang on. The Marauder's Map.

How stupid could I be? Of course that was what they were working on!

For a moment I reveled in my success of solving the mystery, completely forgetting my homework that was spread all over the table in front of me. Until I realized what creating the map meant.

The Marauders couldn't know the names of everyone who had gone to school with them, or who would go afterwards. Yet the map still worked nearly forty years after the Marauders had left the school. It wasn't tied to the people they knew, but who the people were that walked the halls of Hogwarts.

It would show my true name. Lily Potter.

What would they say when they found out? Would they shun me, push me away because of hiding secrets from them? Would they demand to know the truth? Would they even believe the truth?

My mind raced frantically for a way to avoid the unavoidable. Needless to say I had no such luck. So how could I possibly deal with it?

Sweeping my homework into my bag, I stood up quickly, causing a second year who had been sitting nearby to squeak in fright.

"Luna? Are you alright?" Ellie asked from where she was sitting. I nodded distractedly, then cursed myself for drawing a scene. Now I had to come up with an excuse for leaving so close to curfew.

"Yeah, I was just- Madam Pomfrey wanted me to go back today to make sure I was alright."

"Oh. Hope it goes well!" She said with a smile. Lily and Marlene echoed her words.

They (and everyone else in the common room) turned back to their things, their talking. Apparently I'm better at giving excuses than I thought I was.

I headed out of the common room, made sure that nobody was around, then took the shortest way up to the Headmaster's office. He would know what to do.

"Acid Pops," I said confidently, remembering the password Lily had said to get in on the first day I was in the year 1976.

Nothing happened.

I groaned. Of course the password had changed after almost a month. "Cockroach Clusters?" I tried hesitantly. "Ice Mice? Licorice Wands? Drooble's Blowing Gum? Fudge Flies? Sugar Quills?"

Still nothing.

Could this day get any worse?

Of course, you should never think things like that. They cause things to turn out badly.

Hurried footsteps came up the hall and, before I could do more than turn around, Argus Filch, the old caretaker who was hated by the students (my uncle George told me a whole lot of stories about him), came shuffling down the hallway with a small but determined kitten following on his heels. The sight was almost comical, but I held back my chuckle. I was pretty he would not enjoy my humor.

"What are you up to?" he asked, sneering at me. "Why're you tryin' to get into the Headmaster's Office, eh? Especially after curfew?"

He looked me up and down, obviously searching for something.

"And yer' not a Prefect. You'll be in a load of trouble!"

He sounded delighted and a wicked-looking smile was stretched across his face. Uncle George had made him out to be a bit weird, but not this creepy. I shivered involuntarily.

Filch smirked at me, then went over to the griffin statue and whispered the password to it, quietly enough to keep me from hearing it. I rolled my eyes.

The statue began to move and soon we were standing outside the door that led to the Headmaster's Office. Filch knocked and, after hearing Dumbledore's offer of entrance, pulled the door open and excitedly gestured me inside. Honestly, did he just love causing distress or something?

"I found a student out'a bed, Headmaster," Filch said, sneering. "She was tryin' ta get into your office, but I caught 'er!"

He seemed strangely proud of himself and I had a sudden, bizarre desire to laugh.

Dumbledore seemed to be holding back the same chuckles. His eyes were twinkling in amusement and though he appeared stern, I could tell he was smiling.

"Thank you Argus, for bringing her to me. Be sure that I will deal with her appropriately. Thank you."

He nodded his head in dismissal and, though the caretaker seemed disappointed to not have a chance to punish me himself, he seemed pleased at the praise. He left with many 'thank you's of his own, varying from long and intricate to short and simple.

When he had finally left the office, I dove into my tale, assuring the Headmaster that I hadn't been trying to break curfew, but had something important to tell him. I tried not to mention the map specifically, but still make sure that he understood they would know my true name, regardless of what I could do.

I finished, but he simply looked at me, smiling serenely.

"Sir?" I asked, trying to figure out why he wasn't doing anything. "Don't we need to do something? Have you figured out a way to get me back yet or something?"

He just chuckled and unfolded his hands, looking supremely unconcerned at what I was sure would be a major problem. "Is there a reason why I would need to do something?"

I just gaped at him. Was this really the headmaster I was talking to? "I thought that people weren't supposed to know about who I really was?"

"That was my previous belief, but now that I have dwelled on the matter for a considerable length of time, I find it quite ideal that you use this chance to meet your paternal grandparents as you truly are," he said, eyes sparkling mysteriously. "Now head along back to your dormitory. There's nothing to worry about."

"But it's the past and I'm not supposed to change it and-"

"We'll come to that hurdle when we reach it. But I suspect that the simple fact that you are back in this time means that things will be changed. Due to the fact that things are already being and have been changed, no matter how hard you try to hide your true identity, fate will be the only thing to decide how this turns out. Regardless, things will work out in the end, otherwise you wouldn't be here. It is similar to the grandfather paradox – is it not?"

Staring at him like he was crazy, the only thing that came to mind was "What?"

"The grandfather paradox – if you go back in time and kill your grandfather, how will you be born?"

"But I'm not trying to kill James!" I defended; appalled that he would even think such a thing.

"Of course you aren't," he agreed, nodding in a satisfied way. "However I think that now is a time for you to get back to your common room and sleep, as I'm sure you are quite tired."

I nodded distractedly, still trying to figure out why he thought I would come back in time to kill James. It seemed stupid, really.

Shaking my head in an effort to clear it, I found myself at the bottom of the stone staircase outside the gargoyle that led to Dumbledore's office with no recollection of how I had gotten there.

I must be more tired than I thought.

The sharp hoot of an owl flying past a window reminded me it was after curfew. I started hurrying to the Gryffindor common room, not wanting Filch to find me again. The unplanned meeting with Dumbledore left me with many more questions than I had before I had seen him, but I still felt reassured that he wasn't worried about the Marauders finding out my name.

I soon found myself in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady and said the password so I could get inside. I had suddenly felt a great wave of tiredness. Preparing a faux complaint about Madam Pomfrey's fussing (it wasn't too hard, unsurprisingly), I entered, wanting nothing more than to sleep for a week.


So nobody officially won the cookies for guessing what the Marauders were doing, but here are some complimentary cookies for all the readers out there!:

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Please review and all that! :D Thanks again for reading! Hope to see you soon!