The hours passed quickly and the next day the Weasleys decided to change their usual plans and send only Molly to pick up Bill, Charlie, and Percy from the train station. Arthur was supposed to be sick after all, and the Potter's were not to be seen.
Percy was the first to unload his trunk and go into the house where, unbeknownst to him, a rather shocking surprise was waiting to ambush.
"Hello Uncle Percy, I'm James Potter." said James as soon as Percy came through the door and into the kitchen. He was grinning as he stuck out his hand for Percy to shake.
Percy didn't take it. Instead he looked at George, who was standing off to the side wearing his christmas sweater, and said, "How did you manage to transfigure Fred? Does Mum know? I'm pretty sure whatever it is it's illegal and extremely dangerous. People get stuck like that you know."
"I'm afraid you've got it wrong brother," said Fred, coming up behind Percy, "Neither of us are the least bit transfigured."
Percy let out a rather undignified shriek. He glared at Fred and said, "If that's not you than who is it? Ron? Ginny? Mum's going to kill you if you transfigured Ginny."
"Hey, it's rude to talk about someone if they're standing right in front of you." said James indignantly.
"It's also rude to impersonate a dead war hero." said Percy, "Even if you got it wrong and made him to young. James Potter died defending his wife and son from you-know-who."
"Yeah, I know." said James, starting to get annoyed, "I'm his grandson."
"You have got to be joking," said Percy. "Grandson? Honestly you two usually come up with better stuff than this."
"It's nice to hear you appreciate us, Perc," said Fred.
"But I'm afraid we're not joking this time," said George with a barely repressed smirk.
"What is going on in here?" said Molly. Bill and Charlie followed her. "I hope you're being nice to our guest?"
"So you're not Ron or Ginny?" said Percy. James shook his head.
"What?" said Molly. "Why would you-"
"Didn't your parents teach you better than to lie? Especially with such a..." Percy searched for a suitably long word and came up with three, "outlandish, ludicrous, and preposterous story."
"I'm not telling a story!" said James. "My name really is James Potter."
Percy snorted contemptuously.
"Percy! Boys, I told you to wait until we could all sit down together and break the news."
Percy stared at his mother. "Are you saying that boy really is James Potter's grandson."
Molly sighed. "Well, yes. Dumbledore asked us to take care of him and his siblings for a few days until they could go home."
"But that's impossible." spluttered Percy. Bill and Charlie looked curiously at their mother and the strange boy in their kitchen.
"We'll talk more about it later." said Molly, "In the meantime why don't you unpack your school things."
Molly bustled away to find her husband and the children were left looking at each other.
Percy didn't seem convinced and he glared at the twins and James. "I don't know how you fooled Mum and Dad but you are not fooling me." He stormed upstairs.
"He's gotten touchier." said Fred.
"You've no idea." said Charlie.
Bill and Charlie had things explained to them and seemed to accept it, or at least trust their parents judgment until Dumbledore provided proof, but Percy refused to come out of his room. James seemed intent on pulling his Uncle's tail as much as possible and assisted Fred and George in their mission to "make Percy stop being such a prat." First they tried noise tactics, shouting and marching outside his room, but were rebuffed by Mrs. Weasley. Then Charlie, after investigating just what was going on, had the brilliant idea of lobbing one of the few remaining stink bombs through Percy's window. Unfortunately none of them remembered the "no stink bombs in the house" rule until Percy was saved by another round of Mrs. Weasley's loud voice and Dumbledore's modified cleaning spell.
Having failed to smoke him out the trio declared defeat and were sentenced to various household chores to keep them out of trouble.
"But we did half of this yesterday," complained Fred.
"And today it needs to be done again." said Molly, "that's the nature of daily chores."
"But James is a guest. Guests don't do chores," said George.
"And we we're only making sure he didn't misfire anything," said Fred.
"You can hardly punish us for that," said George.
"Enough," said Mrs. Weasley as she handed Fred a broom. "I am your mother and James may be a guest but he is also family. Since his mother is currently six years old your Father and I are responsible for him. A duty which includes making sure he doesn't get into any trouble."
The boys opened their mouths in protest but before they could utter a word Molly continued, "If I let you get away with half of what you get up to we would be standing in a smoking crater rather than my kitchen. Now go on. The sooner you start the sooner you'll finish."
With much grumbling the boys got to work.
That evening Dumbledore arrived. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley assembled the entire family in the living room producing a rather cozy gathering. Percy said nothing. James was sure that if he was more daring Percy would have poked Dumbledore to make sure he was real.
"I believe you all know why I'm here," said Dumbledore once everyone was settled. He gestured towards the Potter children.
Percy raised his hand.
"Yes, Mr. Weasley?"
"Who are they?" asked Percy. Dumbledore glanced confused at Molly and Arthur but answered Percy swiftly.
"They are your relatives. Niece and nephews in fact. They had an accident with a device called a time turner and ended up here. Decades away from their proper time."
"Time turner?" said Percy in disbelief. "Time travel is impossible."
"I assure you, Mr. Weasley, that it is not,"said Dumbledore. "It is however restricted and kept secret by the Ministry for the time being."
"Then how did they get a hold of one?" asked Percy and added sarcastically, "Did a bunch of kids break into the ministry?"
"You're not so much older than us," shot back James. Al was grinning to himself like mad but when he opened his mouth Lily made an angry face and shushed him before he could talk. Al rolled his eyes but kept quiet.
"Enough," said Molly. "James, tell us how you got the time turner."
"Yes," said Arthur," Does everyone have them in the future? I imagine you wouldn't be the first to have this kind of accident."
James scratched the back of his head. "Actually time turner's are still pretty rare. It takes forever to gather enough time sand to make one and the ministry had their stockpile destroyed a few years before I was born." He looked at Percy. "A bunch of kids broke into the ministry." Percy huffed, clearly not believing James was doing more than pulling his tail.
"Come on James, finish the story," said Al. "You were the one who filched it."
Molly raised an eyebrow and James flushed.
"My Dad's an auror and he had to testify at the trial of this really dangerous guy they'd been chasing for a while. The ministry gave him the time turner as some kind of security measure thing so he could be in two places at once. Anyway he brought it home and I thought it would be cool to take it out, just to show Al and Lily, except when I showed it to them Lily grabbed it and it smashed against the floor."
"No I didn't!" yelled Lily. "You held it up high and dropped it."
"Did not!"
"Did to!"
"I think we understand what happened," interrupted Molly. Al snickered.
"Any more questions Mr. Weasley?" asked Dumbledore.
"I have a few," said Bill. "These are Ginny's kids?" He pointed at the Potters. He and Charlie had been filled in while Percy pouted in his room.
"Yes," said Dumbledore.
"And we can speak for ourselves," said James.
"But how do we know you're not lying?" asked Charlie.
"They are who they say they are and have been found truthful in all details I've been able to trace so far," said Dumbledore.
"But he said he was James Potter!" said Percy pointing accusingly at James.
"I am," said James.
"Harry Potter is our Dad," said Al, "He and Uncle Ron are best friends which is how he met Mum."
"Honestly how many times do we have to go over this?" said James. "It's getting boring."
"Maybe for you but it's all quite the adventure for the rest of us," said Dumbledore, eyes twinkling, "I would think you would be more excited getting to know your family like this."
James shrugged.
"James Sirius Potter!" yelled Lily, startling her brother, "Don't you be mean to Grandma and Grandpa like that." She stomped her foot and Arthur had to smother a laugh. She was definitely Molly's granddaughter.
"Sirius?" said Bill. "Like Sirius Black?"
"Yeah. So?" said Al.
Molly gasped and even the children looked grave. Dumbledore tranquil face hid a mix of dawning realization, and a hint of fear.
"He's the man who betrayed the Potters to you-know-who!" exclaimed Percy.
It was at this moment that James remembered the rest of the marauder's story and blanched. Al scooted closer Lily and grabbed her hand.
Percy's pet rat peaked out of his pocket, nose twitching and whiskers trembling. James grabbed Dumbledore's robe and pulled on the old man, whispering furiously and doing his best not to look at the animagus that had as good as murdered his grandparents. Dumbledore seem to go stiff as he listened. His face thunderous, as soon as James let go of his robe he whipped into motion. Smoothly he pulled out his wand and aimed it at Percy's pocket. Five minutes later Peter Pettigrew was bound to a kitchen chair and Percy had retired to his room in search of a clean pair of pants.
Mid-chapter notes: Ahhhh! I completely forgot about Pettigrew until the moment Bill reminded me just what was going on! Decisions must be made. Dang it! I had future chapters all plotted out and now they've gone to complete sh*t. Please review and tell me what direction you think this should go in. Easily tied up with a sparkly bow? Complete and utter disaster? Will the kids even exist at the end or will this story evolve into some crazy-long what-the-heck-is-going-on fest? Tell me what you think!
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed that chapter :) My wifi has been iffy at best for the past few weeks (and I realize that's no excuse) but I'd like to thank MaevePond for reviewing and making me realize just how long it had been since I updated. Seriously, every review drives me a little closer to the next chapter so get your feedback on!