Chapter Twenty-five: A Blast from the Future

I disclaim everything. We all know that JK is too awesome to write a fanficiton anyway!

I could make you all wait longer by writing a long and obnoxious author's note, but I'm not that mean...at least I hope not! Enjoy!

"Well?" Remus demanded, taking a small step back.

"Remus, we can't let anyone see him," I whispered so that only Remus and Harry could hear me.

"You know him?" Remus asked.

"Yes, and we need to get to Dumbledore, ASAP,"

"We need a diversion," Remus said.

"My eyes!" I yelled suddenly. "Oh my God! What the hell?" I yelled again, taking a step closer to Sirius and James. Remus and Harry stood dumbstruck for a moment. I swear the people I hang out with…

"Sirius? Sirius, I can't—my eyes, they—I can't…" I babbled on like this for about a minute, it took half that long for Remus and Harry to figure out they were supposed to run for it.

"Keena! James, can you handle him alone with—where'd Remus go?" Sirius shouted.

James performed a final spell and Snape fell to the ground, breathing hard.

People gasped at the commotion and Remus and Harry made it away unnoticed. I spotted them going through the castle doors while I was pretending I was losing my sight.

"James, we've gotta get her to Pomfrey," Sirius said.

They each grabbed one of my arms and ran me through the crowd. They were running so fast, they were nearly carrying me. No one stood in our way and we would have made it to Pomfrey's in record time, had I not stopped them.

"You guys, we have a problem," I said once we had reached an empty corridor.

"Yeah, you're losing your sight,"

"No, we just needed to get out of there quickly without interruption. And it doesn't hurt that we've lost Wormtail in all the commotion,"

"Keena, what's going on?"

"We need to get to Dumbledore's office and I can't remember the short-cut we found,"

James and Sirius led me through the castle at a record pace. We arrived in front of the stone gargoyles five minutes later to find Remus and Harry attempting to get into the office.

"Whoa, is that a mirror?" Sirius asked when we got closer.

James and Harry stood frozen staring at one another through wide eyes.

"Oh my, what have we here," we all looked around to see Dumbledore heading towards his office.

"Professor, we've got a problem," I said nodding towards Harry.

"Why, James, when did you learn to duplicate yourself?"

"I didn't," James muttered.

Dumbledore came closer and looked closely at Harry, who nervously flattened his bangs.

"Would the five of you please step into my office?" he said the password (Sugar Babies) and we filed in, I went first followed very closely by Harry and the others.

Dumbledore sat behind his desk and conjured a few chairs for us to sit in.

"Well, Keena, it seems that you know what is going on here. Perhaps we should let your friends know a little bit more about you,"

"Um…I already told them about being from the future," I said hastily.

"Oh, well, that should take out half of the explanation," Dumbledore said, nodding happily. "Now all that remains is the other half,"

"And what do you want to know?" I asked.

"Who is our newest guest?"

I looked at Harry, who still seemed to be in shock. I cleared my throat and stared pointedly at him.

"I'm Harry Potter," Harry said, and he said it very nervously, looking around to see the three Marauders' reactions.

Remus and James stared silently with their mouths hanging wide open, but Sirius had to be vocal about it.

"So you're related to Prongs?"

"Well, how many Potters do you know, Padfoot?" James asked, a small smile finally coming back to his face.

"It doesn't hurt to ask, now does it?" Sirius said, sounding offended.

"So, you must be from the future," James said, ignoring Sirius.

Harry nodded.

"Oh!" Remus exclaimed suddenly. Everyone's heads turned to face him. "You're the Harry that Keena confuses James with sometimes,"

Harry gave me a questioning look and a smile and I was reminded of how much I missed home. How very sappy of me, but still, twenty-one (well, now sixteen) years is a very long wait.

"Hey, it's not my fault they look nearly identical," I said defensively.

"Harry, do you know how far ahead of us you are exactly?" Dumbledore asked.

"Not really,"

"What year are you? Fifth?" I asked.

"Yeah,"

"He's eighteen years ahead of us, Professor," I said.

"Alright," said Dumbledore. "Where is Mr. Pettigrew?"

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Harry tense up immediately; a dark shadow had fallen in place across his face.

"You don't trust him either?" James asked, surprised.

If anything, this question made Harry's face go darker.

"No, I don't," Harry said, more calmly than he looked.

"As I was saying," Dumbledore said, averting the attention away from Harry. "I think that is all you three need to know. Ms. McIntosh, would you care to stay here with Harry and I while we figure out what it is we need to do?"

"Sure," I said.

"Thank you, oh and boys," Dumbledore said as they reached the door. "Not a word of this meeting can leave this office. I'm sure you'll guard this secret well,"

"Yes sir," they closed the door behind them and it was just Harry, Dumbledore and I.

"Now, where shall we begin?" Dumbledore asked. "Harry, how did you get here?"

"Well I was in a Pensieve,"

"Who's?"

"Snape's, sir,"

"Severus Snape?"

"Yes, sir,"

"Very well, continue,"

"Well, I was watching my," he paused as he lost his voice shortly. "I was watching my dad and Sirius fight Snape, though I don't know why they were fighting,"

"They were at it again?" Dumbledore asked, looking at me now.

"Sir, they've been going on about getting him back for almost a week now," I admitted.

"Getting him back for what?" Harry asked.

"Well, James, Malfoy and Snape had a disagreement the other day and it lead to (as usual) a dual,"

"Two on one?"

"Yes,"

"So they hurt him?"

"No, they missed,"

"Who'd they hit?"

"Me," I said all of this as casual as possible.

"Mr. Potter, would you care to continue?"

"Oh, well Kailey—I mean Keena—got hit by a spell and she knocked into me. Professor, I thought when you're in a Pensieve you couldn't touch people or objects?"

"On normal circumstances, you are correct, Mr. Potter, but this is not normal. If I had to guess I would say because neither of you were in your respective times when you collided, you were knocked out of your own time," he pondered on what he said for a moment. "This is, of course, an assumption," he added as an afterthought, lightly stroking his beard, a habit he had noticeably taken up when his beard had been turned into tinsel.

"Can we get him back?" I asked.

"Of course, but it'll have to wait until I can figure out how," he said.

"Eh?"

"With magic, with very few exceptions, there is always a way to reverse what has been done. Now, until I can manage a way to get Mr. Potter back to his own time, I will be depending on you, Keena, to keep him out of trouble. Oh, and Harry, don't speak of what you know to anyone, we are coming to dangerous times here. I'm sure that it is nothing for you to worry about," he said, smiling.

"Yes, sir," Harry said, not sounding convinced at all.

"Very well, just tell James and the other two that Harry is to be considered a cousin. A distant cousin. I don't think there should be any problems. Good day to you both and good luck,"

We left Dumbledore's office to find an empty hallway. Harry was about to head to the Common Room when I stopped him.

"I didn't save them, did I?" I asked, my voice trembling slightly. "Any of them?"

"It's Voldemort," Harry said, pulling me into a tight hug. "What could you possibly do?"

"Do you know…I mean—was I even there?"

"I don't know if you were there when it happened, but I know you were there when Hagrid came to get me," he said. "I don't remember when you told me that, though, and it seemed like a touchy subject,"

"Seemed like?" I asked, grinning a little.

"Alright, it is," he said in agreement. "Kailey—er—Keena, do I have to see Wormtail?"

"Unfortunately," I said as we began to walk again.

"Great," he said in icy sarcasm.

"Well, not being allowed to change the past sucks,"

"Technically it's not the past, it's the future,"

"What?"

"Right now, you and I are in the past, but everyone else around here is in their present. Tomorrow is their future, not their past,"

"What are you suggesting here, Harry?" I asked, afraid of the answer I was going to get.

"Maybe there is still time,"

"Harry, you're from after I left, meaning you're from after I got back to my normal time. You're past has already happened. If I was going to change anything, you wouldn't remember it,"

"So you won't even try?"

"Of course I'm going to try, how could I not? This may sound a little strange, but you're dad is like a brother to me. And Lily is a great friend,"

"Not a sister?"

"In my experience, sisters fight more than brother-sister relationships. Besides, if you haven't gathered it yet, you're mom isn't big on the pranking the Marauders do,"

"I was going to ask about that," Harry admitted. "Does she hate him?"

"No, just finds him incredibly irresponsible and annoying and big-headed,"

"But she doesn't hate him?"

"She wouldn't admit that if you asked her, but on more than one occasion people have hinted that they argue like an old married couple,"

"Talking about James and Lily?" we both jumped as the Fat Lady stared down at us.

"Oh, yes," I said.

"They will be the sweetest couple once she loosens up and he calms down," the Fat Lady agreed. "Who is the guest?" she added, nodding to Harry.

"This is Harry, a cousin of James'," I said, holding true to Dumbledore's cover-up.

"Alright, head on in," she said.

"Wait, don't you need the password?" Harry asked, confused.

"Well, it's not as if I don't know that that is Keena," the Fat Lady laughed.

He looked at me questioningly.

"The passwords are mostly for the younger years at this school," I said. "It might be different where you're from," I added.

He nodded and we went inside.

"Hey Keena, are you alright?" Nickie yelled from the other side of the room. She was sitting on Orion's lap and Lexi was talking to Amanda and Lily who were on the couches next to them.

"Yeah, it was just a false alarm," I said. "Where are the guys?"

"I don't know," Nickie shrugged.

"They mentioned going to find Malfoy—Snape is in the Hospital Wing. I guess they figured they might as well be fair to the both of them," Lily informed, rolling her eyes.

"Of course, because they are so courteous," I said.

"Oh, look, a new boy," Lexi said, flirtatiously. "What is new boy's name?"

"Uh—Harry," said Harry, looking at Lexi twirling her bright blonde hair in her fingers.

"You look familiar," Amanda said, looking over at him with a curious expression.

"Looks like a Potter," Lily said, in a somewhat disgusted tone.

"Is there something wrong with that?" Harry asked, sounding amused.

"Only if you know James Potter, but I'm sure you aren't into the kind of stuff he is. Like over obsessing about Quidditch,"

"Hey!" Lily was shouted at by Nickie, Lexi, Orion and Harry.

"Apparently I'm mistaken," she said, laughing slightly on the expressions that everyone was giving her. "But seriously, watch yourself; you have no idea what kind of trouble those guys get themselves into,"

"C'mon, Lily, we aren't that bad," I said.

Lily just shrugged it off and turned back to Amanda. Lexi was still eyeing Harry, but was listening to the other two.

"Do you want to go find them?" I asked, turning to Harry.

"Do you know where they'll be?"

"By now? Probably near the Hospital Wing if not in it," I said. "They won't be seriously hurt," I added, seeing the shocked look on Harry's face.

"See? I told you they'd be around here somewhere," I said as we entered the Hospital Wing.

James and Sirius were both lying in their reserved beds, arguing with Pomfrey about spending the night. James had a large lump growing on his head and Sirius had received a black eye. Two more beds further down the ward had closed curtains. They were most likely occupied by Malfoy and Snape.

"We aren't seriously hurt! We don't have to stay!" Sirius was saying as we walked over to their beds.

"Complain all you like, Mr. Black, but it's not your safety I'm concerned with,"

"Poppy, you know us better than that!" James said in outrage. "We only get the people who got us first!"

"I've already told you, she is going to be fine,"

"That may be, but we can't risk them thinking that they can get away with this sort of thing. It's not moral to hit a defenseless girl," James said, raising his nose to the air.

"Prongs, is right, Madame. My wand wasn't even out and Healer Lasik said to be careful," I said, playing the role I had so many times before.

"Yeah, you were right there when he said that," Sirius added.

"Well, just don't go getting yourselves into any more trouble; it is, after all, near the end of the school-year,"

"So they can leave?" Remus asked.

Pomfrey sighed heavily and nodded before heading down to where the other two beds were. The five of us turned and left quickly.

"Hey, where's Wormtail?" I asked. Looking around, Peter wasn't present once more.

"He was in one of the beds,"

"Why?"

"He got in the way again," Remus said, shaking his head. "So, Harry was it? How long are you stuck with us for?"

"Dumbledore was kind of vague, he didn't mention whether he even knew how to get me back to my own time,"

"Hey, Harry, who is your mom?" James asked suddenly.

"Nice try, Prongs, but we're not allowed to speak a word,"

"I believe I was talking to Harry,"

"You'll know soon enough," answered Harry, grinning when James swore.

"Okay, can we interrogate Harry later? We've got planning to do," said Sirius, sounding impatient.

"What planning?" Harry asked.

"Why, our End-of-the-Year Prank of course! Also known as EYP, which is not a drug," Sirius said, proudly.

"What do drugs have to do with anything?" Harry asked.

"They don't," I said, shaking my head at Sirius.

So, I ended your wait, now you can help me. I need more prank ideas…again…(sad face). So review and gimme some please! Okay, till the next one! (numbah 26!)

:-D