Disclaimer: we don't own Harry Potter or the Harry Potter universe. Those belong to J. K. Rowling and her wonderful muses.
Author's Note: the link to my original story is in my profile. Please read it! Also, thank you to everyone who has been patiently waiting for this chapter. A LOT of stuff has been getting in the way, including prom, GradBash, high school classes ending, senior internship starting, and personal issues with family. I already started the next chapter so I hope the next update will be sooner!
Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Cat's Out of the Bag: Part One
Lily sat beside James in the cave, staring down at her hands. The two of them had been waiting most of the day for Sirius to return with food and maybe a newspaper, to tell them what was going on in the world around them. They had tried talking for a while, but they very quickly realized that they didn't have anything to say. They could talk about Harry, but that would have been torture considering just how close to them he really was. They could have talked about Azkaban, but the chill of the name itself still brought horrible memories and emotions of Hell on earth. They could have talked about what they would do when (and if) their names were cleared, but that was a very big if, far in the unreachable future, and again torture.
Harry was their destined future. They wanted to bring him to live with them, not in Godric's Hollow since that had been destroyed, but maybe in Grimwald Place (they would have a lot of cleaning up to do), but the point was that they wanted to raise their child, even if only for the last few years before he became an adult and could live on his own. Would he want to live with them after everything that had happened? Could he live with all of the rumors that his parents had abused him and that both they and his godfather were still loyal to the Dark Lord? How would he react if they even asked for him to leave the house he had grown up in and come to a moldy, dust-covered hellhole that would take months to clean, just to be with them? Was it even worth wondering about?
Lily shifted and rested her head on James's shoulder, hugging his arm to her frail chest. At first James stiffened, but he gradually relaxed and kisses the top of her head, smiling affectionately at her. Touch was still a foreign concept to him, after having been stuck by himself for so many years. He had ached for his wife's touch for so long now, that even a simple sign of affection like a hug scalded him. He was slowly becoming more accustomed to the feel of flesh, however, so he didn't react as badly as he did the first time she had thrown herself at him (the moment they escaped Azkaban). "Are you tired sweetie? You know you can sleep if you need to."
"The nightmares will come back." Lily reminded him, nuzzling his shoulder comfortably. She only felt safe like this, hugging James to her chest. That way, no one would be able to pull him away from her. She would be left with… nothing if they took James away from her too. She would be a shell. No dementor could do worse to her. "Besides, I've slept enough. When can we see Harry?"
"Have patience darling." James whispered to her, twisting to wrap his other arm around her. He kissed along her neck soothingly, rubbing her back. "We can't just barge into the castle, demanding to see him. They might have guards protecting him in case we do something like that. He'd be too confused to know what to do."
"I want to see him." Lily said simply.
"I do too sweetie." James kissed the top of her head again. "But we have to wait a little longer, okay? We have to make sure we don't get caught. Harry wouldn't like that." Lily sighed her consent as she snuggled more against him. James only rubbed her back gently to soothe her. He too wanted to see Harry. The last time he had seen his son was when Harry was only a little older than a year old, just big enough to hold in one hand (much as Lily hated him not holding onto Harry with both arms) and now, he was probably too big to even carry anymore. What had they done to his son? Was he more like Lily or himself now? Or was he completely different than either of them? What house had he gotten into? What were his grades like? Who had been taking care of him? Did he get on the Quiditch team? Had he been sent to an orphanage?
A rustle from the cave entrance made both fugitives stiffen instinctively. A shock of red hair was the first thing the two saw. Sirius was NOT a red head, nor was he nearly as bulky as the young man who came into the cave, accompanied by a brown-haired girl. Both peered around the cave and blinked when they noticed Lily and James staring at them with abject horror. Silence filled the dark pit of dirt as they observed each other.
"I thought you said this place would be empty?" The boy whispered to his companion. James mentally calculated how he could get Lily and, hopefully, himself out of the cave without having to attract the attention of all of Hogsmead. These children hopefully didn't scream very loud.
"Harry, we've been looking all over for you!" The girl finally said, moving forward quickly to hug James. Lily screamed and quickly reeled back against the wall of the cave, her arms covering her face. James had a similar reaction except that he managed to get his stolen wand out of his pocket fast enough to point it at the strange girl. "Who the hell are you!" He demanded, his throat unusually dry. Merlin, PLEASE don't let them be caught!
The girl stepped back, surprised at the threatening wand pointed at her forehead. She and the red-haired boy exchanged glances before she turned back to him. "You're not Harry?" She peered closer at him for a long moment than frowned deeply. "No, you're not Harry… you don't look exactly like him."
"I'm…" he paused. Were they trying to trick him? They looked far too young to be Aurors, then again, maybe they were. They could possibly have just graduated from the Academy, or perhaps they had some kind of disguise spell (maybe some kind of Polyjuice potion?) and they were trying to get his guard down. Should he tell them what his name was?
"Well," the red-haired boy started, "do you know where Harry Potter is right now? We need to find him." At this, Lily rocketed to her feet. Her nails bit into James's arm as she latched onto him, maybe to keep herself from falling to her knees before them.
"You know Harry Potter?" She demanded, all fear instantly gone at the mention of her son. Both the girl and the boy exchanged looks again, this time far more cautious.
"Are you professors are Hogwarts?" The girl asked carefully. The looks on their faces instantly told her the answer she wanted. She turned to the redhead, completely ignoring James and Lily. "Ron, he has to be in Hogwarts. But we can't let anyone see us or there'll be even more danger than there already is for him."
"Well, I brought his cloak, but I think that with all the dementors snooping around Hogsmead, we'll be lucky to get halfway to the castle before they catch us and tear us limb from limb." He said dryly. "I don't know about you, but I haven't had a chance to really test out my Patronus since Harry left."
"We have to find a way in!" The girl said, pacing frustratedly. James and Lily watched the two like hawks. It didn't appear that they were going to harm them or even call the dementors for help since they themselves seemed fairly worried about the soul-sucking leeches. In fact, they didn't seem at all scared of the two convicts, who everyone else feared. Well, one thing had to be said. Right now they were being ignored, but they could just be waiting for the two convicts to let their guard down. Any second now they could go running out of the cave, screaming their location to the world.
"Please don't tell anyone we're here." Lily whispered. The brown-haired girl stopped her pacing and finally looked at Lily, as if she had just remembered they had an audience. She suddenly looked nervous.
"You're not… Death Eaters… are you?" The redhead, Ron, visibly stiffened and curled his fingers around his wand. James noticed the casual movement and tensed at the unacknowledged caution.
"You don't know who we are?" Lily said, staring at them. When both brown-haired girl and red-haired boy shook their heads, Lily and James looked at each other worriedly. Finally, Lily chuckled and shrugged.
"Lily Evans Potter, escaped Azkaban fugitive. A pleasure to meet you." James slowly lowered his wand and offered them a ghost of his old smirk.
"And I'm her ruffled husband, James Potter. Sorry about the mess, we didn't know we'd be having company." Both strangers paled and took a visible step back at their declaration. James instantly stiffened again, worried that having revealed their identities had reminded them of the bounty on both Potters' heads. Would they be caught now? Damnit, they were just kids! He couldn't bring himself to hex them unless he absolutely had to.
"Hermione…" the redhead whispered, "Hermione, please tell me I didn't hear what I just heard." Hermione didn't seem capable of speech.
"You can't be… that would mean… but," the girl, Hermione, swayed for a moment before regaining her composure. Before anyone could say anything else, there was a growl from the entrance of the cave. Ron turned and paled at the sight of Sirius in his dog form, a newspaper baggy in his mouth with what smelled like food. James couldn't help feeling relieved knowing that his best friend was now there. At least now they had back up in case the two attacked or tried to run.
Much to their surprise, however, the two strangers weren't at all afraid of the growling mutt. "SIRIUS!" They both shrieked and leapt at him. Sirius's growl turned into a yelp of surprise as both Hermione and Ron hugged him as tightly as they could. He managed to squirm away from them and bound towards Lily and James, transforming back into his human form with the baggy still in his mouth. Hermione and Ron stared at the three of them wide-eyed.
"Do you think Harry knows about this?" Ron whispered to Hermione, though everyone in the cave could hear him easily.
"I think he does," Hermione whispered back, "and I bet he found out at the worst possible moment. You know how his luck is, and when his temper gets out of control."
"We have to get to him." Ron said, a little louder since he realized that everyone heard him whether he whispered or shouted. "It's not safe for him to be here alone anymore. At least before he could hide himself; no one knew where he was from, but with Voldemort here now…" the three adults gasped at the utterance of The Name, not because it was frightening to them, but because this obviously strange boy had decided to speak it allowed, almost without fear. Almost.
"Ron, you dimwit," Hermione growled at him and smacked his arm. Ron instantly backed away from her with his hands raised defensively. "We have to find a way into Hogwarts." She said irately, forcing herself to ignore her best friend's idiocy.
"Good luck." Sirius finally growled, standing protectively beside James, hands clenched. "There are thousands of dementors all around the school, just waiting for us to come within an inch of the boundaries. There's no way you'll get past them when you have our scent all over you." At this he sneered. "You hugged me, remember?"
"Dementors can smell?" Ron asked, amazed.
"Yes yes, they can smell." Hermione said dismissively. "But that doesn't matter. We can sneak in through Honeydukes; when Harry did it, there weren't any dementors following him. And since we look like the Hermione and Ron of this dimension, of course no one will think we're not us." The boy looked momentarily confused before the end of her sentence sunk in.
"Dimension?" Lily whispered quietly, resting her chin on her husband's shoulder tiredly. All this excitement was draining her. Maybe she should have tried sleeping more before? "What are you talking about?"
Ron opened his mouth but Hermione beat him to it. "Don't worry about it right now. The point is that we can get you into the school grounds. Since it's still morning and the dementors aren't allowed into the town while there are people around, you can sneak into Honeydukes with us."
"And how will we do THAT?" Sirius growled, feeling a trap coming their way. "I can turn into a dog, you know that already, but James can't and neither can Lily." Hermione stared at him as if he was insane.
"James can turn into a stag, if I'm not mistaken. At least, that's what you yourself told us back home and Harry's Patronus proves it." At this the room went silent, more out of confusion than anything. Lily and James exchanged puzzled looks and Sirius simply stared at them.
"Now look who has to shut up!" Ron hissed to her. Hermione ignored him however.
"You don't have to change into anything anyway. Animals can't go into Honeydukes and a stag will draw too much attention. You can use this." And she pulled out something soft, flowing, and silvery from her robe pocket. James couldn't stop staring at it.
"… That's my… Invisibility Cloak."
"How'd you get that!" Sirius demanded, awestruck.
"Dumbledore gave it to Harry when he came to school. When you… well, you weren't there anymore so someone had to give it to him." Hermione said edgily. She didn't want to give away too much information about her universe, since that was how major shifts in the balance of powers occurred, but she couldn't leave them completely in the dark. She had always wanted to see these three, alive, but now that she was seeing them (especially Harry's parents), she wasn't sure what to say exactly.
"Hermione, maybe we should tell them?" Ron said quietly.
"NO, we CAN NOT tell them anything!" Hermione whirled on him, eyes blazing that he had even suggested such a thing in front of them.
"Can't tell us what?" James asked carefully.
"It's creepy," Ron whispered to her, this time managing to go unheard by the other three in the cave. "And you know it is. We're talking to three dead people, and all of them are suddenly alive and worried that we're going to expose them. We have to tell them something."
"It's not our place to." Hermione whispered back. "We can't. In the end, it's not our responsibility to tell them anything, not even about Harry. They'll have to ask him."
"What are you two whispering about now?" Sirius demanded, suspiciously glaring at them. Ever since he had entered the cave, he had been waiting for an attack from the strangers. How did they know about this little alcove? Scores of Aurors and dementors were searching for them using every magical means possible, and yet these two somehow managed to stumble all the way up the hill and somehow find the cave where the three of them had been hiding? Too much of a coincidence… their luck couldn't be that bad. And yet here they were, completely unafraid and even… maybe sympathetic? But that made no sense! Children grew up fearing Black and the Potters, either because of rumors that they had all been working for the Dark Lord or because of what they had supposedly done to Harry.
"Just get under the cloak and we'll take you to Harry." Hermione said, already starting out of the cave. Sirius and James exchanged looks for a long moment before they put the cloak around themselves and pulled Lily in between them. Better to be caught together than to be left alone safe.
What a predicament this was! Longbottom, Weasley and Granger walking in on Draco fighting with Potter had not been part of the plan. Draco had wanted to slip another cursed talisman on Potter that would force him to open his chakras to the Dark Lord, but that seemed impossible at the moment. Hmmm, what to do. Well, he could always threaten one of their lives – that tended to work most of the time back home – but that was too cliché and boring for him. In order to torture them properly, he would have to take them somewhere more private and carefully go through his endless arsenal of ideas, all more creative and gruesome than the last. That and he would have to control himself so he wouldn't kill them too quickly.
Truth was, he didn't really want such a huge audience. He just wanted to be alone in a room with Potter in order to thoroughly beat the shit out of the little bastard. He wanted to make the self righteous little shit suffer before he killed him. But oh, that's right, he wasn't allowed to kill the little golden boy. He had to drag his skinny ass back to the Dark Lord like a good little servant. Ah, sometimes Draco regretted signing over his life, will, and future to the Dark Lord. Such a niche usually forced him to limit his options when it came to torture and maiming. Then again, he was well known now for his creativity when it came to torturing a person and leaving no scars to betray the actions.
"Mr. Weasley, would you escort your friends back to the Gryffindor Common Room, immediately?" Dumbledore said with dangerous calm. This brought Draco's attention back to the situation at hand.
"Awww, why make them leave so soon? The party just started!" He smirked widely, letting his eyes trail over to Potter. Yes, sweet, innocent little Potter, the same golden boy that had been the center of his wretched existence since his very first day in Hogwarts. "Don't you want them to hang around Potter? You always loved putting them at the center of any danger, isn't that right?"
"Malfoy, shut UP." Potter hissed between gritted teeth.
"Bugger off Potter." Draco growled back. " You've stayed quiet long enough. I think it's time that everyone here knew exactly who you are, where you're from. It's not nice you know, leaving everyone in the dark about something as important as your fame." He smirked widely. "Poor Potter, always at the center of attention. Reporters couldn't get enough of you. Don't you remember fourth year Potter? The TriWizard Tournament? You weren't even supposed to put your damned name in the goblet yet there you were, with the real champions. You had to cheat the whole way along, didn't you? There was no way you could keep up with sixth year wizardry when you were a lowly fourth year."
"Malfoy, stop TALKING you bastard!" Harry whispered, looking furious but also a tad frightened. He was revealing too much. How the hell did he know Harry had cheated? Hagrid would never tell anyone, and neither would Moody he didn't think. Well, he didn't know anything really. But Malfoy… when had he become so damned perceptive?
"Remember how they found you Potter?" Draco continued, hissing. "Clinging to Diggory's dead body, the TriWizard cup in your other hand. Couldn't let go of it, could you Potter? Almost died but you couldn't die without your precious victory in hand!"
"THAT WAS THE BLOODY PORTKEY!" Potter exploded, trying to leap at Draco. Weasley and Granger managed to hold him back. Their faces were white and terrified, just from listening to Draco speak about the death of someone they saw regularly and took for granted. After Cedric Diggory had graduated from Hogwarts, he started working at the Ministry, in the department of Quiditch and other wizarding sports. He always came to visit though, either to help Madame Hooch or to see his girlfriend, Cho Chang.
"Don't lie, Potter." Draco whispered, feeling the familiar anger surge through his body. Oh but if he could only choke him a little, maybe the Dark Lord wouldn't mind so much then? He could almost feel the soft flesh of Potter's throat suddenly tighten, restricting air to his lungs, the soft choking sound, the feel of his pulse speeding up and thumping against his fingers as they tightened, slowly, slowly pushing back his larynx until… no movement. Falling helplessly, lifelessly, slowly to the ground with no more strength than a deflated balloon. Oh, if only he could get away with it!
Dumbledore cleared his throat, making everyone in the room look at him. Snape had not dared to say anything thus far. Heh, he was trying to protect his own skin, the traitorous little parasite. But no matter, he would soon pay for his crimes. The Dark Lord always rewarded those loyal to him and those stupid enough not to follow orders or to betray him, well, there were very few of those still capable of speech.
"I think this has gone on for long enough." Dumbledore said quietly. "I wish for Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Potter, Ms. Granger, and Mr. Weasley to come with me to my office where we can discuss this civilly."
"What do you hope to gain from discussing anything with me?" Draco growled, glaring at him. The old coot was loony in every dimension it seemed, and just as blinded by the sparkle of potential hope. He thought he could save Draco when it was far too late. He couldn't even save Potter this time. Only Potter truly knew what was coming now that the Dark Lord of their universe was there.
"Why don't we use the dungeons instead?" Evans suddenly said, starling everyone. He had remained quiet up until now but he didn't seem bothered by all of the attention. "The dungeons are closer than your office, Mr. Dumbledore, and they are better equipped in case any truth serum is required to extra answers from unwilling mouths?"
Dumbledore didn't seem entirely convinced, yet he couldn't deny that a truth serum very well could be required. Finally he smoothed his hands over his robes and said, very calmly, "To the dungeons then."
To all of their surprises, Draco slowly grinned and relaxed. "Fine with me. All of you bastards can see what he really is now." He smirked at Harry. "No one to hide behind now Potter."
