"JAMES!"
I groaned and buried my face in my pillow. After a moment, I heard my door burst open, and the light in my room came on.
"James! Guess what day it is?" exclaimed Sirius's voice eager.
"It's not Christmas, not Easter, not my birthday, nor yours, nor Reg's," I said, voice muffled and groggy. "Therefore, I see no reason to get up."
"James," whined Sirius. "Me and Reggie are getting adopted today!"
"Your point is?" I replied dryly, sitting up nonetheless. "I could've slept in. But you just had to wake me."
"You always sleep in, though," he said, pouting.
"Most teenagers do," I retorted. "Which means you and Regulus should. But you don't- why you don't is beyond me."
"Sleeping is so overrated," said Sirius easily. "Come on, let's go get some breakfast!"
He grabbed me by the arm and pulled my all the way downstairs, still in my overlarge t-shirt and boxers. My breakfast was unsurprisingly already on the table (meaning either Sirius or Regulus had told Blinky to make it, anticipating success in waking me). Regulus was floating above the table with a bowl of Cheerios and milk, and he waved at me.
"Morning, Jamie," he said. "Siri wake you?"
I grunted an affirmative, taking a sip of my hot chocolate to try to wake up. After a moment, I said, "Blinky?"
Blinky appeared beside me, looking eager, as per usual.
"Can you get me a coffee?" I asked. She nodded, popped away, then reappeared moments later with a hot cup of coffee. I smiled and took a sip. Sirius stared.
"Can I get some?" he asked hopefully.
"No," I said, before looking at Blinky. "Sirius is not allowed coffee, and neither is Regulus, got it?"
Blinky nodded earnestly and popped away. Sirius pouted, and Regulus didn't seem to care. I figured that either of them (or both of them) on coffee was a bad, bad idea. A scary thought.
It was almost an hour before Mum and Dad walked into the kitchen. Mum blinked. "You three are up early."
"Sirius decided that there was no reason for me to sleep in, and therefore woke me from my comfortable slumber," I drawled, giving Sirius an annoyed look.
"You'd think you'd be used to it by now," said Dad, looking bemused. Perhaps you should put a locking charm on your door."
"We'll just blast it down," declared Sirius and Regulus in unison, grinning widely.
I rolled my eyes. "The sad thing is they actually might."
"Do that and you're grounded for life," threatened Mum.
Sirius grinned cheekily. "When has that ever stopped us?"
"We're going to take over the world," declared Regulus, looking totally serious. "And then we will ban this 'grounding' you speak of, Mum."
Perhaps it would have been funny, but we were all staring at Regulus, Mum most of all. Her eyes were tearing up and she smiled widely. "Reggie... did you call me Mum?"
"Uh... yeah?" said Regulus, who seemed confused that we were all staring. "You're adopting us, right? That makes you my new mum. Right?"
Mum beamed even wider than I thought possible. "Of course it does, sweetheart! I just didn't expect you to be so... willing to call me that."
"Well, why not?" Sirius said. "Our biological parents are awful people. You guys have been better parents to us than they ever were."
I smiled happily, and it really hit me. By the end of today, Sirius and Regulus would be my brothers. For real. I knew for a fact that Mum and Dad would go for a blood adoption- they never, ever did things halfway.
"We have the papers ready," said Dad. "Your mother and I are going to go pick up those and the potion for the blood adoption, and then all you two need to do is sign the paper and drink the potions."
Sirius and Regulus nodded, but I was frozen. "Wait. You're leaving me alone with them? Can't I go with you, Dad? Can't Mum watch them? They're evil!"
At that, said evil boys beamed wickedly.
"Let James stay," said Sirius. "We'll take good care of him."
"On second thought," laughed Dad nervously. "Your mother will watch you while James and I go pick up the papers and the potion."
Sirius and Regulus pouted; I sighed in relief.
"Finish your breakfast, James, and we can go," said Dad. "Besides, I think the Unspeakables have been wanting to speak to you for some time."
On second thought, perhaps staying here would have been the better choice.
I wasn't quite sure I trusted the Unspeakables. Dad did; he left me with them. But, with the way they were looking at me... I wasn't quite so sure.
"So," said the Head Unspeakable, a bloke named Croaker. "How did you travel back?"
"Um, something Dumbledore and you lot invented in the future," I replied. "I don't really know."
"And you've had no negative effects?"
"No," I said. "I mean, I had nightmares for a while but I had those in my timeline too."
"Have you changed much?"
"Quite," I replied dryly. "Considering that most of fourth year was different in the original timeline."
"Interesting," said Croaker. "Do you think you've had a positive or negative effect?"
"Well, so far, a lot less people have died," I said. "And we have more allies. So in that aspect, it's good. But me and my friends have also made huge enemies of the Death Eaters and Voldemort. So... I guess, bad for us, good for everyone else, right?"
Croaker nodded, slowly, pensively. "Indeed. Can we have a sample of your blood?"
"Um... what?" I replied, eyes wide. "A sample of my blood?"
"To see if there were any effects from the time travel," elaborated Croaker. "Just a small sample. For the sake of science. I'd also like to run a few other tests."
"I think you need my dad's permission," I said nervously. "I mean, I'm still a minor here."
"You're emancipated," said Croaker. "You're technically seventeen."
"What kind of tests, anyway?" I said, crossing my arms.
"Simple things," said Croaker. "To see if your magic is stronger or weaker, or maybe your intelligence, literally any effects of the time travel. For example, what happened to the essence of your younger self? Did it disappear, or is it still buried deep inside you?"
I had to admit, the last question had me very, very curious.
"I don't know," I told him. "Does it matter?"
"Essentially, you are our- what do Muggles say? Guinea pig. You're our guinea pig," said Croaker. "We know of no one else- besides Miss Evans- who has ever done anything like this."
"Oh," I said. "Well... er, maybe later?"
Croaker nodded. "The future must have been quite bad if you were allowed to come back."
"Yeah," I said. Croaker didn't question my answer. We stood there awkwardly. How long did it take to get papers and a potion!?
As if on cue, Dad walked in, arms full. He beamed widely. "James, ready to go?"
"Yes!" I said quickly. "Bye, everybody."
I pulled Dad out by the arm, leaving some very bemused Unspeakables behind me.
When we reached home, Mum looked very frazzled.
"You weren't kidding," she muttered to me. "They are crazy."
"Told you," I said. "Anyway, I almost think the Unspeakables were worse! They asked if they could take blood and run tests."
"And you told them no, right?" asked Mum.
"Of course," I said. "But they won't give up; I'll have to give in eventually. Oh, well... where are Sirius and Regulus, anyway?"
"I got tired of their shenanigans," admitted Mum, reddening. "So I put a silencing charm on them and locked them in an empty, childproof room with a couple of board games."
"Why didn't I think of that?" I murmured to myself.
"Well, James, can you go get them?" asked Dad. "So they can take the potion."
I grinned, and nodded, turning to race out of the room. I was halfway out the door when I skidded to a stop and turned around sheepishly. "Er... which room are they in?"
"Down the hall, second door to your left," said Mum, chuckled bemusedly.
I nodded, embarrassed, and ran off. Coming to the door, I pulled out my wand and unlocked the door, pushing it open. My mouth fell open. Sirius and Regulus both waved mutely at me.
"Bloody heck," I muttered to myself, staring around the room. Board games had been haphazardly thrown around the room, and somehow paint was all over the walls and the boys. Sirius was hanging upside down from the ceiling fan, and I had a pretty good feeling that was Regulus's fault. After all, how else would he have gotten his shirt stuck to one of the blades with glue? Regulus, on the other hand, was wearing a game board as a hat and had a paint gun aimed at me.
How the heck had they gotten all this stuff?
"Mum!" I called, not daring to move because Regulus looked ready to fire the paint gun at any second. "You might want to see this!"
Mum came running down the hallway and stopped beside me. "Oh my- Regulus! Sirius! How did you... this doesn't... what on earth were you two doing?"
Sirius started to speak, but, of course, no sound came out. Mum quickly un-silenced them both. Regulus giggled slightly evilly.
"Well," said Sirius, starting his story over. "We tried to play Monoplus-"
"Monopoly," I corrected.
"Right," said Sirius. "But I won and Reg didn't like that. So, you know, he declared war, but we didn't have any paint. But then I think Reg's accidental magic kicked in, and so we both had filled paint guns."
He brandished his own. Regulus cackled more.
"Anyway, he won, so he hung me from the ceiling fan," said Sirius. "And he somehow got some stupor-glow, or whatever Muggles call it. So I'm stuck."
"Super-Glue?" I guessed, still bewildered. "Wow. You two are just walking disasters, huh?"
"Not me!" defended Sirius quickly. "Just Reggie! He started it."
"But now I've won!" declared Regulus, and he stared at me and Mum. "Have you come to challenge my victory?"
"No, no," I said quickly. "You win. But, uh, the potion and papers are here."
Regulus's eyes lit up in a complete change of demeanour. "Really? Great, let's go!"
Mum sighed, exasperated, and quickly got Sirius down from the ceiling fan. "I really hope I don't regret this... not that it makes much of a difference at all."
"It makes all the difference, Mum," said Sirius. I knew, from looking at Mum, that it was the first time he'd called her that. I gently pried the paint gun from Regulus's hands, and we all walked back into the living room, where Dad had placed two cups of potion on the table.
"Here you are, boys- why are you both covered in paint?" he blinked, staring at them.
"It's a long story," I told him.
Dad shrugged. "Alright. I get the feeling I don't want to know. You two just drink up and sign the papers and everything'll be official."
"Why are we drinking a potion?" Regulus asked me.
"I haven't the foggiest," I told him.
Sirius shrugged, and picked up one of the cups, handing it to Regulus, before picking up his own. They both downed it, making a disgusted face at the flavour.
"Nothing feels different," mused Sirius.
"I can still fly," said Regulus, who seemed perfectly content. "Which is good."
"For you, maybe," I muttered.
Sirius and Regulus both signed the papers (why did they use paper and not parchment, anyway?), and straightened out, beaming broadly. I spoke up first: "Sirius and Regulus, welcome to the Potter family."
"So, will all three of us be 'Mr. Potter' to the teachers now?" Regulus asked, looking confused. I gave him an amused look. "What? That's what they called you?"
"I guess we will be," I chuckled. "That's gonna drive McGonagall crazy."
"Potter!" yelled Sirius, imitating the Transfiguration professor. "No, not you, the other Potter! No, no, the other Potter!"
I snorted despite myself. "Okay. That will be funny."
"Poor Minerva," sighed Mum. "Jacob, we'll have to warn them of course. I swear these three's behaviour has gotten worse over the summer."
"Three?" I repeated. "Surely you don't mean me as well?"
Mum raised an eyebrow. "Oh, yes, I do. All three of you... and though I'm grateful for how much you've loosened up since... well, since you got back, I'd appreciate it if you'd stop plotting insane pranks that might just destroy the wizarding world as we know it."
"Oh," I said, reddening. "You saw those?"
"Brilliant!" exclaimed Sirius. "You've got to show those to me, mate!"
Regulus nodded enthusiastically in agreement.
"No," I deadpanned. "I'm not stupid. You two would execute them in a way that might drive all of humanity into insanity."
"Hehe, that rhymes," chuckled Regulus, grinning like a madman. "Let's do it!"
I groaned. "I've created monsters!"
Suddenly, the fireplace turned green. Someone was flooing in. Startled, I pulled out my wand defensively and stepped in front of Sirius and Regulus. But there was no need; it was only Lily.
But something was wrong. She stumbled out, face tear-soaked, clothes muddy. "James, oh, James, it's horrible!"
I rushed over and caught her as she fell forward. "Lily, what happened? Are you okay?"
"I'm- I'm fine," she sniffled. "I was over at Marlene's house- you know Marlene, don't you?- and a bunch of Death Eaters showed up! We tried to fight them off, b-but they- they killed Mr. and Mrs. McKinnon! Marlene and I only barely escaped!"
"What?" gasped Dad.
I held Lily close, a heaviness settling over my heart as she sobbed. We had thought our victory had slowed Voldemort down. And, while it had for a little while, it hadn't for long enough. This was the first attack in months, and the message was clear.
Voldemort was back in business, just in time for our fifth year.
A/N: On that note, we end the chapter! Yes, I'm alive! I don't know why it took me so long to write this chapter, but, the good news is there's not that much left of this one. Not giving anything away, though. :D I love keeping you guys in the dark. Mwahahaha! Anyway, thanks so much to my awesome reviewers: sk8boards4ever, Lady Loophole, and jkawesome! You guys get paint guns like the one Reggie has! Just... don't use it on me, okay? I think I'm going to regret giving you those later...
I don't own Harry Potter.
