TITLE: Double Back
DISCLAIMER: All things Harry Potter belong J K Rowling... basically, if you recognise it, it isn't mine... Please don't sic the Aurors on me, I'm just here for the fun.
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Highlands of Scotland
As September ended and the nights grew colder through October, James found himself enjoying teaching more and more as the weeks progressed.
It was tiring, but rewarding at the same time, and teaching everyone from the small first year kids he remembered being his friends in his own personal past, through to seventh years who were brushing up on more advanced curses and charms ready for their final NEWT exams, was more fun than he'd ever had in his years as an Auror.
It was actually surprising him how well he'd fit into the role, and made him wonder why he'd never thought about teaching before.
He remembered having fun when trying to help everyone out in his fifth year of school. He'd managed to teach everyone the disarming spell and the patronus charm, despite the patronus being well beyond NEWT level magic, and he'd had a rather stunning amount of success teaching it as well.
October had been moving pretty quickly, and while he'd taken the time out specifically to teach the five of 'his kids' as he'd come to think of them, how to cast proper warming charms over their cloaks and robes, he still found himself keeping watch over them carefully for any interference that might come their way.
Malfoy had written back to Sirius, explaining that he knew who had attacked Godric's Hollow and why they had left the country now. It wasn't groundbreaking news, but it was nice to have it confirmed. The fact Malfoy hadn't pushed for a meeting after giving away that information was puzzling, and he hadn't asked for anything in return, which had been bugging both him and Sirius, as that certainly wasn't the way either of them knew Slytherins to operate.
He'd found out about Amelia and Julia conning Sirius into taking his family seat on the Wizengamot, that piece of information had had him laughing non stop for a few hours as he tried to imagine Sirius being all proper and respectful while listening to posturing idiots waffling on about laws and budgets.
Sirius had thankfully ruined that impression within five minutes, constantly referring to the Wizengamot as 'Wizenmaggots' instead, much to Amelia and Julia's annoyance. He'd found it so amusing that he'd actually started using 'Wizenmaggots' himself, finding it definitely fitting to that collection of corrupt idiots that actually ran the country.
Overall though, he was tense. Waiting for the other shoe to drop. Voldemort had now been quiet since the first of September, aside from Greyback's attack on Diagon Alley, which they'd never actually confirmed had been ordered by Voldemort or if it had simply been Greyback's idea with the other Death Eaters following him for their usual appetites for mayhem and chaos.
Generally he was leaning to believe it had been Greyback's idea. The attack wasn't well planned, and certainly not effective, and it exposed three of Voldemort's marked Death Eaters in a single swoop, making it a rather stupid mistake that didn't really feel like something Voldemort would plan.
The attack on Godric's Hollow they knew was just low tier Death Eaters acting out and trying to get into Voldemort's good graces again, but it hadn't been an attack that had been ordered or planned by him. That left James feeling somewhat uneasy as he tried to figure out exactly what Voldemort was doing now that everyone in the country knew he had returned.
He'd pulled all of his fifth and sixth year memories out and had a pensieve that was literally swimming in the milky whisps of clouds, and had been through them all piece by piece to try and find any pattern or distinctive activity that he'd missed the first time around.
It was irritating to learn that Voldemort had either been just as quiet when he'd first appeared in his school years, or that he'd been attacking other places and either Dumbledore hadn't told him about it, or he just hadn't heard about it from anywhere.
Looking back, he had to admit that through school, he'd stayed pretty much to his own little group with Hermione and Ron, and hadn't paid much attention to the outside world beyond Hogwarts at all. Even with the lies and cover ups from The Ministry in his fifth year, he should have heard something, but there was nothing in his memories about Voldemort's attacks at all.
Most of his fifth year memories were dealing with Umbridge, Malfoy and the rest of the Inquisition Squad, with the only hints of Voldemort's return being the breakout from Azkaban, and then the battle through the Department of Mysteries, where Voldemort's return was finally brought out into the open.
That left an entire year where Voldemort and the Death Eaters either hadn't done anything and had simply been planning and biding their time, or they had been acting out, and The Ministry had been covering it up. The problem was, he couldn't figure out which it was.
Voldemort being quiet and planning an attack seemed likely, and figuring his target was going to be Azkaban was easy enough. It was just a matter of figuring out when the attack was likely to occur, and making a plan from there.
While his war with Voldemort had stalled and fallen into more of a waiting pattern, his personal time had actually been the most enjoyable he'd had in quite a few years.
Amelia and Julia both spent regular evenings in the castle now, enjoying meals and evenings chatting and getting to know each other better. He now knew that Julia's family on her great grandmother's side actually came over from south eastern Norway nearly two centuries ago, and were actually distantly linked to the royal family's blood line there.
They'd had quite a fun conversation about cryomancy and the way her family was particularly gifted with ice magic, with Julia taking the time to show off some of her talents with wandless magics that were far beyond anything James was capable of.
All in all, things were going well, which is why he was surprised one evening to return to his office to find Sirius sat on his desk, pensively flicking through one of his fourth year text books with a worried expression on his face.
"What's happened?" James asked, moving into the office properly and closing the door behind him so they could talk properly.
"Mooney reached out again," Sirius said by way of explanation as he dropped the text book on the desk next to him with a thump. "The usual excuses and 'But Dumbledore said' bullshit in his letter." He explained with a frown.
"Ah," James nodded, moving over to one of the spare chairs and collapsing down into it, dropping the parchments he'd been carrying onto the chair next to him. "And?" He asked curiously, looking up at Sirius with a questioning glance.
"And what?" Sirius asked, looking back at him.
"And? What do you want to do about it?" James shot back. "He's your friend, not mine." He pointed out. "I barely knew him, we spoke for maybe a year with him teaching me, then bits and pieces after that when Voldemort returned. I don't really care one way or the other." He explained with a shrug.
"See, I don't get that." Sirius frowned over. "Why didn't he stay in touch? Help you? Talk to you about Prongs and Lily? Tell you all the stories like he should have done?"
"Don't know," James admitted, ruffling his hair in frustration. "Look, I don't know his reasons, or his excuses. It doesn't change anything as far as I'm concerned." He explained with a shrug. "I'm only considering forgiving him because it was pointed out to me that he was barely out of school when he became an idiot and followed Dumbledore around like a puppy." He said with a small smirk at Sirius' snort of amusement. "Just like you and my parents." He explained bluntly, causing Sirius to look at him in surprise.
"You'd really forgive him for being such a prat for all those years?" Sirius asked curiously.
"Forgive him, yeah." James nodded thoughtfully. "I can't say I'd ever trust him, not with how I know he acted in the future, but maybe, if he pulled his head out of his arse and actually started acting like a decent human being, maybe." He explained.
"That's the problem right, trust?" Sirius asked with a frown. "He'll know you're not Prongs the moment you walk in the door."
"Werewolf thing?" James asked, cocking his head to the side as he contemplated that.
"Hardly," Sirius snorted, shaking his head. "You're not Prongs, hell, you're not even what I'd ever thought Prongslett would grow up like." He explained. "You look like him, but you're not. It's not just in the way you talk, or glare at people for being idiots, it's everything, right down to your clothes and how you slouch around."
"Not like my dad?" James asked, actually curious now.
"Nothing like Prongs." Sirius shook his head again. "Prongs wouldn't be caught dead in jeans and a muggle denim shirt for starters." He explained with a small grin. "Fine Acromantula silk robes with Gryffindor piping was the only way to go as far as he was concerned."
"That just sounds like a nightmare to me," James shot back with a shake of his head in disgust as he tried picturing wearing anything like that.
"That's what I mean," Sirius explained, pointing his finger directly at him. "You're not Prongs, it's everything, even how you walk, it's nothing like Prongs." He said with a frown. "You might look like him, but aside from that..." He trailed off with a sad expression on his face.
"Sorry," James said awkwardly, not knowing what else to say when faced with that sort of knowledge. "I never really... well, Minerva gave me a few memories of mum and dad when they were in classes and stuff, but that's all I really had of them."
"It's hard, you know, thinking about them when you're stood there looking like that." Sirius said with a frown. "Just for a moment, every now and again, I catch a look at you and it takes me a minute to remember you're not him." He explained with a pained expression on his face. "I know you're Harry, I get that, it's just hard you know?"
"Yeah," James nodded thoughtfully. "Look, about Remus, do you really think we can trust him with all of this?"
"Maybe," Sirius hedged, shifting around on the desk as he contemplated the thought. "Nine years ago, I'd have said without a doubt, but now..." He trained off with a frown. "It's not just you or the other you he screwed over. nine years and he didn't even bother to try and find out if I was guilty or not, he just assumed I was and was happy to forget about me."
"There's still Pettigrew out there to deal with as well," James pointed out. "Not like hunting down that rat will be any easier this time than it was last time."
"Did you ever get him last time?" Sirius asked curiously.
"He strangled himself with his silver arm, it was a gift from Voldemort." James explained at Sirius' questioning look. "He died at Malfoy Manor while we were escaping if you like the irony."
"I don't," Sirius frowned at the thought. "Voldemort gave him a silver arm? What happened to his real arm?"
"Cut his own hand off in the ritual to give Voldemort a new body." James answered bluntly. "Flesh of the servant, willingly given." He muttered, shaking his head. "Can't forget that night, however much I'd love to."
"Fitting then," Sirius muttered. "I don't even know how you'd give someone a new hand like that." He frowned as he racked his mind for what sort of charm that must be. "I've never heard of anything like that before."
"Me neither," James shook his head. "Seriously, I looked into it, nobody's even heard of it before, most of the people I asked about it wouldn't even believe it had happened." He explained, rubbing his stubble thoughtfully. "Think it was one of Voldemort's own spells?"
"Maybe," Sirius mused aloud. "Doesn't sound like something ol' snakeface would come up with though. A spell that helps people and gives them a hand back? Doesn't sound much like him to me."
"Point," James nodded, conceding that Sirius actually had a good point with that. If it was common place, then Mad-Eye would have used it to replace his leg, so it was obviously either obscure or magic that needed a hell of a lot of power to cast. "Some lost magic he dug up from somewhere then?"
"Maybe," Sirius muttered. "Doesn't really matter right? Wormtail doesn't have the silver hand now right?"
"Nope," James shook his head. "Voldemort didn't give it to him until he cut off his arm in the ritual, end of my fourth year. He was still hiding out as a rat with the Weasley's at this point."
"Well, we know he isn't going to be using that ritual any time soon, not after you blasted the grave into dust." Sirius frowned as he thought about Wormtail. "He's not with them anymore?"
"I double checked, Ron hasn't got him and Percy hasn't seen him since the summer when you had your trial." James explained. "He probably went into hiding straight away."
"He always did know when to get out of sight," Sirius muttered with a dark expression on his face. "Think he's gone running back to snakeface?"
"If he could find Voldemort, he's done a better job than any of us could." James snorted at the thought. "He's probably holed up somewhere living his ratty life until he hears anything. Hiding away again, seems to be his style."
"Probably," Sirius bit out. "So our chances of catching up to him are pretty much squat."
"Something like that." James said with an apologetic expression on his face. "No offence, but I've got bigger fish to fry than the rat. If he pops his head up, I'll take it off, but until then..."
"Yeah, he's small fish compared to snakeface, it's just... it's personal right?" Sirius said with a dark expression on his face.
"He's yours if we find him." James promised, knowing that Sirius' freedom didn't hinge on Pettigrew one way or the other this time around, so he could very happily hand the rat over and let Sirius do as he wanted with the betrayer.
"Good," Sirius nodded in agreement with that. "And Mooney?"
"Mooney," James sighed, slumping back in his chair. "We'll talk, I'm all for second chances, but if he ends up running to Dumbledore again..."
"We can both curse the shit out of him." Sirius interrupted with a slightly manic grin.
"Well, you can, I was just going to obliviate him so far back that he'd need to start potty training all over again." James smirked over. "Though I do have a great hex for actually cursing the shit out of someone if you really want to know."
"Oh?" Sirius perked up a bit at that, raising an eyebrow towards James. "Actually cursing the shit out of someone?" He asked in amusement. Emphasising the word 'actually' as he spoke.
"I figured it out with George... Weasley that is, prankster extraordinaire." James explained with a smirk. "You'd like them, Fred and George, they're right up your alley for mischief and headaches." He said with a grin. "Anyway, it's a combination of a severe flatulence hex and a bowel loosening hex. Lasts about an hour before it wears off."
"Nasty," Sirius winced, shuddering at the mental image that description brought up. "That's what I call cursing the shit out of someone."
"Definitely, the only problem is it's pretty much immediate, and if you're close enough to cast it, you're close enough to smell it when it hits." James explained, pulling a face to indicate he'd been that close before and it wasn't a pleasant experience for anyone involved. "Seriously, it's like a bout of instant and explosive diarrhoea, and just downright messy to see."
"Right, not going to be trying that one out anytime soon." Sirius muttered, shaking his head at the thought.
"It's for the best," James nodded in agreement. "Send Remus an owl, we can talk to him and figure out where to go from there."
"You're serious about forgiving him?" Sirius asked curiously. "And not just because of... Teddy you called him? Mooney's son?"
"Not just that, but..." James trailed off with a shrug. "If he can actually pull his head out of his arse, maybe he'd be a good help to us with all this."
"Maybe," Sirius grunted. "Mooney I can see as a professor." He said with a smirk. "You... I'm still having trouble with that one."
"You're far too irritating when I've got a wand in easy reach," James shot back with a mock glare. "Owl him and see what he says. I've got Tonks coming over in a bit to brush up on her curse work."
"Senior or junior?" Sirius asked as he hopped off James' desk.
"The colourful one," James said with a roll of his eyes.
"Little Nymphadora," Sirius grinned widely at that. "Hows she doing anyway?"
"Alright actually," James admitted. "Her shields need some work, and her cursing isn't worth shit, but now she's got the patronus down she's getting a hell of a lot better with everything."
"Little Nymphadora can cast a proper patronus?" Sirius asked in amazement. "What is it?"
"Little bouncing rabbit thing," James answered with a grin. "Little thing was bouncing all over the classroom like it was made of pure coffee the first time she managed to pull it out."
"Weird things," Sirius shook his head in amusement.
"You ever learn to cast one?" James asked curiously. "I don't remember ever seeing you cast it now that I'm thinking about it."
"Never got the hang of it," Sirius shook his head. "Not before Azkaban, and now..."
"Happy memories aren't that easy to come by," James filled in with a knowing nod. "Alright, I'll see if I can teach you sometime when I've got the time."
"Thanks," Sirius grinned over with an easy smile as James stood up, giving him a friendly nudge with his shoulder. "Nearly finished in the basement by the way, think you're going to love it down there."
"Oh?" James perked up at that, raising an eyebrow towards Sirius. "You hadn't mentioned it for a while, thought you'd given up on it."
"Just had a bit of trouble with the sand and some of the water enchantments freezing over instead of heating up," Sirius shrugged. "Tropical ice rink wasn't really the look I was going for, but I'll get it finished this weekend I reckon. The little waterfall kindof turned out running hot instead, so it's sort of a demented cross between a waterfall and a shower." He explained with a laugh.
"Next week then," James grinned, going to a mental happy place of him and Amelia enjoying a tropical skinny-dipping evening just to themselves. "Let me know what Remus says."
"Will do," Sirius nodded back as he headed through to the living room to use the fireplace. "Hows Harry doing with school anyway?" He asked curiously.
"Better than I did," James snorted in amusement as he followed Sirius through. "He's got glowing reports from Minerva, Filius and Andromeda. I swear he's going to get better grades in his first year than I did after my OWL's."
"Good on him! Guess he's got more of Lily in him than Prongs." Sirius grinned over. "Any ideas what he'd like for Christmas?" He asked curiously. "Since you already got him that fancy broom, I can't really think of anything else."
"Aside from the pranking bits you're already planning for him?" James asked with a smirk.
"Obviously," Sirius grinned back as he grabbed a handful of floo powder.
"Seriously though, you want to give him something that'll really mean something to him? Spend a day in the pensieve with him showing him our mum and dad." James explained with a sad expression on his face. "Ever since I found out about pensieves, it always pissed me off that I never knew about them in time for you to show me anything about my parents." He said with a soft voice. "You've got that chance now." He said, giving Sirius a firm look to show he was serious.
"I'll make sure of it." Sirius promised, giving James a solemn nod and a vow not to let him down on this. "Their wedding might be a good one to start off with, then some of our pranks, and Prongs coming home from his first date with Lily."
"Perfect," James nodded. "And if you..."
"I'll leave a copy in your office for your pensieve as well," Sirius nodded, knowing already what James was going to ask. "Anyway, enough mushy stuff, go on and teach that niece of mine how to kick arse alright?"
"Fine," James snorted, shaking his head at Sirius' childlike attitude. "Have fun with the lagoon." He offered with a grin before Sirius stepped into the fireplace and vanished in a puff of emerald fire.
Heading back into the office area, James took a moment to sort through the parchments he'd dumped on the chair for now, moving them onto the desk for marking later on. It was only first year essays on the smoke screen charm, hardly anything exciting, the highest hopes he actually had was that any of them actually did the reading properly before he was ready to teach them the spell on Monday.
It also didn't help that Halloween was fast approaching, and with memories of the troll incident fresh in his mind, along with plans to take his younger self out to Godric's Hollow to see where their parents lived, he was feeling quite distracted with everything lately.
Forcing those thoughts aside for now, and making a mental note to keep an eye out around the school on Halloween, he gabbed a few of the more advanced curse books from his shelf and got ready for Nymphadora to turn up. Maybe today they'd actually get somewhere with the flame whip curse, despite Nymphadora's natural tendencies to stick to safer 'point and cast' style magic.
And hopefully she wouldn't end up in the hospital wing due to her own clumsiness while casting, again, for the fourth time.
Outside on the Hogwarts grounds, the infamous six friends were all enjoying the first snow of the year, laughing and playing around while chatting about everything that had happened so far this year.
Ever since Hermione's birthday, the five had turned into six and had grown into a tight nit group of friends, with Tracey joining in and making fast friends with Harry, Susan and Neville, they'd become a group that seemed to puzzle the rest of the school.
Two Hufflepuffs, two Gryffindors, and two Slytherins, all in one group and chatting amongst themselves while helping each other out wasn't something that anyone else around Hogwarts was really used to seeing.
Most of the Hufflepuffs had got used to it by now and simply accepted the group, after seeing Daphne, Hermione, Neville and Tracey join Harry and Susan in the common room for studying and playing games, they'd simply watched then just let them get on with it.
The Gryffindors were mostly confused by the whole thing, on the one hand, Slytherins weren't to be trusted at all, and were generally hated on sight, but on the other hand, Harry Potter was in the group and was making friends with the two snakes, and had made it very clear on a few occasions that he utterly hated bullies of any sort.
The fact that both Hermione and Neville were ploughing through school work and earning more points for Gryffindor than anyone else added to this confusion, as the two were generally looked on as outcasts in the Gryffindor house, but had somehow become friends with Potter and his little group. So for now, the Gryffindors had adopted a 'wait and see' approach to the whole thing.
In Slytherin, the 'wait and see' approach was firmly ingrained in their house, even Malfoy hadn't said anything, but everyone had noticed him and Parkinson paying close attention to Greengrass and Davis, watching their interactions and friendships closely.
Without Snape there to give the Slytherins free reign over the school, even the older students had learnt very quickly to curb their old behaviours. There was no-one in the school now to protect them from McGonagall or favour them over the other houses, which meant they actually had to earn their house points properly this year, and currently Slytherin was in fourth place for the House Cup, thanks to quite a few detentions and point losses early in the year before the idiots in the house learnt that the professors weren't joking around about the new school rules.
Added to that was the fact that Slytherin House had lost a few students to transfers out of the school already this year, nobody really spoke about it aloud, but even the most idiotic of Slytherins had been able to put two and two together and see what had happened. With James Potter in the school, nobody wanted to risk spouting off pure blood dogma anywhere where it might get back to him, which left the Slytherin common room the only place really where it was banded around, and even there it was done so dubiously with everyone looking around and double checking that nobody else was listening in.
While Harry was having the time of his life actually finding friends and somewhere to belong, Draco Malfoy was not happy with the way his Hogwarts year had started at all.
It was somehow made even worse by the fact that Potter was a 'Puff, making everyone look at the Hufflepuff house differently now. If he'd been an idiot Gryff, or even a 'Claw, then that would have at least been something, but he was in the house of the duffers, but from what he'd heard, he was still out performing practically everyone when it came to his magic. It just wasn't right to see a duffer winning house points and being disgustingly popular with everyone.
He'd grown up being told that he would rule his Slytherin year easily when he started school, after all, the Malfoy family were the richest and most powerful of all the pure blood families, it was his right to rule the best house in the school. Now that the older Potter had somehow come back to life though, everything had changed. He'd expected his father to be ecstatic about the news that Potter had defeated Dumbledore and forced him out of the school, only for his father to give him very firm instructions about laying low, towing the line, and not to antagonise Potter junior or senior, or their associates, in any way.
Which annoyingly meant he had to put up with seeing Greengrass and Davis sullying themselves and sitting with a mudblood during classes. What added an injury to that insult was the fact that that same mudblood was outperforming practically everyone else in their year. It was disgusting and she was obviously cheating somehow, after all, how could a mudblood be better at magic than any of the pure blood Slytherin families? She had to be cheating, it was the only explanation.
Proving it however, had Draco stumped. Moving against the mudblood meant moving against Potter, which he'd been expressly forbidden to do. Not to mention the fact that there were now no teachers that he could actually talk to and voice his concerns. Without his godfather here to protect him from reprisals, he was quite literally stuck for ideas. When Crabbe, Goyle and Nott had all transferred to Durmstrang without even saying anything to him, it had left him and Zabini the only two male Slytherins in his year.
It wasn't a good start to his year at all, and he utterly hated to think that this was how the rest of his Hogwarts years were going to go. Something had to be done to fix all of this, but with his father obviously being forced into the waiting game as well, he had absolutely no idea what he could do or how he could put things right again.
Godric's Hollow
West Country
October 19th
The snow was coming down thick and fast as James and Sirius apparated to Godric's Hollow, both of them turning away from the freshly rebuilt statue of the Potter Family that stood proudly in the town square. For both of them it was simply a reminder of that night and everything Harry had lost, a reminder that neither of them constantly needed.
"Sirius, James... James?"
Both of them turned around at the same time, Sirius with a glare on his face as he recognised the voice, and James with a weary caution, eyeing the man he hadn't seen in so long.
Remus was just exactly as he remembered the man being, wearing threadbare clothes that looked like they'd seen far too many repairing charms, mussled hair and a weary expression on his face. "Who are you?" He demanded instantly, his wand coming out as anger flushed across his face.
"Mooney, it's..." Sirius started as soon as he saw the wand, but James was far quicker off the mark, a disarming charm flew with pinpoint accuracy, followed by a scarlet banishing charm, that knocked Remus back as his wand sailed out of his hands and arced across the air into James' waiting hand. "It's not what you think." He finished off lamely, flicking his eyes between where Remus had ended up sprawled on the snow covered ground, and where Junior was simply holding Mooney's wand with a resigned expression on his face.
"That's not Prongs!" Remus spat out, climbing to his feet angrily and getting ready to charge Sirius and the impostor.
"No, I'm not." James shot back, glaring across at Remus angrily.
"I know he's not," Sirius said flatly, stepping between Junior and Remus. "You're going to have to hear me out on this Mooney, it's all... it's all a bloody mess." He explained with a frown.
"Who are you?" Remus demanded, glaring over to where James was stood behind Sirius.
"Harry Potter." James explained bluntly.
"Don't lie to me!" Remus spat back.
"He's not," Sirius shook his head. "Honest, swear on my own grave, he's little Harry." He said, looking across at Remus and begging him to understand this.
"It's not possible," Remus shook his head, refusing to even consider the idea. "He's older than we are, it's not..."
"A broken time turner and a stupid amount of Potter luck." James explained with a small shrug. "But I don't care if you believe me or not, so think whatever you want." He said, disinterested either way.
"Prove it." Remus glared over. "Tell me something only Harry would know?"
"Oh? How am I going to do that?" James muttered, shaking his head. "You've never met Harry, not since I... he was a baby anyway. Go on, what am I supposed to prove? That you're a werewolf? Pft, hardly news. That you were a marauder with my dad, Sirius and Peter Pettigrew? Anyone in Hogwarts with you would have known that." He rattled off quickly. "That you're a decent defence teacher when you don't have your head up Dumbledore's arse? Or that you just abandon people and blame it on being a werewolf, just because you can't think that maybe other people can look past it when you can't!" He spat out, glaring across at Remus.
"That... I'm... that's not true!" Remus argued back half heartedly.
"More lies," James shook his head at the argument. "I swear, when Greyback infected you, he must have dropped you on your head as well, it's the only explanation for your hard headed stupidity."
"How did you know about that?" Remus demanded.
"You told me," James shot back with a casual roll of his eyes.
"You can't... you can't be Harry. Harry's got Lily's eyes, and that scar!" Remus shook his head, firmly denying the facts being presented to him.
"Contact lenses, muggle makeup." James explained, spitting on his hand and wiping some of the makeup away from his forehead, revealing the scar underneith so that Remus could see it, even in the dim streetlights of Godric's Hollow.
"It's really Prongslet Remus, really really." Sirius explained, keeping a reasonable voice as he tried to get Remus on board with this.
"But... you... a time turner?" Remus stammered out, his eyes flicking between Sirius and James in shock. "That... that's not possible."
"It broke anyway," James explained, shaking his head. "If it was still working, I'd have gone back and stopped Voldemort from killing my mum and dad. It would have been a hell of a lot easier than all of this crap." He said bluntly, ruffling his hair in annoyance before idly tossing Remus' wand back to him. "Look, I don't give a crap if you believe me or not, it doesn't make a difference to me either way."
"But... you... Harry?" Remus whispered out the name, looking over and trying to see if there was anything in the James look-a-like that he truly recognised.
"It's really him," Sirius nodded softly, seeing the look of disbelief on Remus' face and recognising the feeling well enough from where he'd been slapped in the face with the truth of the situation. "He's the one that got me out of Azkaban, managed to get the truth about Wormtail out there for everyone to see."
"He... Padfoot, I didn't know, really!" Remus said quickly, turning to Sirius now. "I knew there was a spy somewhere, and Wormtail just kept talking about you and your family, it just... I just didn't think."
"Shocker," James snorted, shaking his head.
"Junior," Sirius shot back, giving James a mild glare for his attitude. "That was Wormtail's plan, break us apart. With me he kept talking about werewolves and how so many of them had joined up with snakeface, trying to make me think that you were the spy. He probably told Prongs both of the stories, trying to get him to doubt both of us. It made it easier for him to slide in and position himself to be their secret keeper."
"I can't believe Wormtail was working for Voldemort." Remus whispered, shaking his head in disbelief at the fact.
"But you believed it was Sirius easily enough." James frowned over.
"Why do you hate me so much?" Remus whispered, looking over at James... Harry... whichever. "If you're really Harry, then... I was friends with your dad."
"Was friends," James repeated, narrowing his eyes over towards Remus. "Lets think shall we?" He said, pacing around Sirius so he could look at Remus clearly. "You abandoned me to The Dursleys, leaving me to grow up sleeping in a cupboard under the stairs, working like a slave for them without even knowing my parents names." He spat out, glaring over to Remus. "You toadied up to Dumbledore who was quite happily planning for me to commit suicide in a rather fatal show down with Voldemort, and then you abandoned me again when Sirius died!" He shouted out. "Gee, why would I have trouble trusting you? Let me think." He snarled out sarcastically.
"Harry, I don't... I didn't..."
"You did." James spat back. "The other Harry had to go through all of that as well, I didn't even get back here until the summer, I had to go and rescue him myself... rescue myself... whatever, when you should have been there if you were really my dad's friend."
"Harry, it's not... it's not that simple." Remus argued, shaking his head.
"Yes, it is." James shot back. "When a friend dies, you take care of things for them. That's what friends do. That's what I did after you died, took care of things, helped raise your son. Everything you should have done for me!" He shouted, storming forwards and poking Remus in the chest. "Because that's what you should have done instead of listening to Dumbledore's lies!" He practically screamed.
"Junior," Sirius whispered, stepping closer and putting his hand on James' shoulder.
"You... my son?" Remus whispered in disbelief.
"Not that I ever saw what she saw in you," James spat out, storming away from Remus in disgust. "You abandoned her too you know, the same old story, afraid that your son would end up a werewolf like you are. He wasn't by the way, but you already know that it can't be transmitted like that. It was just you being a coward again."
"That's not fair Junior." Sirius said softly, shaking his head towards James.
"Life isn't fair, that lesson was beaten into me by The Dursley's before my tenth birthday." James glared back to Sirius. "Why is he deserving of your loyalty, when he was so happy to just believe you deserved to be in Azkaban?" He demanded, fixing Sirius with a questioning look.
"Because that's what friends do," Sirius said softly, looking back to James now and parroting his earlier words back to him. "You said you'd give him a chance."
James simply stared back at Sirius for a beat before he nodded, stepping away and running his hand through his messy hair with a huff. "You know, it's really weird being back here right now." He muttered, shaking his head in annoyance. "You know, the first time around, I never got any of this. I didn't see all the lies, the manipulations, the arguments and bullshit?" He explained with a sigh. "I guess I was just too young to understand it all back then."
"Probably," Sirius nodded thoughtfully. "It's not like kids should have been involved in all of this anyway." He said with a hurt expression on his face.
"Not like I had a choice, not with Dumbledore leading me around by the nose." James groaned, shaking his head at how innocent and naive he had been back then.
"Harry... I'm not... I can't... how can I say sorry for that?" Remus whispered, looking over at the man with a sorrowful expression. "If... if you're really..."
"He is." Sirius interrupted firmly. "I've seen his memories in a pensieve, it's a whole Merlin-be-damned nightmare straight out of our lives."
"You're changing history, by being here?" Remus asked in shock, realising what both Sirius and Harry were saying. "But... that... time turners can't be used like that."
"Two thousand Nineteen, apparently they can." James corrected him with a smirk. "Not that I even know how the damn thing threw me back here anyway, but I'm not exactly going to look a gift horse in the mouth." He said, causing Sirius to snort with laughter and shake his head at him.
"So, are we done with this now?" Sirius asked, looking between the two. "Because I'm kind of sick of being the reasonable one here, it's not a good look for me you know."
"I knew the world was ending for a reason," James muttered, sarcastically looking around for signs of the upcoming apocalypse.
"Smart arse," Sirius grinned over. "So? Are we?"
"Depends if Remus is going to run and tattle to Dumbledore or not?" James asked, looking over to Remus and narrowing his eyes at him.
"Nobody knows where he is," Remus shook his head. "I've been looking for him for ages now, nobody's seen him, not since whatever happened at Hogwarts happened."
"Since Junior kicked his arse and booted him out of the school you mean." Sirius smirked across. "That... actually, that's a bit weird, for Dumbledore?" He asked, looking at James now for his thoughts.
"He sent Shacklebolt to come and talk to me before he got sacked from The Aurors," James mused thoughtfully, stuffing his hands into his coat pockets to keep them warm. "But I haven't seen heard a peep from him since then." He frowned, trying to reason out what Dumbledore would be doing. "Voldemort's lying low as well."
"Both of them, doing the same thing?" Sirius mused, looking at James with a raised eyebrow.
"It's eerie when you realise how alike those two really are isn't it?" James snorted in amusement before turning back to Remus. "But that doesn't answer if you're still answering to him or not?"
"Professor Dumbledore... he's done a lot for me... he..."
"No he hasn't," James shook his head, cutting Remus off.
"He let me come to Hogwarts." Remus corrected him.
"Oh wow, he let a werewolf come to Hogwarts, just in the years when Voldemort's war was in full blast and he needed a spy in the werewolves that were siding with him." James explained, adopting a look of shock on his face. "Wow, wherever will he find a spy indebted to him?" He asked sarcastically, turning to look at Remus with an act of exaggerated surprise.
"It wasn't like that." Remus denied immediately.
"Oh? Then how many other werewolves did he accept to Hogwarts?" James asked, raising an eyebrow over to Remus. "We know Greyback used to infect whole families, had a particular thing for the kids. So, how many other werewolves did the great and powerful Dumbledore let in to Hogwarts?" He asked, patiently tapping his foot as he looked over at Remus. "Well?"
"Mooney?" Sirius asked, looking over to his friend.
"There wasn't any others," Remus admitted, shaking his head softly. "I checked, I asked him to let others, children, they were like me but..."
"He had his spy, why would he need to let any more werewolves in?" James shrugged.
"You knew he was using you and you still went along with it?" Sirius demanded.
"What was I supposed to do?" Remus asked, looking at Sirius now. "Just say no?" He asked. "I couldn't leave... not just Hogwarts... but you, Prongs... Peter and Lily... I couldn't say no and walk away from you all."
Sirius stood there, stunned at that admission as he stared at his friend.
"If I said no to anything he asked me to do, he could have reported me to The Ministry." Remus explained. "I'd lose my wand, everything." He said softly.
"Did he ever threaten that?" James asked curiously.
"Not like that," Remus shook his head. "It was more the constant reminders of everything he'd done for me. Giving me an education, friends, somewhere to stay when I changed... all of it... if it came out that I was a werewolf, I'd loose... I'd loose all of it."
"So he just use the grandfather act and the disappointed look whenever he wanted something from you and you didn't want to play along." James nodded, knowing that side of Dumbledore far too well.
"Bugger this," Sirius said loudly, shaking his head. "If we're talking about deep shit like this, then I'm going to need a bottle of firewhiskey just to make it through the night." He said firmly. "Now, Mooney isn't going to run off to Dumbledick, and you're not going to obliviate him back to being a puppy, right?" He asked, looking at Remus and then over to James in turn. "Right?"
"A puppy?" James smirked, shaking his head. "I got trained in fake memories when I was in the Aurors you know?" He said, looking over to Sirius. "I could have you thinking you were a first year witch by the end of the night."
"You wouldn't..." Sirius whispered, stepping a bit closer to Remus now as he got worried by the glint in Junior's eye.
"I'd have Susan braid your hair." James smirked over, seeing the horrified look on Sirius' face.
"I definitely need a drink," Remus nodded firmly at that, happy to completely gloss over the rather terrifying threat of James... Harry... obliviating him back to childhood.
"That Mooney, is the first sensible thing you've said all night!" Sirius crowed, looping his arm over Remus' shoulders. "The Three Broomsticks?"
"Might as well," James sighed, shaking his head. "I'll have to check through my pensieve for the recipe for the Wolfsbane potion at some point."
"You know how to brew that?" Remus asked, turning to James as the three started walking down the road of Godric's Hollow, the snow falling casually around them in the evening light.
"I'm not that good at potions," James admitted, shaking his head. "Blame five years of Snape as a teacher for that." He groused with a sigh.
"Romi could probably brew it," Sirius threw in thoughtfully.
"It's too expensive," Remus shook his head sadly. "I already looked into it, I couldn't even brew it if I could afford it, you know how bad I was at potions." He explained, slumping his shoulders.
"Let me worry about that," Sirius said, shaking his friend to get his spirits back up. "Romi can brew it, she's better than any of us at potions, hell, she took Snivellus' job at Hogwarts!"
"I'd heard Andromeda was teaching there," Remus nodded, giving Sirius a small smile at that.
"Come on, lets get a drink in, then you can fill me in on what you've been upto the last few years." Sirius grinned over. "Any female wolves come sniffing around yet?"
"No," Remus muttered dryly, shaking his head at Sirius. "Though I do want to know how I apparently have a son somewhere, according to what you said anyway." He said, turning to James now and causing him to groan in response.
"I've been trying to get it out of him as well," Sirius smirked over. "See, apparently there's a bird out there just waiting for you to come and love her up." He exclaimed with a wide grin.
"Merlin help me," James muttered as they reached a safe distance from the village, apparating away to Hogsmeade before either Sirius or Remus could start badgering him with questions about Teddy and the future.
AN: Just to note, I'm not counting the "Hogwarts Mystery" stuff as canon here. No 'Chiara Lobosca' or cursed vaults underneath Hogwarts... I utterly loathed that pay to win game... biggest letdown in years...
I know this acts as a sort of filler or exposition chapter really, but it needed to be in place to tie up a few ends and explore some characterisation before I start moving back on to the main arcs of the fic... things done or referenced here might feel like filler, but they will be coming back as part of the plot, so don't worry about the fleshing out parts lol
