AN: I on't own anything! Hello it's me! Enjoy!
Harry slowly trudged to the Great Hall, eyes so heavy with sleep, they were nearly closed. He had been up almost all night. In his defense, the stupid dreams just wouldn't let him sleep!
He had no idea how he was going to make it through tonight's DA meeting, but he had to do it somehow. Maybe Dobby would let him have a couple pots of coffee… worth a shot. He slid into his usual seat between Ron and Neville, across from Hermione and the twins.
"Morning."
"Good morning- HARRY! Oh, you look awful!"
"Thanks a lot Mione, you know how to flatter a guy," Harry said through a yawn. He then downed an entire cup up of coffee. Hermione sighed and handed him a Wakefulness Potion, and he poured it in his next cup. That did the trick, and he was once more wide-awake. He dug into his breakfast with well-mannered gusto, trading conversation with his friends easily.
All of a sudden, there was a great cracking noise and the room shook, throwing people to the floor, sending them all into a state of mass hysteria. When everything was still and quiet once more, a wheezing groan started, along with a strange breeze, originating from just in front of the doors.
They all watched dumbfounded as a large blue box slowly materialized. It sat unmoving for a moment or two before it's doors flung open and a man with floppy hair stuck his head out, looked around, and pulled his head back in. Suddenly he came barreling out, pulling on an olive-y green greatcoat. He promptly tripped over his own feet, catching himself on the side of the box.
"IT WORKED!" He crowed triumphantly. "I'M HERE!"
"Hem hem," Umbridge 'coughed'. "Who are you? What worked?"
The man stared at her blankly. "Who're you?"
"I am Dolores Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary of the Minister for Magic, and Hogwarts High Inquisitor." She puffed herself up importantly.
"Well, I'm the Doctor, just the Doctor, though some of you might know me by another name, James Potter. Anyway, I'm looking for my son, and I'm not quite sure when I am."
"Excuse me, but don't you mean 'where?' And how can you be James Potter, he's dead." Hermione piped up a bit timidly. He quickly crossed to her and seemed to be inspecting her, staring at her face intently.
"NO! I know exactly where I am! I'm at Hogwarts! But I'm not sure of the date, I only just broke through the Spacio-Temporal Lock on the British magical community and anything involving my son that stretched from that Halloween to his 18th birthday. And, it's complicated."
"Sir," Dumbledore said, "I think you should leave. Playing at being a dead man is cruel, and I will not tolerate it."
"I'M NOT PLAYING!" The man, the Doctor, threw up his hands in exasperation. "How can I prove this to you?"
"What about Veritaserum? Snape suggested silkily. The Doctor shrugged.
The proper authorities for an interrogation were summoned, and when they arrived, Snape stalked over and administered a dose, and the Doctor went sort of limp, falling back into a conjured chair.
Dumbledore made to speak, but Snape cut him off. "I'll do this, headmaster." Dumbledore nodded, and Snape turned to face the man.
"Are you James Potter?"
"Yes."
"Explain how you're alive, and how you are here, and where Lily is."
"My wife and I, we're aliens, and we were on the run from some old enemies, so we used the chameleon arch, but there was a power surge, and it converted us to infants. Our ship did as it was programmed, and placed us with a new life, a new story. We were, for all intents and purposes, human infants. The families we were placed with blood-adopted us. Eventually, we met again, at Hogwarts, and we fell in love again. We had a son. But we were in danger, so Dumbledore forced us to go into hiding. He made us use Peter as our secret-keeper, but he betrayed us, and Riddle, which is old Voldy's birth name, found us. The Avada Kedavra spell stopped our hearts, but, like every instance where a hiding Time Lord's heart is stopped, the other kicked in. It took a while, but they did. When we woke, we were confused, and our baby boy was gone. We opened the watches.
Then someone did something stupid, and somehow created a timelock before we could get our bearings. We were wrecks. It took us months to realize that our looks had reverted back to the way we were originally. We're time travelers. We're moving in opposite directions, sometimes linear, sometimes not. We're all back-to-front, always meeting in the wrong order. It's complicated. If you mean linear to this specific moment of time on Earth, she's…" He scrunched his face up, thinking hard. "In Ditrini, on a dig. If you mean linear to me, specifically, she's… visiting her true parents."
"… Could you call her here?"
"Yes, but while she'll come, I have no guarantee which her would come."
"How long has it been for you? Since that Halloween?"
"Fourteen years."
"Have you been looking for him?"
"Yes. We've always kept an eye on him. We couldn't get through the barrier, but we could get around it a little. We've done what we can, but it so hard, so painful, to see your baby grow up, and hurt, and laugh, and smile, and cry, and not be able to hug him, to tuck him in, read him stories, sing him lullabies, teach him things, or even touch him!" There his voice broke, and as they watched, a tear slid down his cheek. Snape looked to Madam Bones. She nodded, and he administered the antidote.
The change was quick. He sat up in the chair, a puzzled expression crossed his face, and he raised a hand to wipe at the tear, before staring at it. He looked up and caught Snape's gaze. "Severus? Where's Harry? Where's my son? Do you know? Please, tell me!"
He was practically begging on his knees. Snape sighed and leaned forward, quietly telling him. He whipped his head around, to stare at the Gryffindor table. His gaze scanned it, until he zeroed in on the tussled raven black hair that was the spitting image of what he used to look like. His eyes locked with a brilliant emerald gaze, and in an airless whisper, he choked out, "Harry?"
"Dad?" Harry hesitantly murmured. He half-rose from the table. Then he said again, louder, more firmly, "DAD!"
The young boy launched himself at his father, who caught him in a nearly bone-crushing hug. Both males sank to the floor, crying, as the entire room, minus Dumbledore, Umbridge, Fudge, and including, surprisingly, Snape, cheered.
When the pair separated, Harry looked at his father and asked, "Can you call Mom? I-I want to meet her."
"Yes, but, I can't guarantee the one who answers will be one who knows you. I'm sorry." Harry noticed the sorrow in his father's gaze, the sorrow of losing someone who was everything to you, but he let it go for now.
"It's ok, Dad." The Doctor, or James, as most people had decided to call him, laughed and ruffled his son's hair.
"Give us a mo' then," he stepped into the blue box once more, and when he stepped out, there was a crackle, like lightning, and the smell of ozone accompanying a bright flash. They all looked, and saw a slight, short woman standing there. She had a riot of gravity defying, untamable blond curls, ruby-red lips, starling gray eyes. She wore a loose green tunic, belted over leggings, which were tucked into low-heeled, calf-high boots. What startled them all was a combination of three things: one was the guns clipped to her belt and thighs; two was the fact that she was covered in some strange, viscous, nasty-looking goo; and three was the absolutely furious expression on her face.
As they watched, she stalked over to James, and with a resounding 'crack', she slapped him across the face.
"I'm assuming that's for something I haven't done yet?"
"Yes, it is."
"Looking forward to it."
"I'm going to go clean up. You're sleeping on the couch for the next, oh, three hundred Earth years. Or until you've apologized sufficiently. Whichever comes first," she said, walking towards the box. She called over her shoulder, "Oh, and, Sweetie? Next time you hack my vortex manipulator without letting me get clean, when you did something stupid, like make a bunch of Betaleran Matraxins decide to blow up a squadron from Raxicoricophallapatorius, I will end you."
They all stared after her for a moment, before Snape burst out laughing, much to the shock of the entire school. "That," he gasped out, "it definitely Lily."
AN: Hope you didn't hate it, your friendly neighborhood Renegade. - RebelUp