Chapter 3: Explanations

"James?"

As soon as the name left her mouth Sirius released his best friend and let him rush forward. Hermione met James halfway and threw her arms around his neck. As soon as she felt her husband's strong arms around her waist she burst into tears. James's held her and buried his face in her neck as sobs wracked her body.

She couldn't believe it had worked. She couldn't believe he was here. She couldn't believe she was here. The memories hit her like a freight train; her time at Hogwarts with the marauders, marrying James, joining the Order, finding out she was pregnant, Dumbledore telling her that the most dangerous evil wizard of their time was after her son, going into hiding, Sirius begging them to make Peter their secret keeper, her and James trying to figure out how to protect their son if something ever happened to them.

"James?" A confused voice sounded from behind her.

Hermione pulled away from James and turned around to see Harry staring at her with a look of startled confusion on his face. She kept her hands on James chest, afraid that if she stopped touching him he would disappear. The last time she saw him he was telling her to take Harry and hide upstairs. She remembered hearing Voldemort walking up the stairs and knowing in her heart that James was gone. James would have died before he let Voldemort hurt his family. And he did.

"Oh!" Hermione blinked away tears and looked at her son. She'd been by his side for the last four years, but now it was like she was seeing him for the first time. "Harry!"

"Harry?" James looked from Hermione to Harry. "Harry. You're grown. I don't - I was supposed to - what -?"

Hermione reached up and put her hand on James's cheek to stop his rambling.

"Not everything went according to plan, James." Remus moved out from behind Harry.

James eyes widened as he looked at his fellow marauder. "Remus?" The man in question smiled and reached forward to embrace his friend. When they released each other James looked his friend up and down. "You got old, Moony."

Remus laughed and clapped James on the back. Next, it was Sirius's turn to embrace his long lost friend. The three friends laughed and smiled at each other. Hermione couldn't contain her smile as she watched the true marauders reunite.

Harry soon became impatient watching everyone welcome Grimmauld Place's new guest. This man looked like his father did, had the same name as father, but this man couldn't possibly be his father. "What the bloody hell is going on?" Harry yelled frustration evident in his voice.

The three friends let go of each other and faced the younger boy. Hermione flinched at Harry's tone. She had been through so much with him in the last four years. How was she going to make him understand? Would he forgive them? Could he forgive them?

Harry turned a ghostly shade of white. He watched as his father reached forward and put his hands on his best friend's waist. This man wasn't his father. His father wouldn't be acting this way toward Hermione. James, the real James would want to know where Lily was. He would want to know where his wife was.

"Harry," Hermione stepped toward Harry but he took a step backward without thinking. The hurt look on her face almost made him want to take the action back. "Harry, please just let us explain." Her voice cracked as she begged. Harry was torn between the urge to hear her out or leave the kitchen and not look back.

"Harry," Sirius stepped forward and put his hands on the boy's shoulders. "Listen. Let them explain." The serious look on his godfather's face convinced Harry to sit down and find out what was going on. There would be plenty of time to storm off later. Harry nodded but didn't look at James or Hermione.

Hermione let out a sigh of relief and felt James relax behind her. Her boys must be so overwhelmed, she thought to herself. She was the only one who knew everything. As far a James knew, Harry was supposed to be a one-year-old baby. And Harry had been under the impression that both of his parents were dead. How was she going to explain this? She would worry about explaining things to James later, right now her priority was her son.

"What is going on in here?" The voice of Mrs. Weasley sounded. Everyone in the room turned to watch as a confused Mr. and Mrs. Weasley entered the kitchen followed by their twins.

"James?" Mr. Weasley asked disbelieving. "James Potter?"

Hermione felt James chest rumble as he chuckled lightly.

"Is that how everyone is going to great me from now on?" James asked no one in particular.

"Sorry, honey," Hermione answered. "You've been presumed dead for the last fourteen years. It might take people more than five minutes to process it."

James leaned down and pressed a kiss to his wife's temple. Even he was having a hard time processing what had happened. The last thing he remembered was seeing the green light of the killing curse flying toward him and praying Voldemort wouldn't hurt his family. Seeing Harry, his baby boy, as a fifteen-year-old was shocking to say the least. He was only supposed to go forward fourteen hours, not fourteen years. They had talked about how temperamental time magic was, that was one of the reasons they decided to use it only on him.

"We have some things to discuss." Remus interrupted his inner musings. "We should all head to the parlor."

"It's a complicated story." Hermione agreed. "We should probably get comfortable."

No one talked as they all shuffled into the parlor. Hermione and James sat down on the loveseat. Hermione pressed herself into James side when he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. Sirius had perched himself on the arm rest closest to James and Remus went to stand behind them. Harry took a seat in the chair opposite of Hermione and James. He looked at the two with a blank hardness in his eyes that made Hermione's heart hurt. The rest of the Weasley's scattered themselves about the room each with different expressions on their faces. Arthur, Ginny, and the twins looked open and curious. Ron looked confused. Mrs. Weasley looked apprehensive and suspicious. Hermione briefly wished that everyone in the Order was here so they wouldn't have to repeat this conversation.

Once everyone was settled Sirius cleared his throat. "So are you guys gonna start or…"

"Sirius." Hermione warned. Sirius looked unperturbed and leaned back crossing his arms over his chest. "Anyway," Hermione addressed Harry directly. "I think the best place to start is from the beginning. Now I know you probably have a thousand questions, and if we don't answer all of them then please ask, but for now we need you to listen. Can you do that?"

She waited for Harry to nod before starting her story. Grasping James's hand for support she took a deep breath and started her story.

"I was born on September 19th, 1959 as Hermione Hinkley." Hermione paused to make sure everyone in the room was listening before she continued. "I went to Hogwarts with James, Remus, and Sirius. We graduated together and then James and I got married that summer. Soon after we joined the Order, I found out I was pregnant with Harry." Mrs. Weasley made a sound of disbelief in the back of his throat. "I know it sounds crazy. It is crazy. But it will all make sense. I hope." She muttered the last part to herself. "When Dumbledore told us that Voldemort," All of the Weasley's flinched. "was after you, Harry, we knew we needed to come up with a backup plan. If something happened - if anything happened to us, we knew we needed to find a way to be there for you. We searched for six months. Some of the things we found," Hermione cringed. "were dark; too dark to even think of trying. Then, when Sirius found a book in his family's library on Death Magic, we knew we needed to try it. We were desperate.

Death Magic only goes into effect if the person who performs it dies. That's what made it a backup plan. We hoped we'd never have to use it, but we knew that hope wasn't enough. Death Magic allows the user a do over. It's complicated and temperamental. There are two possible ways to use Death Magic. The first one, the one we used on me, was more intricate than the one we used on James. The simple version is this: a potion would de-age me and I would basically live from there on. The book wasn't clear on how far back the potion would de-age me so it was kind of a crap shoot. The potion sent me back so that I would be able to be there for Harry throughout his life, like we'd originally intended. The second way, the simple way, which also happened to be the riskiest way, involved a charmed time turner. James wore a time turner around his wrist for three months straight. If he died while wearing it the time turner would throw him forward in time. We thought we had set it so he would come back in fourteen hours, not fourteen years. But because James was hit with the killing curse, it messed with the time turner. We're lucky he came back at all."

Hermione paused and watched the people around the room. Harry was looking down at his hands with a pensive look on his face. Mrs. Weasley looked disbelieving. The twins looked a little too interested. But it was Ginny who had surprised her. The young girl was leaning forward taking in every word that came out of Hermione's mouth.

"Wait," Ginny interrupted. "what were you guys going to do if the time turner had done its job? James would have been twenty-one but you were two years old."

"We had another potion ready that would reverse the effects of the de-aging potion without reversing the effects of the Death Magic." James answered. "I was - am - the only one person who knows where it is. I hid it shortly after it was finished."

"What about Lily?" Harry asked. His face was cold but his eyes showed confusion and hurt. James felt a tug in his chest. This fifteen-year-old boy was a stranger to him. His son was a stranger. That thought hurt him more than any unforgivable curse ever could.

"Lily was a girl your mother and I went to school with." James tried to ignore Harry's flinch when he referred to Hermione as the boy's mother. "She was killed during the war shortly after you were born."

"We were friends during our time at Hogwarts." Hermione added. "We became close when her and James became Heads during our seventh year."

"Then why does everyone think that Lily was Harry's mom and your wife?" Mrs. Weasley asked with a tone that suggested she still didn't believe their story.

"Lily died before we had found out about Death Magic." James explained. "When she died Snape sought out Dumbledore to change sides."

"Snape?" Ron asked.

"He was in love with Lily. When she was killed Snape could no longer help the man who ordered the death of the woman he loved. Hermione and I needed a potion master for our plan to work and Snape was the best. It was part of the deal he made with Dumbledore. If he helped us with our plan he would have proved himself to be trustworthy member of the Order. He made the potion that would activate the Death Magic if Hermione died. He also made the potion that essentially replaced Hermione with Lily in everyone's memory."

"It took us forever to figure out how what we were going to change." Hermione said. "We tried to keep it as close to the truth as possible."

"Most of you remember that Lily hated me until seventh year." James started. "That's true. Lily and I didn't become friends until seventh year. Hermione and I had been friends since first year, but we didn't get together until fifth year when I finally grew up a little bit."

James ran his hand up and down Hermione's side. Hermione leaned into his touch. He couldn't believe that he had missed fifteen years. Fifteen years that should have been spent raising his son and loving his wife.

"Do you remember receiving a basket of sweets from the ministry in celebration of the end of the war?" Hermione asked Mr. And Mrs. Weasley. When the two nodded she continued. "Those were sent to every wizarding family in Britain and it was actually Dumbledore who sent them, not the ministry. Those sweets contained the potion that altered everyone's memory."

There were still many details that needed to be explained but for now both Hermione and James were more concerned with how Harry was processing their story. Would he understand that everything they had done was for him?

No one made a sound as they waited for Harry's reaction. The boy in question was staring down at his hands. James didn't know what to expect. This version of Harry was new to him. This wasn't the Harry who rode around the house on a toy broomstick and cried out for his parents in the middle of the night when he'd had a bad dream. This was the Harry who had been at Hogwarts for the past four years. He was probably interested in girls and quidditch. James didn't know this Harry, but he knew he wanted to know him more than anything.

"Harry," Hermione leaned forward and reached out to put her hand on top of his. When her hand touched his Harry stood up and left the room without a word.

Sirius moved to go after his godson but stopped when he felt James's hand on his arm. James was grateful that Sirius cared for Harry and had been there for him when he couldn't but now James was here and it was his job to be there for Harry. James stood up with Hermione's hand in his and together the two went after their son.