Chapter Three
"Heaven help us all,"
Those were the first four words Harry heard when he entered the Gryffindor tower. Sirius immediately walked over to James and Remus and sat down. "Come on, Harry!"
Harry, feeling slightly nervous, sat down on one of the couches.
"Harry, I'd like you to meet James, Remus, and Peter. Over there is Lily Clark, James's girlfriend, do not flirt with her if you value your life…" Sirius paused while James flashed his smug look at the rest of them.
"Sirius knows that from experience, by the way. Don't ask. You don't want to know," Peter grinned.
Sirius chose to ignore that little comment. "There's two other boys in our dormitory, Kevin and Malger. Malger is a pain in the neck, and Kevin doesn't talk about anything but muggle sports and books. I suggest you stick with us. Also, there is a very pretty girl with red-ish brown hair in Slytherin, she's a seventh year, so she'll be gone next year… her name's Deloris Amay Riddle. Stay away from her at all costs. She's trouble in a bad way."
"As opposed to you four, who are just plain trouble." Harry crossed his arms.
"Yes!" Sirius and James grinned at each other. "Well… James and I are. Remus isn't so much, and Peter…"
"Is the sensible one," Peter finished. "In this case that means that I have a little more respect for my life then you two."
"Call it what you want," Sirius muttered.
Remus didn't say anything. He looked like he was falling asleep.
Sirius hit him with a pillow. "Wake up!"
"Hmm?" Remus looked up. "Oh. Right. What were we talking about?"
"Peter has just proclaimed himself the sensible one, Moony." James shrugged. "Anyway… what do you say we freak Snape out with a double James trick?"
"I'm game!" Sirius said at once.
Remus shook his head. "I'm tired… you go on without me…"
"You sure?" Harry asked.
Remus nodded.
"Peter?" Sirius asked.
"Oh… fine. Just as long as you're not planning on doing anything that'll give us detentions again… It's too early for another detention." Peter sighed. "Are we going to use your cl… never mind."
James sighed. "You might as well tell him. Now, Harry, you wouldn't be the type of person to tell on a friend for breaking rules, would you?"
Harry smiled. "Not exactly."
"Well… If you promise to keep your mouth shut, I'll show you something." James grinned. "Come on,"
Harry followed James up the boy's dormitory. James stopped at the fifth year's room. "Wow. They got your bed and trunk in here fast."
Harry nodded. "How'd they get that in here?"
James shrugged. "Take a look at this,"
Harry turned. James was holding out a long, silvery cloak. "Isn't this great?"
Harry pulled his invisibility cloak out of his pocket and compared the two. "Yours is better," he said at last.
James's mouth was wide open. "You… you have one too?"
Harry put the cloak on and vanished. James blinked several times and put his on as well. "I like you, Harry. I think we could be great pals."
Harry blinked. Hermione's words had just floated up to him: You're not supposed to change time! It's one of the most important wizarding laws! You could kill your past or your future self…
Harry closed his eyes. One more week, he promised himself. Then I tell Dumbledore the truth and go home.
* * *
A week later, Harry had all but forgotten his promise to himself about going back home. So far, Snape had found dungbombs in his bed, cockroaches in his hair, and fake love letters with Snape's signature addressed to muggle born Hufflepuffs placed around his room. Snape wasn't the only one who'd been having a hard time. Every teacher in the school had some new complaint about the Potter gang's new partner in crime.
"Black! Potter! Shoreman! Will you please get on with your school work?!" McGonagall waved her hands around in exasperation at the double transmogrification class.
Peter, as usual, was having a horrendous time transforming the opossum he was working on. James, Harry, and Sirius had transformed theirs already, no problem. Remus was doing almost as well, but his pillow still had a tail. Snape smirked from the back of the room.
"Hey," James whispered to Sirius. "Remember the first day of school, when Snape tried to curse me and ended up hitting himself?"
Sirius snorted. Harry blinked. "He did?"
James nodded. "You should have seen it, Harry. That was so funny…"
Sirius nodded, slowly loosing his grin. He sat back down.
"What's wrong with Sirius?" Harry whispered.
James didn't answer for a moment. "His mum was killed last week."
Harry blinked. "Oh…"
James sighed and looked out the window. "Sirius… after class you want to go do some research?"
Sirius looked up. "Sure… Peter had better come to… he's getting behind."
"Behind on what?" Harry frowned.
James looked away. "Nothing… I'd better go help Lily… she's not that good at transfiguration…"
Harry shrugged and sat back down.
* * *
Days flew by. James looked up once at the calendar and was mildly surprised to see Harry had been going to Hogwarts almost three weeks. The next day was a full moon, and Remus was in a very bad mood.
"Remus…" Harry crossed his arms.
"What?" Remus snapped, looking up from his homework.
"What's wrong with you? You've been acting cranky all day?" Harry frowned.
James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter looked at each other. "Nothing," Peter said. "It's nothing, Harry."
Harry, evidently, didn't believe a word of this. He crossed his arms.
James leaned over to Sirius. "We'll go out with the invisibility cloaks. Need another book from the library."
"What are you whispering?" Harry frowned.
Lily, sitting a few feet away, glanced up. "Harry, one thing you need to know if you hang out with James. They are always whispering about something. Always. Don't even bother trying to find out what they're up to."
Harry stood up. "Fine then. James, Sirius, Remus… I need to talk to Dumbledore… I'll see you later."
Sirius frowned as Harry left the common room. "He isn't in trouble… why does he need to see Dumbledore?"
James shrugged. "Let's go borrow his cloak… we need it, or else we might get caught. It won't fit the three of us anymore."
Remus sighed. "You think we should just tell him?"
"No," James, Sirius, and Peter said together.
"Why not?"
James shrugged. "I don't know… it's just that there's something creepy about Harry… have you noticed he never did tell us where he went to school before Hogwarts? And he knew Sirius's name when he first saw him… and he knows his way around the school perfectly. When Harry tells us what he's hiding, then we'll tell him what we're hiding."
Remus sighed. "There's always the possibility that Harry can't tell us what he's hiding…"
"Such as?" Sirius asked.
Peter frowned. "And why doesn't he like me? I mean, I'm perfectly nice and everything, but he keeps giving me that creepy look… as though I'm about to murder him or something…"
James frowned. "That, too. So, are we borrowing the cloak or not?"
Sirius nodded and stood up. Remus and Peter followed James and Sirius up the stairs. Sirius threw open Harry's trunk.
"You know, it suddenly occurs to me…" Sirius held up a small, leather bound book. "We could just find out for ourselves what Harry's up to. Everything we need to know is probably in his trunk."
"We shouldn't mess around in there…" Remus frowned. "That's Harry's stuff… I really don't think he'd appreciate you two poking around…"
James nodded in agreement.
Sirius stood up. "Oh… all right…" He tossed the book back in the trunk.
The book hit the rim and fell open on the floor. James knelt to pick it up, then froze. "Oh my…"
"What?" Sirius knelt down beside James. "So it's a picture album… what's the matter?"
"This." James held the book out. It was a wedding photo. A man with messy, black hair was waving from the photo, next to a woman with bright red hair wearing a wedding dress. Sirius was standing behind the man, waving franticly.
Remus's face went white. He took the book from James and flipped to the front page.
There, printed in somewhat sloppy letters, read the name 'Harry Potter'.
* * *
Harry had almost gotten to Dumbledore's office when he changed his mind and walked back to the Gryffindor common room. Just one more day… he promised himself. Then he'd go home. One more day…
James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter weren't in the common room when Harry climbed past the fat lady. Lily looked up.
"Where's James?" Harry asked.
Lily shrugged. "They went to their room, I think."
"Thanks, Lily." Harry nodded and dashed up the stairs.
James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus were all crouching on the floor when Harry entered the room. Sirius and James stood up first. "So."
Harry frowned. James glared at him. "What?"
"Sirius found this in your trunk, Harry Potter. Care to explain?" James shoved the picture book at Harry, who caught it.
"You… you didn't…" Harry blinked.
"Let me put it this way." Sirius sat down on his bed. "I just want to know something. Who are you?"
Harry didn't answer.
"Harry…" James growled.
"My name is Harry James Potter. You might have guessed that." Harry said at last.
"You're related to me?" James crossed his arms.
Harry nodded.
"So you're from the future." James looked at Harry's trunk. "That's my invisibility cloak in there, isn't it?"
Again, Harry nodded.
"How far in the future?" James asked.
Harry closed his eyes. "I'm not allowed to say."
Sirius's hands balled into fists. "Harry…"
Remus frowned. "You know all of us, don't you? You know where we're going to turn out, what's going to happen. That's why you can't tell us, isn't it?"
Harry nodded.
Remus, Sirius, James, and Peter looked at each other.
"Why did you come here, Harry?" Remus asked.
"I didn't mean to. It was a mistake. Malfoy… this really annoying Slytherin, he stole my trunk and I got caught in a time charm when I went out to get it." Harry said.
"So why didn't you just ask Dumbledore to send you back when you first got here?" Peter asked.
Harry slumped. "I wanted to meet you guys. When you were my age… I can't tell you what's going to happen… I'd probably scare you out of your wits…"
Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter looked at each other. "What, does Voldemort take over the world?" James raised his eyebrows.
"I can't say. I can't. Look, I'll go see Dumbledore now and get him to reverse the time charm, all right?" Harry stood up. "I'm sorry for not telling you."
Remus nodded. "We'll see you in the future, then, Harry."
Harry winced. "But… there's a problem…" he pulled out his wand.
James knew what was going to happen a moment before it happened.
"Obliviate," Harry whispered.
James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter all suddenly looked lost and confussed. Harry stood there a moment, then ran down the common room stairs.
"Harry, what are you doing?" Lily frowned.
Harry turned toward her. This side of the common room was nearly empty. "Obliviate." Harry performed the memory charm again. They'd never remember him. Time was unchanged.
Harry ran down the hallways and stopped at Dumbledore's office. "Bertie Botts every flavor beans!"
The gargoyle sprang aside. Harry dashed up the stairs. "Professor!"
Dumbledore looked up. "Harry."
"I need to speak with you, sir." Harry gasped.
"Yes?"
Now or never. "I need you to perform a time charm. I have to go twenty or so years into the future."
***
Severus Snape looked up from the willow by the side of the lake at Dumbledore and Harry.
"It's ready, Harry." Dumbledore said. "You have your trunk?"
Harry nodded. Dumbledore had created a swirling circle of blue light. Harry looked back towards the castle.
Severus glared at Harry. That was the little twerp that put the dungbombs in his bed… Severus drew his wand.
Dumbledore stopped. "Now, Harry, be sure to go right through the circle… this spell is very hard to perform, and it's very easy for something to go wrong… if you stop, or jerk a bit, you could end up anywhere."
Harry nodded. "Thank you Professor."
Snape aimed his wand at Harry.
"Alright… go!" Dumbledore closed his eyes, concentrating.
Harry walked towards the circle. Snape shot the jelly legs curse at him. Harry's legs buckled, just as he reached the gate. The blue light vanished.
Dumbledore opened his eyes, then seeing neither Harry, nor the trunk, walked towards the school, certain that nothing had gone wrong.
***
"Wake up!"
Harry groaned.
"Are you alright?"
"Helga, he's barely alive. How can you ask him 'are you alright?' and expect a reply?"
"Slazar!"
"Come on, let's get him up to the school…" Harry felt himself being lifted up by two strong hands. "Just be glad the muggles didn't find him first. They'd have killed the boy."
"True…"
There were no more voices after that. Harry woke up inside the Hogwarts hospital wing, only… something about the room didn't look right. It looked… new. As though someone had replaced all the stone in the room.
"You're awake!"
Harry turned. A woman strode over to him. She was rather pretty, with long black hair and smiling black eyes. In her arms were at least five books, and she seemed very nice… Harry could have sworn he'd seen her before somewhere…
"So… what happened to you? Oh, I'm being rude, I should introduce myself. My name is Rowena Ravenclaw." The woman smiled. "Welcome to Hogwarts."