A/N Thankyou so much to all the lovely people that reviewed! Your kindness and generosity has motivated me in writing the next part sooner than I would have usually. Did that make sense? Get ready to read a long list of review thank-yous. Here goes: Thankyou to The Hairy One, Golden *Faerey, Sev, D.S. Moony, Katie Potter, Keret, AngelFace, Michele Black, Princess of the Ruby Throne, Me Myself and I, Comett and Torett-hime, ~Enchanted~, Beth, Lilly Potter, Someone who feels sorry for Voldemort, Amethyst, Muggle Genius, Chran Basil, Hermione Gulliver, Demon_Child **Lady Abia**, Jenn and Gwen Sanderson, for their lovely reviews. I haven't decided yet how many parts this series will have, it will probably be quite short, as I am focusing my attentions on my new story. Hope you enjoy :)
When Lily Met Harry
by
Little Witch
CHAPTER TWO - No Where to Hide
Harry, Ron and Hermione talked with Lily, James, Sirius, Heather and Rose as if they were old friends. They didn't talk to Peter much, because he was the reason for the Potter's death. Harry didn't act strange towards James and Lily at all, he treated them as if they were equals, not his parents, which technically they were as they were all sixteen. Suddenly, Sirius realised something which earlier had been dismissed.
"SO, Mr and Mrs Potter, when's the wedding?" Sirius said.
"Stop it! I'm only sixteen!" Lily said.
"They were married when they had you, weren't they?" Sirius asked.
"Yes, of course." Harry said.
"Oh good." James said.
"Why is it good?" Heather asked.
"Well you know, my parents always said that you'd go to hell if you ever you know did it before you were married." James said going red.
"Well then I think that Sirius is going to have to pay a little trip to the devil then." Heather said smiling.
"What do you know about Sirius' sex life?" Rose asked.
"Okay, this conversation has just taken a frightening turn," Sirius said, and he glanced at his watch for something to do.
"Oh my god! It's 10.30! We're supposed to be in Transfiguration, McGonagall's going to kill us!" he shouted and leapt up as though he was sitting on a crab.
"We'd better go," Lily said, "I don't want to get a detention."
"Oh, I suppose that if you did get a detention it would be your first this year?" Sirius said mockingly.
"No Sirius, you seem to forget that I had a detention last week because you turned Professor McGonagall's ears into ice creams then blamed it on me." Lily said.
"Did he really turn McGonagall's ears into ice creams?" Ron asked.
"Yes, and then he ate one, which caused me to be stuck cleaning the Transfiguration classroom with him for three hours." Lily said.
"You ate McGonagall's ear?" Harry asked incredulously.
"Well, at the time it was an ice cream, and ice creams are food and I was hungry." Sirius explained.
"Back to the matter in hand. It is now 10.40, and we are still late for Transfiguration." Rose said.
"Good point." James said and they set off up to the castle.
"I think that Harry, Ron and Hermione should spend the day in the Gryffindor common room, and then after classes we'll figure out what to do." Lily said.
"Yeah, good idea. You do know where it is, you are in Gryffindor aren't you?" James said. Harry nodded.
"Good. The password's Garden Faery's." said Sirius.
"What do we do if someone comes in?" Hermione asked.
"Um, hide under James invisibility cloak." Lily said.
James took the cloak out of his bag and gave it to Harry.
"My cloak!" he exclaimed.
"Your cloak?" Lily said.
"Oh, in my time I've got the cloak," Harry said.
James, Lily, Sirius, Peter, Heather and Rose set off in the direction of the Transfiguration classroom, and Harry, Ron and Hermione set off in the direction of the Gryffindor Tower. When they reached the Fat Lady, she was asleep. Ron poked her and she woke up.
"What do you want? Waking me up rudely like that."
"We want to get into the common room," Hermione said impatiently, and under her breath added "why else would we wake you up?"
"Password," the Fat Lady said.
"Garden Faery." Harry said, and the portrait swung open. As the portrait closed, they could hear the fat lady say "Anyway, shouldn't you be in class?"
The Gryffindor common room didn't look much different in 1977 than it did in 1996. There were a few differences, such as the pictures on the walls were different and in their time there wasn't that large stain on the carpet.
"This is so weird!" Ron exclaimed.
"And annoying," Hermione added, "think of all the work we'll have missed by the time we get back."
"How are we going to get back?" Harry said, voicing a thought that had been bothering him for a while.
"Good point, I suppose we could go to Dumbledore in this time, but I don't think even he's clever enough to figure out what we could do. Only a few wizards and witches are familiar with the properties of time travel, Binns told us a few weeks ago." Hermione said.
"Hermione, how do you know all this stuff? I mean do you actually listen to Binns?" Ron asked in amazement.
"Of course I listen! History of Magic is very important!"
"Okay, stop fighting, Hermione what are the names of these witches and wizards? Maybe we could find one and ask for help." Harry said.
"Um, I can only remember a few, and some of them are dead now, but Merlin was one, and Ptolemy and Helán of Amsterdam, Logan of Athens, Sofia of Rome and Thordon Bates. That's all I can remember."
"Great. Merlin and Ptolemy are dead. Helán of Amsterdam is in Amsterdam and Logan of Athens is in Athens, Sofia of Rome is in Rome and I've never heard of Thordon Bates." Ron moaned.
"I think Thordon Bates is the best bet we've got; I think that he lives in England somewhere." Hermione said.
"Well we have to get back soon, before we do something that will change the course of history forever," Hermione said, "There was a Wizard called Pablo Styne who went back in time once, and he changed everything. He had a big argument with Adolf Hitler which caused Hitler to start the Second World War, whereas before it had never happened and we don't want to be the cause of something like that, do we?"
Fortunately, only a first year came into the common room over the day, and when lessons ended, James, Lily, Sirius, Peter, Heather and Rose entered the common room again. This time Remus was with them. He greeted them with a smile and an apology.
"Um, sorry I tried to eat you but once a month I get really irrational and annoyed and I want to bite everyone's heads off."
"I know what you mean," Hermione mumbled.
"I think we should go outside, the common room is going to get ever so crowded soon." Sirius said.
Harry, Ron and Hermione followed them out of the common room and down to a secluded spot by the lake.
"So, have you had any brainwaves about how to get home yet?" Rose asked.
"Well, Hermione had an idea, something about Wizards who know about time travel, she only remembered a few that Binns told us and we've narrowed it down to one possibility." Ron said.
"Yeah, there's someone called Thordon Bates who lives in England somewhere, but we don't have a clue where." Harry said.
"Master Bates!" Sirius and Heather said concurrently.
"What! Masturbates?" Harry exclaimed.
"He's our teacher," Lily explained, "he teaches Defence Against the Dark Arts and he doesn't believe in calling teacher's Professor. He says that Professor's are scientists and that he would rather we called him Master Bates. And his first name is Thordon. He told us in our first lesson with him and he told us that we could make fun of his name as well. In our next lesson we'll ask him to help us."
"He sounds cool, much better than our Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher." Harry said.
"I thought you said that Remus was your teacher?" Heather asked.
"Yeah, don't you think I'm cool?" Remus said challengingly.
"Oh, he resigned when we were in our third year because Snape told everyone he was a werewolf."
"Snape! What's he doing there?" James asked in disgust.
"He's our Potion's teacher," Harry said, "he's always seemed to hate me, ever since our first lesson."
"That would probably be my fault." James said, "he hates me too."
"Oh no, there he is now," Lily said, "and he's coming towards us. Hide me." She stepped behind James.
"Quick! You three get under the invisibility cloak," James said, and he threw the cloak over them.
"Hello Potter, and gang. What are you doing out here? It's a strange place to be, especially as it's so cold." Snape said in his horrible oily voice. Harry was amazed at how alike he sounded to the Snape he knew.
"I could ask the same of you Snape," James said.
"Are you having a secret rendezvous with your girlfriends?" Snape asked, "are you going to kiss? I wouldn't mind joining in." he leered unpleasantly at Heather who was the nearest. She swore at him then hit him.
"Aw come on, play nice, you know you want to," Snape said.
"Shove off Snape." Sirius said.
Harry who was under the cloak remembered what he had done in his third year in Hogsmeade. It had worked then, why shouldn't it work now? He bent down, picked up a lump of mud and threw it at Snape. It hit him full on in the face. Ron and Hermione caught on and they too picked up clumps of mud and threw them at Snape.
"Who's throwing mud at me?" he asked.
"I don't know," James said, a slight smile on his face, "I've heard that this part of the grounds is haunted, but I've never seen anything before," Snape turned and ran back up to the castle, scared that the 'ghosts' were going to get him. Harry, Ron and Hermione threw the cloak off themselves, wiping their muddy hands on the sides of their robes.
"That was great! The look on Snape's face. How did you know it was going to work?" Sirius asked.
"In our third year I threw mud at Malfoy to try and make him go away. It worked then, why shouldn't it work now?" Harry said.
"Malfoy? Lucius Malfoy?" James asked.
"No, his son. He's in our year, his name is Draco." Ron said.
"Oh. Lucius Malfoy is in the year above us and Snape hero-worships him." Remus said.
By now it was dark, and extremely cold.
Lily shivered and James put his arms around her. Heather shivered too, and looked pointedly at Sirius, but he didn't take the hint.
"If you chicks are cold, let's go inside," he said. Heather scowled.
"Where are we going to sleep?" Harry asked.
"You can sleep in the common room, nobody will pay any attention to you." Rose said.
It was wonderfully warm in the common room, and Rose was right. Everybody was too involved in their own thing to notice them. A few people gave them strange looks, but nobody said anything. They went and sat in a secluded corner of the common room and watched as Sirius lost abysmally to Heather at chess. About halfway through the game, a tall blonde girl came over to them.
"Hi people. Who are they? Are they friends of yours? If they are I'd better introduce myself. Hi. I'm Nicola Rogers. You can call me Nicola if you want but people usually call me Nicki or Nic. My annoying brat of a sister calls me La, but I hate that so don't call me it. My dad call's me Cola because that's part of my name but it's also my favourite sort of drink, and my mum call's me pumpkin, but I don't know why, I suppose it's just a pet name. What are your names?" she said this very fast, and they had a job understanding her.
"Hi Nicki, this is Harry he's James' cousin, and these are his friends Ron and Hermione." Lily said.
"Hi Harry, Ron and Hermione. Hey Ron are you related to Charlie Weasley? You look ever so much like him. He's a new first year who keep's following me around. I think he fancies me." Niclola said. Ron went purple.
"No, I'm not related to Charlie Weasley. I've never heard of him." Ron said in a strange voice.
"Oh well. Oh no, here comes Charlie now. I've got to go hide. See you later people's." Nicola waved at them as she went up to her dorm.
"Is she a bit mad?" Harry asked.
"No, Nicki's okay, she's just a bit hyperactive, especially after she's eaten rum truffles." Sirius said.
"She reminds me of someone but I can't think who," Harry said thoughtfully.
"Are you related to Charlie Weasley?" Rose asked, "Nicki's right, you do look ever so much like him."
"Yeah, he's my older brother. He works in Romania with dragons." Ron replied.
"That sounds really strange. Charlie Weasley is younger than you, yet he's you're older brother." Rose said.
"Why did you say Harry was my cousin?" James asked Lily.
"Well it's going to sound a bit strange saying he's our son, and he does look a lot like you so cousin sounded the best, because she knows you don't have any siblings." Lily explained.
A little later on, there were only a few people left in the common room apart from them. The boys were playing exploding snap, and the girls were doing their homework.
"What do you think of Nicola?" Ron asked Harry.
"I think she's a bit mad personally." Harry replied.
"I think she's cute." Ron said.
"Ron. You do know who that is, don't you?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, she's Nicola Rogers, she told us that herself." Ron said, obviously thinking Harry was a bit strange.
"No. She's Lavender's Mum." Harry said.
"How do you know?" Ron asked.
"Well, she's going out with a boy from Ravenclaw called Mark Brown, and she looks and acts like Lavender." Harry explained.
"Who's Lavender?" James asked looking interested.
"She's this really ditzy girl in our class." Harry said.
"Aw! I always thought I'd be the one to father Nicola's children." Sirius complained.
"But what about Heather?" Ron asked.
"What about Heather?" Sirius replied.
"Well you love her don't you?" Harry said.
"No! Of course not! Don't be stupid!" Sirius exclaimed as he went red.
"Padfoot my friend, these people have only known you for a short time, yet they can read you like a book. They are telling you what I have been trying to tell you for the last five years. You love Heather." James said.
"No I don't! Moony back me up here." Sirius moaned.
"I'm sorry Padfoot, but I think I have to agree with Prongs on this one." Remus said smiling.
"Look. No matter what you say, I do not love Heather." Sirius said profusely.
"I'll ask Lily, she'll tell you." James said. Sirius expected him to get up and walk over to where Lily was sitting, but instead he stayed where he was and called over to her.
"Hey Lily!" he shouted.
"What?" Lily said looking up from her Charms homework.
"Tell Sirius that he's in love with Heather." James called.
"Sirius, you're in love with Heather." Lily called, a smile on her face. Both Sirius and Heather were very red.
"See? I told you." James said.
A few hours later when the common room was empty, Harry, Ron and Hermione settled down in the comfiest chairs there were and fell asleep.
* * *
The next day, the Gryffindor sixth years had a Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson. They walked into the classroom expecting to see Master Bates sitting at the desk, but instead saw a very prim looking witch.
"Good Morning. I am Professor Marryat. I am your Defence Against the Dark Arts cover teacher. Unfortunately Professor Bates has been taken ill."
"Master Bates." Sirius corrected her.
"Excuse me!" Professor Marryat said looking outraged.
"He didn't like us calling him Professor. He said that he would prefer it if we called him Master Bates." Sirius explained.
"Hmm." Professor Marryat looked at him scrutinizingly.
"What's wrong with Master Bates?" James asked as he went to sit down.
"He's been feeling very stressed lately, and he's just taking a holiday." At this, everyone looked at Sirius.
"What? What did I do?" Sirius asked.
"When's he coming back?" Remus asked.
"Oh, I should think in about two months or so." Professor Marryat replied.
"WHAT! Two months!" exclaimed Heather.
"Settle down, now today we are going to be learning about the strange phenomenon of Doyle's" Professor Marryat said, and launched into a long detailed explanation about the weird little creatures with only one eye.
At the end of the lesson, they went out of the classroom grumbling.
"Great. Just when we need Master Bates he does a disappearing act." said Remus.
"So Harry and the others are stuck here until he comes back which could be up to two months." said Lily.
* * *
They managed to keep Harry, Ron and Hermione hidden in the weeks leading up to Christmas, but this was becoming increasingly difficult. Snape had taken to following them around, he was sure that they were up to something. The only problem was, there was no where to hide. Or so they thought.
One day when James was returning from the hospital wing (he'd broken his arm) he saw Snape following him down the corridor. The reason he'd broken his arm was because he'd been in a fight with Snape. If he bumped into him now, there was no telling what he would do. Unfortunately Snape had spotted him, so he began to run. He didn't look where he was going and ended up in a place where he'd never been before. He could still hear Snape shouting ("Where is he? He has to be around here somewhere!") but he couldn't see him. He took a look around him. He was in a small room which was covered in a layer of dust an inch thick, but it was very well furnished. There were five beds with canopys, a long dining table and numerous chairs and sofa's. There was a picture on the wall of a very pretty woman with long blonde hair in a small round room with a spinning wheel. She was waving at him.
"Hello, sir." the woman in the picture said.
"Are you talking to me?" James asked.
"Yes you, come here," the woman said. James did as he was told, "my name's Rapunzel. What's your's?"
"James Potter."
"Ah, young James Potter. How glad I am that you have stumbled upon my humble quarters. For truth be told no soul has crossed the border into my room for many a year." Rapunzel said.
"Do you have to talk like that? In that old fashioned way?" James asked her.
"Well, no, but it kind of sets the atmosphere don't you think?" Rapunzel asked him.
"Where am I?" James asked.
"I answer only questions that are set to me in rhyme." Rapunzel said.
"But I asked you questions earlier that weren't in rhyme." James argued.
"Alas! Tis' true, but rhyme's stop me from feeling blue. Put your inquiry's to me in rhyme, and I will be happy to tell you."
"Fine! Fine! Um, I've stumbled across you, tell me where I am so I don't feel blue." James said.
"You're in an ancient chamber, a hiding place it's real, a place to sleep, to rest to lounge or have a lovely meal." chanted Rapunzel.
"Okay, um, I was escaping from Snape, he smell's real bad, how did I get here, tell me and I'll be glad." James said. Rapunzel grimaced at his bad rhyme.
"Behind an antique tapestry you fell, and in this room you do dwell." Rapunzel said.
"Right," James said, "I'm very hungry, it has to be said, tell me the way out before I get dead."
"Though your rhyme was very very bad, I'll dismiss it as you're such a fine lad. To escape from this room all you need do, is take your wand, tap my frame and say 'iroium'" Rapunzel rhymed.
"Hey! That didn't rhyme." James exclaimed.
"To be honest, that's true, I'm not dumb, but how many words do you know that rhyme with iroium?" Rapunzel said.
"Okay Okay!" James stood up and walked over to her frame. "Oh yeah, if I wanted to find this room again how would I?"
"Ah, ah, ah, you're question did not rhyme, set it to me again, before you're out of time." Rapunzel said.
"Okay, um, My friends need a place to stay, how will I find this room again, please tell me if you may." James said.
"You can find this room only when running from an enemy, but for you, enter the tapestry the same way as you leave to be free." Rapunzel said.
"Okay thanks, I'll probably see you again." James said and then he tapped the frame and said 'iroium'.
He stepped out of the tapestry and made his way back up to the tower to relay his adventures to his friends.
"Hey Jamie-boy, where've you been?" Sirius asked.
"Yeah we've thought up a new trick to play on Snape." Lily said.
"Great, but you can tell me about that later. I've found the perfect place for Harry, Ron and Hermione to hide. There's beds, and tables and chairs. It's a little dusty but we can fix that." James said.
"Ooh, where is it?" Lily said coming over and seating herself in James' lap.
"It's behind an ancient tapestry on the fourth floor corridor," James said, "I was trying to get away from Snape, and I fell into this room. There was this picture of someone called Rapunzel on the wall who would only answer my questions if I talked in rhyme. Anyway, I thought that Harry, Ron and Hermione could live there until Master Bates comes back." James said.
"Rapunzel. I've heard of her." Lily said, "she's in a Muggle fairy tale. She was banished to a tower by a witch and she couldn't come out. The witch used her hair to climb up to her everyday to make sure that she hadn't escaped. Then one day, a Prince came and she fell in love. She allowed him to climb up her hair to visit her. The witch found out about the Prince and cut off Rapunzel's hair and set her free. Then she tied the hair to the window ledge and the Prince came the next day as usual. He climbed up her hair to be met by the witch. She pushed him out the window and he landed in a pile of nettles. The nettles stung his eyes and he became blind. He then wandered around for days afterwards. Eventually Rapunzel found him. Her tears made him see again. And I guess they lived happily ever after."
"Yeah, I remember that fairy tale too." Hermione said.
"One thing I don't get about Muggle fairy tales is why they always use Witches as the bad guys. I don't think I've ever read a fairy tale where a Wizard was the bad guy." Rose said.
"Yeah I know, there's Hansel and Gretel, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, they all use Witches as the bad guy's" Lily said.
"Yeah, and why do they always make the witches ugly old hags?" Heather said.
"Because," Sirius said, "my dear Heather, you are ugly."
"When you've quite finished remembering Muggle Fairy tales, I want to see this room James found." Remus said impatiently.
"Oh, right yeah." James said standing up suddenly so that Lily fell to the floor.
"Thanks for that." she said sarcastically.
"No problem." James replied.
"I was being sarcastic." Lily said.
"So was I," James said.
"Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit." Remus said wisely.
"Shut up Moony." Lily said as they walked out of the common room and made their way up to the fourth floor corridor.
When they got there James took out his wand and said "iroium." The tapestry rolled upwards and the ten friends entered the room. Rapunzel noticed them straight away.
"Ah! Who is this I see? Young James come back so soon to visit me?"
"Hi Rapunzel. These are my friends Sirius, Remus, Lily, Heather, Rose, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Peter." he said.
"A popular young man you seem. Why have you crossed my door? What can I do you for?" Rapunzel said.
"Harry, Ron and Hermione are not supposed to be here, can they reside in your quarters until Master Bates comes near?" James asked.
"Why certainly they can, but you may have a problem with the dust. To clean it you must." Rapunzel said.
"We want to be rid of the dust, it's causing quite a smell, tell us Rapunzel do you know of a good spell?" James said.
"James, you are becoming quite a poet and you know it. But! Back to business. To clear up this mess you must say 'no more no less, mess be gone!'"
"Are you sure that's a real spell?" Lily asked.
"Alas! You have committed a crime! Your question did not rhyme." Rapunzel said.
"Okay, um, we do not wish to endure this smell, are you sure that was a genuine spell?" Lily said.
"Of course young Lady, Rapunzel does not lie. If you doubt me again, you shall die." With this threat, none if them dared speak to Rapunzel again whilst they were cleaning up. When they were finished the room looked wonderful. Rapunzel seemed to have noticed this too.
"A fine job you have done. Admit it, it has been fun, but now I'll leave you to your own for a visiting I must go." and she disappeared from her frame.
"She's strange." Lily commented.
"Is this room all right for you?" James asked Harry.
"Yeah, it's great, thanks." Harry said.
"One of us will bring you some food every now and then. It's the holidays soon, so you won't have to be confined here for too long." said Rose.
Sirius, James, Remus, Heather, Rose, Lily and Peter then went. Two hours later, Peter arrived again, this time his arms were full of food.
"Hi, James said I should bring you some food. So here it is. Bye." Peter said.
When Peter had left the room, Harry stood up and shook his fist at his retreating back.
"Ugh! I hate this! It is so annoying! Not being able to tell them about Peter. I mean if only I could tell them then my parents wouldn't die and Sirius wouldn't have to go to Azkaban. But I know that if I do tell them then when we get back everything will be different. I mean I won't be famous, and Voldemort wouldn't have disappeared for thirteen years and you two probably wouldn't be my best friends. I don't want that to happen. I just want to go over there to that stinking rat and hit him so hard!" Harry said.
"Harry you know you can't do that, if you do they'll know something's up!" Hermione said shrilly.
"Yes I know Hermione, but it's so infuriating. I have a chance to save my parents but I can't because it will change everything. I wish we could go back to the future. The seventies are annoying me."
None of them heard Rapunzel sidle back into the frame whilst they were talking, nor did they see her slip back out again to go and spread the gossip.
* * *
A/N I know, lame ending. I have complete writers block. I have no idea what is going to be put in the next part. If you have any suggestions, please leave them in your reveiws. I would have posted this sooner but my Dad's been hogging the PC with the Internet on it for the past week downloading music from Napster. I am having to write this on the crappy four year old PC in my room. You know what? Listening to Robbie Williams new album (sing when you're winning) is really motivational. I was able to write fluently while listening to it. Try it. Wow, this is a long Authors Note. I think it's time for the disclaimer.
Disclaimer: If you recognize it I don't own it. I own Heather and Rose and Nicola. I also own the rhyming Rapunzel. You can take her if you want. I don't know why you would want to, she turned out to be a snotty little cow. Oh well.
When Lily Met Harry
by
Little Witch
CHAPTER TWO - No Where to Hide
Harry, Ron and Hermione talked with Lily, James, Sirius, Heather and Rose as if they were old friends. They didn't talk to Peter much, because he was the reason for the Potter's death. Harry didn't act strange towards James and Lily at all, he treated them as if they were equals, not his parents, which technically they were as they were all sixteen. Suddenly, Sirius realised something which earlier had been dismissed.
"SO, Mr and Mrs Potter, when's the wedding?" Sirius said.
"Stop it! I'm only sixteen!" Lily said.
"They were married when they had you, weren't they?" Sirius asked.
"Yes, of course." Harry said.
"Oh good." James said.
"Why is it good?" Heather asked.
"Well you know, my parents always said that you'd go to hell if you ever you know did it before you were married." James said going red.
"Well then I think that Sirius is going to have to pay a little trip to the devil then." Heather said smiling.
"What do you know about Sirius' sex life?" Rose asked.
"Okay, this conversation has just taken a frightening turn," Sirius said, and he glanced at his watch for something to do.
"Oh my god! It's 10.30! We're supposed to be in Transfiguration, McGonagall's going to kill us!" he shouted and leapt up as though he was sitting on a crab.
"We'd better go," Lily said, "I don't want to get a detention."
"Oh, I suppose that if you did get a detention it would be your first this year?" Sirius said mockingly.
"No Sirius, you seem to forget that I had a detention last week because you turned Professor McGonagall's ears into ice creams then blamed it on me." Lily said.
"Did he really turn McGonagall's ears into ice creams?" Ron asked.
"Yes, and then he ate one, which caused me to be stuck cleaning the Transfiguration classroom with him for three hours." Lily said.
"You ate McGonagall's ear?" Harry asked incredulously.
"Well, at the time it was an ice cream, and ice creams are food and I was hungry." Sirius explained.
"Back to the matter in hand. It is now 10.40, and we are still late for Transfiguration." Rose said.
"Good point." James said and they set off up to the castle.
"I think that Harry, Ron and Hermione should spend the day in the Gryffindor common room, and then after classes we'll figure out what to do." Lily said.
"Yeah, good idea. You do know where it is, you are in Gryffindor aren't you?" James said. Harry nodded.
"Good. The password's Garden Faery's." said Sirius.
"What do we do if someone comes in?" Hermione asked.
"Um, hide under James invisibility cloak." Lily said.
James took the cloak out of his bag and gave it to Harry.
"My cloak!" he exclaimed.
"Your cloak?" Lily said.
"Oh, in my time I've got the cloak," Harry said.
James, Lily, Sirius, Peter, Heather and Rose set off in the direction of the Transfiguration classroom, and Harry, Ron and Hermione set off in the direction of the Gryffindor Tower. When they reached the Fat Lady, she was asleep. Ron poked her and she woke up.
"What do you want? Waking me up rudely like that."
"We want to get into the common room," Hermione said impatiently, and under her breath added "why else would we wake you up?"
"Password," the Fat Lady said.
"Garden Faery." Harry said, and the portrait swung open. As the portrait closed, they could hear the fat lady say "Anyway, shouldn't you be in class?"
The Gryffindor common room didn't look much different in 1977 than it did in 1996. There were a few differences, such as the pictures on the walls were different and in their time there wasn't that large stain on the carpet.
"This is so weird!" Ron exclaimed.
"And annoying," Hermione added, "think of all the work we'll have missed by the time we get back."
"How are we going to get back?" Harry said, voicing a thought that had been bothering him for a while.
"Good point, I suppose we could go to Dumbledore in this time, but I don't think even he's clever enough to figure out what we could do. Only a few wizards and witches are familiar with the properties of time travel, Binns told us a few weeks ago." Hermione said.
"Hermione, how do you know all this stuff? I mean do you actually listen to Binns?" Ron asked in amazement.
"Of course I listen! History of Magic is very important!"
"Okay, stop fighting, Hermione what are the names of these witches and wizards? Maybe we could find one and ask for help." Harry said.
"Um, I can only remember a few, and some of them are dead now, but Merlin was one, and Ptolemy and Helán of Amsterdam, Logan of Athens, Sofia of Rome and Thordon Bates. That's all I can remember."
"Great. Merlin and Ptolemy are dead. Helán of Amsterdam is in Amsterdam and Logan of Athens is in Athens, Sofia of Rome is in Rome and I've never heard of Thordon Bates." Ron moaned.
"I think Thordon Bates is the best bet we've got; I think that he lives in England somewhere." Hermione said.
"Well we have to get back soon, before we do something that will change the course of history forever," Hermione said, "There was a Wizard called Pablo Styne who went back in time once, and he changed everything. He had a big argument with Adolf Hitler which caused Hitler to start the Second World War, whereas before it had never happened and we don't want to be the cause of something like that, do we?"
Fortunately, only a first year came into the common room over the day, and when lessons ended, James, Lily, Sirius, Peter, Heather and Rose entered the common room again. This time Remus was with them. He greeted them with a smile and an apology.
"Um, sorry I tried to eat you but once a month I get really irrational and annoyed and I want to bite everyone's heads off."
"I know what you mean," Hermione mumbled.
"I think we should go outside, the common room is going to get ever so crowded soon." Sirius said.
Harry, Ron and Hermione followed them out of the common room and down to a secluded spot by the lake.
"So, have you had any brainwaves about how to get home yet?" Rose asked.
"Well, Hermione had an idea, something about Wizards who know about time travel, she only remembered a few that Binns told us and we've narrowed it down to one possibility." Ron said.
"Yeah, there's someone called Thordon Bates who lives in England somewhere, but we don't have a clue where." Harry said.
"Master Bates!" Sirius and Heather said concurrently.
"What! Masturbates?" Harry exclaimed.
"He's our teacher," Lily explained, "he teaches Defence Against the Dark Arts and he doesn't believe in calling teacher's Professor. He says that Professor's are scientists and that he would rather we called him Master Bates. And his first name is Thordon. He told us in our first lesson with him and he told us that we could make fun of his name as well. In our next lesson we'll ask him to help us."
"He sounds cool, much better than our Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher." Harry said.
"I thought you said that Remus was your teacher?" Heather asked.
"Yeah, don't you think I'm cool?" Remus said challengingly.
"Oh, he resigned when we were in our third year because Snape told everyone he was a werewolf."
"Snape! What's he doing there?" James asked in disgust.
"He's our Potion's teacher," Harry said, "he's always seemed to hate me, ever since our first lesson."
"That would probably be my fault." James said, "he hates me too."
"Oh no, there he is now," Lily said, "and he's coming towards us. Hide me." She stepped behind James.
"Quick! You three get under the invisibility cloak," James said, and he threw the cloak over them.
"Hello Potter, and gang. What are you doing out here? It's a strange place to be, especially as it's so cold." Snape said in his horrible oily voice. Harry was amazed at how alike he sounded to the Snape he knew.
"I could ask the same of you Snape," James said.
"Are you having a secret rendezvous with your girlfriends?" Snape asked, "are you going to kiss? I wouldn't mind joining in." he leered unpleasantly at Heather who was the nearest. She swore at him then hit him.
"Aw come on, play nice, you know you want to," Snape said.
"Shove off Snape." Sirius said.
Harry who was under the cloak remembered what he had done in his third year in Hogsmeade. It had worked then, why shouldn't it work now? He bent down, picked up a lump of mud and threw it at Snape. It hit him full on in the face. Ron and Hermione caught on and they too picked up clumps of mud and threw them at Snape.
"Who's throwing mud at me?" he asked.
"I don't know," James said, a slight smile on his face, "I've heard that this part of the grounds is haunted, but I've never seen anything before," Snape turned and ran back up to the castle, scared that the 'ghosts' were going to get him. Harry, Ron and Hermione threw the cloak off themselves, wiping their muddy hands on the sides of their robes.
"That was great! The look on Snape's face. How did you know it was going to work?" Sirius asked.
"In our third year I threw mud at Malfoy to try and make him go away. It worked then, why shouldn't it work now?" Harry said.
"Malfoy? Lucius Malfoy?" James asked.
"No, his son. He's in our year, his name is Draco." Ron said.
"Oh. Lucius Malfoy is in the year above us and Snape hero-worships him." Remus said.
By now it was dark, and extremely cold.
Lily shivered and James put his arms around her. Heather shivered too, and looked pointedly at Sirius, but he didn't take the hint.
"If you chicks are cold, let's go inside," he said. Heather scowled.
"Where are we going to sleep?" Harry asked.
"You can sleep in the common room, nobody will pay any attention to you." Rose said.
It was wonderfully warm in the common room, and Rose was right. Everybody was too involved in their own thing to notice them. A few people gave them strange looks, but nobody said anything. They went and sat in a secluded corner of the common room and watched as Sirius lost abysmally to Heather at chess. About halfway through the game, a tall blonde girl came over to them.
"Hi people. Who are they? Are they friends of yours? If they are I'd better introduce myself. Hi. I'm Nicola Rogers. You can call me Nicola if you want but people usually call me Nicki or Nic. My annoying brat of a sister calls me La, but I hate that so don't call me it. My dad call's me Cola because that's part of my name but it's also my favourite sort of drink, and my mum call's me pumpkin, but I don't know why, I suppose it's just a pet name. What are your names?" she said this very fast, and they had a job understanding her.
"Hi Nicki, this is Harry he's James' cousin, and these are his friends Ron and Hermione." Lily said.
"Hi Harry, Ron and Hermione. Hey Ron are you related to Charlie Weasley? You look ever so much like him. He's a new first year who keep's following me around. I think he fancies me." Niclola said. Ron went purple.
"No, I'm not related to Charlie Weasley. I've never heard of him." Ron said in a strange voice.
"Oh well. Oh no, here comes Charlie now. I've got to go hide. See you later people's." Nicola waved at them as she went up to her dorm.
"Is she a bit mad?" Harry asked.
"No, Nicki's okay, she's just a bit hyperactive, especially after she's eaten rum truffles." Sirius said.
"She reminds me of someone but I can't think who," Harry said thoughtfully.
"Are you related to Charlie Weasley?" Rose asked, "Nicki's right, you do look ever so much like him."
"Yeah, he's my older brother. He works in Romania with dragons." Ron replied.
"That sounds really strange. Charlie Weasley is younger than you, yet he's you're older brother." Rose said.
"Why did you say Harry was my cousin?" James asked Lily.
"Well it's going to sound a bit strange saying he's our son, and he does look a lot like you so cousin sounded the best, because she knows you don't have any siblings." Lily explained.
A little later on, there were only a few people left in the common room apart from them. The boys were playing exploding snap, and the girls were doing their homework.
"What do you think of Nicola?" Ron asked Harry.
"I think she's a bit mad personally." Harry replied.
"I think she's cute." Ron said.
"Ron. You do know who that is, don't you?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, she's Nicola Rogers, she told us that herself." Ron said, obviously thinking Harry was a bit strange.
"No. She's Lavender's Mum." Harry said.
"How do you know?" Ron asked.
"Well, she's going out with a boy from Ravenclaw called Mark Brown, and she looks and acts like Lavender." Harry explained.
"Who's Lavender?" James asked looking interested.
"She's this really ditzy girl in our class." Harry said.
"Aw! I always thought I'd be the one to father Nicola's children." Sirius complained.
"But what about Heather?" Ron asked.
"What about Heather?" Sirius replied.
"Well you love her don't you?" Harry said.
"No! Of course not! Don't be stupid!" Sirius exclaimed as he went red.
"Padfoot my friend, these people have only known you for a short time, yet they can read you like a book. They are telling you what I have been trying to tell you for the last five years. You love Heather." James said.
"No I don't! Moony back me up here." Sirius moaned.
"I'm sorry Padfoot, but I think I have to agree with Prongs on this one." Remus said smiling.
"Look. No matter what you say, I do not love Heather." Sirius said profusely.
"I'll ask Lily, she'll tell you." James said. Sirius expected him to get up and walk over to where Lily was sitting, but instead he stayed where he was and called over to her.
"Hey Lily!" he shouted.
"What?" Lily said looking up from her Charms homework.
"Tell Sirius that he's in love with Heather." James called.
"Sirius, you're in love with Heather." Lily called, a smile on her face. Both Sirius and Heather were very red.
"See? I told you." James said.
A few hours later when the common room was empty, Harry, Ron and Hermione settled down in the comfiest chairs there were and fell asleep.
* * *
The next day, the Gryffindor sixth years had a Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson. They walked into the classroom expecting to see Master Bates sitting at the desk, but instead saw a very prim looking witch.
"Good Morning. I am Professor Marryat. I am your Defence Against the Dark Arts cover teacher. Unfortunately Professor Bates has been taken ill."
"Master Bates." Sirius corrected her.
"Excuse me!" Professor Marryat said looking outraged.
"He didn't like us calling him Professor. He said that he would prefer it if we called him Master Bates." Sirius explained.
"Hmm." Professor Marryat looked at him scrutinizingly.
"What's wrong with Master Bates?" James asked as he went to sit down.
"He's been feeling very stressed lately, and he's just taking a holiday." At this, everyone looked at Sirius.
"What? What did I do?" Sirius asked.
"When's he coming back?" Remus asked.
"Oh, I should think in about two months or so." Professor Marryat replied.
"WHAT! Two months!" exclaimed Heather.
"Settle down, now today we are going to be learning about the strange phenomenon of Doyle's" Professor Marryat said, and launched into a long detailed explanation about the weird little creatures with only one eye.
At the end of the lesson, they went out of the classroom grumbling.
"Great. Just when we need Master Bates he does a disappearing act." said Remus.
"So Harry and the others are stuck here until he comes back which could be up to two months." said Lily.
* * *
They managed to keep Harry, Ron and Hermione hidden in the weeks leading up to Christmas, but this was becoming increasingly difficult. Snape had taken to following them around, he was sure that they were up to something. The only problem was, there was no where to hide. Or so they thought.
One day when James was returning from the hospital wing (he'd broken his arm) he saw Snape following him down the corridor. The reason he'd broken his arm was because he'd been in a fight with Snape. If he bumped into him now, there was no telling what he would do. Unfortunately Snape had spotted him, so he began to run. He didn't look where he was going and ended up in a place where he'd never been before. He could still hear Snape shouting ("Where is he? He has to be around here somewhere!") but he couldn't see him. He took a look around him. He was in a small room which was covered in a layer of dust an inch thick, but it was very well furnished. There were five beds with canopys, a long dining table and numerous chairs and sofa's. There was a picture on the wall of a very pretty woman with long blonde hair in a small round room with a spinning wheel. She was waving at him.
"Hello, sir." the woman in the picture said.
"Are you talking to me?" James asked.
"Yes you, come here," the woman said. James did as he was told, "my name's Rapunzel. What's your's?"
"James Potter."
"Ah, young James Potter. How glad I am that you have stumbled upon my humble quarters. For truth be told no soul has crossed the border into my room for many a year." Rapunzel said.
"Do you have to talk like that? In that old fashioned way?" James asked her.
"Well, no, but it kind of sets the atmosphere don't you think?" Rapunzel asked him.
"Where am I?" James asked.
"I answer only questions that are set to me in rhyme." Rapunzel said.
"But I asked you questions earlier that weren't in rhyme." James argued.
"Alas! Tis' true, but rhyme's stop me from feeling blue. Put your inquiry's to me in rhyme, and I will be happy to tell you."
"Fine! Fine! Um, I've stumbled across you, tell me where I am so I don't feel blue." James said.
"You're in an ancient chamber, a hiding place it's real, a place to sleep, to rest to lounge or have a lovely meal." chanted Rapunzel.
"Okay, um, I was escaping from Snape, he smell's real bad, how did I get here, tell me and I'll be glad." James said. Rapunzel grimaced at his bad rhyme.
"Behind an antique tapestry you fell, and in this room you do dwell." Rapunzel said.
"Right," James said, "I'm very hungry, it has to be said, tell me the way out before I get dead."
"Though your rhyme was very very bad, I'll dismiss it as you're such a fine lad. To escape from this room all you need do, is take your wand, tap my frame and say 'iroium'" Rapunzel rhymed.
"Hey! That didn't rhyme." James exclaimed.
"To be honest, that's true, I'm not dumb, but how many words do you know that rhyme with iroium?" Rapunzel said.
"Okay Okay!" James stood up and walked over to her frame. "Oh yeah, if I wanted to find this room again how would I?"
"Ah, ah, ah, you're question did not rhyme, set it to me again, before you're out of time." Rapunzel said.
"Okay, um, My friends need a place to stay, how will I find this room again, please tell me if you may." James said.
"You can find this room only when running from an enemy, but for you, enter the tapestry the same way as you leave to be free." Rapunzel said.
"Okay thanks, I'll probably see you again." James said and then he tapped the frame and said 'iroium'.
He stepped out of the tapestry and made his way back up to the tower to relay his adventures to his friends.
"Hey Jamie-boy, where've you been?" Sirius asked.
"Yeah we've thought up a new trick to play on Snape." Lily said.
"Great, but you can tell me about that later. I've found the perfect place for Harry, Ron and Hermione to hide. There's beds, and tables and chairs. It's a little dusty but we can fix that." James said.
"Ooh, where is it?" Lily said coming over and seating herself in James' lap.
"It's behind an ancient tapestry on the fourth floor corridor," James said, "I was trying to get away from Snape, and I fell into this room. There was this picture of someone called Rapunzel on the wall who would only answer my questions if I talked in rhyme. Anyway, I thought that Harry, Ron and Hermione could live there until Master Bates comes back." James said.
"Rapunzel. I've heard of her." Lily said, "she's in a Muggle fairy tale. She was banished to a tower by a witch and she couldn't come out. The witch used her hair to climb up to her everyday to make sure that she hadn't escaped. Then one day, a Prince came and she fell in love. She allowed him to climb up her hair to visit her. The witch found out about the Prince and cut off Rapunzel's hair and set her free. Then she tied the hair to the window ledge and the Prince came the next day as usual. He climbed up her hair to be met by the witch. She pushed him out the window and he landed in a pile of nettles. The nettles stung his eyes and he became blind. He then wandered around for days afterwards. Eventually Rapunzel found him. Her tears made him see again. And I guess they lived happily ever after."
"Yeah, I remember that fairy tale too." Hermione said.
"One thing I don't get about Muggle fairy tales is why they always use Witches as the bad guys. I don't think I've ever read a fairy tale where a Wizard was the bad guy." Rose said.
"Yeah I know, there's Hansel and Gretel, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, they all use Witches as the bad guy's" Lily said.
"Yeah, and why do they always make the witches ugly old hags?" Heather said.
"Because," Sirius said, "my dear Heather, you are ugly."
"When you've quite finished remembering Muggle Fairy tales, I want to see this room James found." Remus said impatiently.
"Oh, right yeah." James said standing up suddenly so that Lily fell to the floor.
"Thanks for that." she said sarcastically.
"No problem." James replied.
"I was being sarcastic." Lily said.
"So was I," James said.
"Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit." Remus said wisely.
"Shut up Moony." Lily said as they walked out of the common room and made their way up to the fourth floor corridor.
When they got there James took out his wand and said "iroium." The tapestry rolled upwards and the ten friends entered the room. Rapunzel noticed them straight away.
"Ah! Who is this I see? Young James come back so soon to visit me?"
"Hi Rapunzel. These are my friends Sirius, Remus, Lily, Heather, Rose, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Peter." he said.
"A popular young man you seem. Why have you crossed my door? What can I do you for?" Rapunzel said.
"Harry, Ron and Hermione are not supposed to be here, can they reside in your quarters until Master Bates comes near?" James asked.
"Why certainly they can, but you may have a problem with the dust. To clean it you must." Rapunzel said.
"We want to be rid of the dust, it's causing quite a smell, tell us Rapunzel do you know of a good spell?" James said.
"James, you are becoming quite a poet and you know it. But! Back to business. To clear up this mess you must say 'no more no less, mess be gone!'"
"Are you sure that's a real spell?" Lily asked.
"Alas! You have committed a crime! Your question did not rhyme." Rapunzel said.
"Okay, um, we do not wish to endure this smell, are you sure that was a genuine spell?" Lily said.
"Of course young Lady, Rapunzel does not lie. If you doubt me again, you shall die." With this threat, none if them dared speak to Rapunzel again whilst they were cleaning up. When they were finished the room looked wonderful. Rapunzel seemed to have noticed this too.
"A fine job you have done. Admit it, it has been fun, but now I'll leave you to your own for a visiting I must go." and she disappeared from her frame.
"She's strange." Lily commented.
"Is this room all right for you?" James asked Harry.
"Yeah, it's great, thanks." Harry said.
"One of us will bring you some food every now and then. It's the holidays soon, so you won't have to be confined here for too long." said Rose.
Sirius, James, Remus, Heather, Rose, Lily and Peter then went. Two hours later, Peter arrived again, this time his arms were full of food.
"Hi, James said I should bring you some food. So here it is. Bye." Peter said.
When Peter had left the room, Harry stood up and shook his fist at his retreating back.
"Ugh! I hate this! It is so annoying! Not being able to tell them about Peter. I mean if only I could tell them then my parents wouldn't die and Sirius wouldn't have to go to Azkaban. But I know that if I do tell them then when we get back everything will be different. I mean I won't be famous, and Voldemort wouldn't have disappeared for thirteen years and you two probably wouldn't be my best friends. I don't want that to happen. I just want to go over there to that stinking rat and hit him so hard!" Harry said.
"Harry you know you can't do that, if you do they'll know something's up!" Hermione said shrilly.
"Yes I know Hermione, but it's so infuriating. I have a chance to save my parents but I can't because it will change everything. I wish we could go back to the future. The seventies are annoying me."
None of them heard Rapunzel sidle back into the frame whilst they were talking, nor did they see her slip back out again to go and spread the gossip.
* * *
A/N I know, lame ending. I have complete writers block. I have no idea what is going to be put in the next part. If you have any suggestions, please leave them in your reveiws. I would have posted this sooner but my Dad's been hogging the PC with the Internet on it for the past week downloading music from Napster. I am having to write this on the crappy four year old PC in my room. You know what? Listening to Robbie Williams new album (sing when you're winning) is really motivational. I was able to write fluently while listening to it. Try it. Wow, this is a long Authors Note. I think it's time for the disclaimer.
Disclaimer: If you recognize it I don't own it. I own Heather and Rose and Nicola. I also own the rhyming Rapunzel. You can take her if you want. I don't know why you would want to, she turned out to be a snotty little cow. Oh well.