The Marauders crept through the deserted common room, approaching the voices that they heard shouting at each other. Even from across the common room, they could hear the argument that was going on between Harry, Hermione, and Ron.
Climbing the stairs that led to the girls side, they could begin to make out specific words from they argument, but only when the reached to door that led to the 5th year girl's dorm could they hear the entire argument.
Peter moved to open the door, but James held him back. "I want to hear what they'll yelling about, it might be about what they're not telling us," James explained, putting his head up to the door. The other four followed his example; they could now hear perfectly.
**********
Harry was standing on Hermione's trunk, yelling at Ron and Hermione.
"Why can't we tell them? For gods sake, we could save their lives!" Harry shouted.
"No Harry, you can't tell them anything, we shouldn't even have told them that Remus was a Professor here!" Hermione said, pacing back and forth on her floor.
"Why not? What harm could it possibly do?" Harry shouted back.
"You can't just mess with time like that, Harry. Even saving Sirius in our 3rd year was a little iffy and that was only a 3 hour leap. A 25 year leap…" Hermione ran her hands through her hair. "Harry, you'd be rewriting history."
"Hermione's right, Harry, Lily and James died," Ron said. "You can't change that, it's just, sad as it might be, well, it's life."
"But, we could make them not die, we could even save Sirius," Harry shouted at them.
Ron went over to Harry and grabbed his shoulders. "Listen to me Harry, we cannot tell them anything, this afternoon we should go to Dumbledore and tell him what happened."
Harry shoved Ron away from his, sending him flying backwards onto Hermione's bed. "Shut up, both of you. You have no fucking idea what it's like to be a bloody orphan, what it's like to live with people who hate you." Harry's voice was nearly cracking. "I lived the first eleven years of my life locking in a broom closet because of my fucking 'abnormality'." Harry jumped off Hermione trunk and paced over to the door. "You all laugh about my blowing up Aunt Marge, but it's not funny sitting at dinner listening to your bloody aunt rag on about how your parents were unemployed alcoholics who deserved what they got."
Hermione was nearly crying. Harry continued. "A car crash! A fucking car crash! That's what I thought happened to my parents for the first 11 years of my life. Do you have any idea what it's like? Neither of you understands, you both have happy families." Harry threw open Hermione's trunk and began rummaging around.
Harry stood up and shoved a purple photo album in Hermione's face. "Look at these pictures; Hermione at the beach; Hermione at the fair; Hermione with her parents. The only picture I have of my parents is their wedding. Do you get it? I could save their lives; you're trying to sentence them to death. For god's sake, what's wrong with you two?"
Ron grabbed Harry's robes and spun him around so that the two boys were eye to eye. "Listen to me Harry, stop being such a selfish jerk and listen to Hermione and I. History worked out pretty damn well. If you tell Lily and James about what happens then Voldemort will never be able to attack you!"
''Right, that's the whole fucking point, Ron. MY PARENTS WON'T DIE!" Harry shouted in Ron's face.
"Right, but then neither will Voldemort and then even more people will die, maybe your parents will be killed later, maybe you won't survive that time Harry," Ron shouted right back at Harry.
Harry seemed to sag under Ron's glare. Harry's eyes began to water; he cradled his head in hands, wiping away the tears that were forming.
Hermione cut in. "What exactly are you planning on telling them, Harry? Are you just going to walk up to them and be like 'Hi Lily and James, nice to meet you, I never have before because you were murdered when I was one. By whom? Oh, by Voldemort, with the help of your friend Peter who turned into a traitor. But, Sirius, everyone thought it was your fault, so you spent 12 years in Azkaban while Peter hid as Ron's pet rat. Don't worry, though, you escaped, but then Remus found you and now you're living in a cave hiding from Fudge. Remus, I'm not quite sure what happened to you, except that when you came to teach here, you were nearly starving and whenever we ask you what you were doing, you change the topic. Oh yeah, and last year Voldemort came back to life with the help of Peter here, killing a student in the process and trying to kill Harry himself.'" Hermione pulled up Harry's head and looked into his eyes. "You'll either make them think you're insane, or they'll go insane and do something stupid, like kill Peter."
Harry started crying. "Fine, you're right. It's just….so weird to finally meet my parents and know they're going to die and to meet Sirius and know that he'll spend most of his life in prison and to meet Peter and know he'll become a murderer." Harry took a few deep breaths. "I promise I won't tell them; you have my word."
Hermione hugged Harry tightly. "I'm proud of you Harry, it's hard not to tell them myself and they're not even my parents. But come now, we should go speak to Dumbledore about sending them home before they catch onto anything and figure anything out. They are all very smart, they're going to realize something is up sooner or later."
Harry stood up, going to Hermione's mirror to tidy himself up a bit. Then all the three of them looked at each other.
"We're going to Dumbledore now," Hermione said.
"This is the final decision," Harry said.
"Well, we ought to go," Ron added.
"Soon," Harry said.
"Now," Hermione finished. She grabbed both their hands and walked to the door, throwing it open, revealing 5 tearstained faces staring right at them.
"Is..Is..Is that all true?" Lily asked, the tears running down her face. Even Sirius was crying.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other in panic before pulling the five of them into Hermione's room and locking the door.
"What did you hear?" Hermione asked, trying to keep the panic out of her voice.
"Everything," answered James.
"Oh," Hermione sat down next to Ron and Harry who were trying not to become hysterical.
They sat on the floor for 15 minutes while the Marauders calmed down.
"Is that all true?" Lily asked. "Does all that really happen to us?"
Harry nodded glumly. "I suppose if you've already heard everything, we can try to explain, it can't do much harm at this point in the game."
Hermione and Ron nodded in agreement. "Well, start the questions."
"Why do I murder Lily and James?" Peter asked. "What in the world would make me do that?"
"Urm, no one knows really. You were their secret keeper to protect them from Voldemort but you were actually working for him all along and you told him where to find them. He went to their house and.." Harry trailed off.
"What's this whole thing about Azakaban then? If you said it was Peter's fault." Sirius asked.
"Well, you see, everyone though you were the secret keeper so they arrested you," Hermione explained. "Plus, Peter framed you and make everyone also think you killed him and 13 Muggles."
Lily spoke up. "What happened to you, Harry?"
"I live with the Dursley's, Petunia and Vernon."
"You live with my horrid sister? Why would that happen?"
"Dumbledore thought it would be best if I lived in the Muggle world so that I wouldn't become egotistical."
"Egotistical?" James asked.
"Yeah, when Voldemort attacked you he tried to attack me as well, but it didn't work and the curse backfired," Harry stared at his hands. "That's where I got that scar from."
"I see," James said, his voice cracking. He wrapped his arms around Lily, who had started crying again.
There were voices outside the door. It was Lavender and Parvati.
"Hey, Hermione, open the door. Come on, open up. Why did you lock the door?" Lavender knocked loudly. "If you and Harry are doing anything, stop it and open the door. I promise not to tell anyone."
"Come on, get on my bed now," Hermione hissed. The Marauders and Ron jumped onto Hermione's bed, pulling the curtains around them. Sirius had his hand over Peter's mouth to muffle his crying.
Hermione undid her hair and mussed up her robes. Then she grabbed a stick of lipstick from her nightstand and put it on her lips. Not bothering to make it even, she grabbed Harry and kissed him firmly on his cheek, leaving a smudge of pink.
"Hey, what was that for?" Harry asked, shocked.
"We need some excuse for the door to be locked," Hermione said as she unlocked and opened the door. Lavender came in, looking knowingly at Harry, her eyes spotting the lipstick on his cheek.
"I'm not even going to ask what you were doing that took so long for you to get the door open," Lavender said as she dumped her books on her bed and walked into the bathroom, shutting the door tightly behind her.
A muffled laugh escaped from the bed; it sounded like Ron.
Hermione threw back the curtains and handed them the Invisibility cloak which Harry had left in her room after their last nighttime excursion.
"Come on, pull yourselves together," Hermione said, helping Lily off the bed. "We're going to Dumbledore.
**********
Harry knocked on the gargoyle that led to Dumbledore's office. After a few moments, Professor McGonagall opened the door, saw the three of them standing there, the other 5 still under the protection of the cloak. McGonagall motioned for them to come in.
Harry could hear voices downstairs. They sounded like Remus and Sirius. Hermione and Ron must have realized the same thing, because their eyes opened wide once they heard the voices.
"Oh god, could this get any worse?" Harry mumbled to himself.
Just then, Snape's voice could be heard, arguing with whatever Sirius had just said.
Harry groaned.
They could hear Dumbledore stand up from his desk. The door to his office opened and Dumbledore invited them in. Harry, Ron and Hermione came into the office and stood uncomfortably by the door.
"You 5 can come in as well," Dumbledore said to the air behind them. Harry remembered that Dumbledore could see through invisibility cloaks. "Severus, if you could leave us for a moments. You can return to your office, we can finish this conversation later."
Snape stood up with a huff and stormed out of the office.
"Alright Harry, what did you do this time? God, you three are in here more times than I was," Sirius said, his mouth frowning but his eyes twinkling.
"And between us, that's saying something," Remus added.
"What…what….why are you two here?" Ron asked, his eyes darting around nervously.
"Oh, we finished the task the Dumbledore gave us and we were discussing it with Snape, as you probably heard," Sirius said. "Still hates me, doesn't he Albus?"
"Of course," Dumbledore said with a sigh. "But I don't think that is what you 8 came here to speak to me about. I for one would like an explanation for this. This is a rather remarkable occurance."
"Excuse me, Professor," Remus said, "but there are only 3 people there."
"Umm, not really," Harry said. "Professor, does having two of them in this room at once cause any trouble?"
"No, it shouldn't," Dumbledore said. "I don't see why it would."
"Two of us?" Sirius said.
"Perhaps Mr. Potter would like to explain this," Dumbledore saidm his brow furrowing. "I am finding myself at a loss for an explanation. No, don't worry Harry, I know that whatever happened isn't your fault, you are not going to be punished."
Hermione pulled off the invisibility cloak, revealing the Marauders.
Sirius and Remus stared at the Marauders in disbelief, their mouths hanging open.
"Well, you see," Harry began.
"What Harry is trying to say is that somehow you two plus James, Lily and Peter, managed to time travel to our time yesterday," Hermione said, "and we had a little mishap and we all need help."
"Desperately," James added.
"Most definitely," Peter added.
"You..you..rat!" Sirius stood up from his chair, his eyes flashing dangerously. He moved towards Peter, who had jumped behind the young Remus.
"Sirius," Dumbledore said. "Sit down this moment."
Sirius complied, but kept glaring at Peter who was cowering behind young Remus.
"Sirius Black, have you lost your mind?" Dumbledore was glaring at Sirius. "Peter has no idea what happened. None of them do."
"Actually, Professor, we do know," Lily said. "They were having an argument in their dorm and we were eavesdropping. That's why we came to you."
Dumbledore took his glasses off his face and wiped them with his beard. "Oh dear," he said. "You 5 heard everything about your future."
They all nodded.
"What should we do Albus?" Professor Lupin asked. "How did they get here to begin with?"
Harry spoke up. "We aren't sure, but something went wrong with a potion I made the other day, it was supposed to be a Memoriam Potion and I was wishing for memories of my family, but they came here instead."
"What did the potion look like, Harry?" Dumbledore asked.
"Well, it was supposed to be purple, but it was green and bubbly instead."
"Ah, I think I understand what happened," Dumbledore said. "Somehow your potion must have been switched to a Travel Potion that had probably been altered to allow for time travel."
"How could I have done that? I followed the directions exactly. Ron had the same batch as me and his worked fine," Harry said.
"Calm down, Harry. Someone must have switched the potions."
"Who? If Snape did that I'll…" Harry said.
"Professor Snape did nothing of the sort, Harry. I am inclined to think it was a pair of Death Eaters. I received reports from my sources that two were seen in Hogsmeade."
"Which two?" Sirius asked.
"I am not sure about this, but my sources described them as looking like Lucius Malfoy and Wormtail," Dumbledore said.
Peter squeaked. "Me? Why am I doing this all? I don't want to do this!"
Dumbledore looked at Peter carefully. "Peter, I am honestly not sure why you change your mind when you grow up."
"How do we know he's not lying?" Sirius demanded.
"Calm down Sirius," Dumbledore said, pushing a glass of water in his direction. "I have various lie detectors in my office and none of them have gone off.
Sirius looked unconvinced.
"But, Professor, why would they do that? It doesn't seem very evil," Ron asked.
"I assume that they wanted to have happen what just happened," Dumbledore responded.
"Excuse me?" Hermione asked.
"They wanted Harry and you both to tell Lily and James about what will happen, I assume, so that Peter will not change and Voldemort will never attack Harry, thus never dying," Dumbledore said.
"But, Professor, now that we know, doesn't that mean they succeeded?" James asked.
"Not at all, young James, not at all," Dumbledore said. " A simple memory charm should do the trick."
"Wait a minute, make it so that the charm will wear off tomorrow," Professor Lupin said. "I like to have my memory normal, thank you very much."
"Good idea Remus, now, how best to do this?" Dumbledore stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Ahh, yes, that's it."
"What's it Professor?" Harry asked.
"I am going to need you 5 to leave the room." The Marauders started to leave. "No, not you 5, the other 5," Dumbledore said. Sirius, Remus, Harry, Ron, and Hermione got up to leave.
"Wait a minute, Professor," Lily said. "May James and I speak with Harry for a moment please?"
"Certainly Ms. Evans, take your time."
Lily, James and Harry went over to the corner of Dumbledore's office.
"Harry, this is the last time we will be seeing each other, and well, we'll miss you," James said, embracing his son. It was a rather funny sight, as they were both the same age.
"You are certainly a nice young man, we would have been proud of you," Lily said. Harry shifted uncomfortably; he had never had a mother compliment him, except Molly, and currently Lily looked a lot different from Molly.
"And your friends are wonderful," James added.
"Try to…to…go on, don't dwell on this, Harry, just know that wherever we are now, we are very proud of you," Lily said, giving her son one last hug and a small kiss on his forehead. Harry felt her slip something into his pocket.
James patted Harry on his shoulder, smiling at him. His smile looked eerily like Harry's.
"We're ready to go, Professor," James said to Dumbledore. Sirius, Peter, and Remus nodded.
Harry left the room, trying not to cry. From behind him, he could hear Dumbledore saying the proper spells. A yellow flash came from under the door, followed soon by a green one.
Dumbledore opened the door; his office was empty. The five people who had been standing in the hallway came into the room. Everyone was rather subdued.
"That was an admirable decision on all of your parts," Dumbledore said. "It shows a remarkable sense of maturity in all of you."
Dumbledore was saying something else, but Harry wasn't listening. He was too focused on what Lily had put in his pocket. It was a gold locket, inside of which was two photos, one of her and one of James.
Sirius looked over Harry's shoulder to see what was in Harry's hand. Seeing the locket, Sirius began to chuckle.
"What's so funny, that's my mum's locket," Harry said, holding onto it tightly.
"Oh nothing," Remus said, prying open Harry's hand and taking the locket and examining it. "It's just that Lily had that necklace until she was in her 6th year, but then she lost it one night. She never remembered what had happened to it, all she could remember was that she had given it to the only boy she loved as much as James. I think I just figured out who that boy was."
**********
A/N: This is the conclusion of this series. I know that it is really short, but this is the logical conclusion of the story so here is the ending. Thanks to all those who reviewed; you know who you are. -Serafina (feel free to e-mail me at SmallSarah@aol.com with questions or comments).