A/n: Here it is! The last part of The Time Warp Trilogy. Enjoy, because there won't be any more! Who can find the allusion to The Hobbit? I just read the book, and I found this great line...go find it! Brownie points to the person who can find it!
"You heard that, did you?" Harry asked tiredly. "Well...you might as well come in. There's nothing else for me to say."
"There is a lot for you to say," said Katie briskly, pulling a very shell-shocked Lily and James to the door. The problem was, that James and Lily didn't really want to go through the door. At least it looked like it. Every time they got near the ledge where the door was, they just wouldn't step up to get into the kitchen. They kept bumping their shins on the ledge. After this process was repeated several times, Sirius finally picked Lily up, tossed her into the kitchen, then he and Remus picked James up, and tossed him in. Both landed in a heap on the floor. Lydia snorted.
"Now that we're all comfy..." said Katie, settling herself in a chair, while James and Lily came out of shock long enough to untangle themselves. Harry shook his head and sat down hard in a chair.
"Now, Harry, if what you're saying is correct, Lily and James are your parents?"
"Of course they are," Sirius butted in. "I kinda thought that they might be somehow related like that from the very first."
"What?"
"Well, when there's a mini-me James walking around with Lily's eyes, what else would you expect?" Asked Sirius, with a maddeningly superior look on his face.
"And, uh, out of curiosity, Sirius," said Katie, "why DID YOU NOT MENTION YOUR THEORY TO US??"
"I didn't think you'd believe me. You never do, whenever I get one of my 'mad theories' as you call them. My theory was right this time. It's nothing to sneeze at, you know."
"The world is coming to an end," sighed Katie, "when Sirius's theories start coming true."
"Oh shut up, both of you," said Remus. "What I want to know about is the rest of what you said."
"I wonder," Harry muttered to Hermione, "if we all put a memory charm on them at once, would it be powerful enough to..."
"Don't bother," said Sirius, "we can block them. One time a 7th year tried after we caught him and Lisa Holmes..."
"That's another story," interrupted Remus. "What I want to know about is..."
"Oh shut up!" Lily burst out. "Do shouldn't what WE want to know come first, considering Harry IS our kid?"
The room got very quiet. James gave Lily a smile, and then asked, "Ok, so you're not really Harry Percival Evans, are you?"
"No, my real name is Harry James Potter."
"And you are..." James glanced nervously at Lily.
"You are my parents." Harry looked perfectly calm as he said this, but his face was dead white. Hermione, thinking he was going to faint in the chair, walked over and placed a comforting arm on his shoulder. Harry looked up at her, his eyes thanking her, and she and Ron took over for a while. After all, she thought, it isn't everyday one meets their dead parents. I would be passed out on the floor by now.
"You heard the whole story," said Ron. "Lily and James get killed by you-know-who. That's all you need to know."
"What about this being betrayed by a friend?" asked Sirius as casually as possible.
"I'm sorry, we can't give any more details on that," said Hermione firmly. "That's all you really need to know. We're from the future. Right now, this is the past. We aren't supposed to be here, we're supposed to be in the 5th year a Hogwarts school, in the year 2002. Lily and James are Harry's parents. The Avada Kedavera curse kills them. Harry lives. He defeats Voldemort," here she stumbled, as if not used to saying the name. "That's it. That's all you need to know, and you shouldn't even know that."
"What I want to know," said Lily, "was whom Harry stayed with if we were..." she swallowed, "dead."
"With Sirius and Katie, of course," said James with certainty. "After their married and all..."
"James, I would not be talking about marriage when you have your kid sitting in front of you." Said Katie
"I wasn't finished," said James "Who else would it be? Am I not right?" He addressed Hermione.
"Em..."
"I can't tell you that," said Harry, speaking up again. "We told you all we could, and we can't tell you any more. It would change the past if we told you any more."
Hermione looked proud. "I finally knocked some sense into his head," she muttered.
"Listen," said Ron, "We're tired, you're tired, we're all tired, and we don't know if Harry, Hermione, and I are ever even going to go back to the Hogwarts that we know. Lets get some sleep and figure this out in the morning."
In the end, everyone mumbled, muttered, and grumbled, but finally got themselves up to bed.
~**~
No one got any sleep that night.
James tossed, turned, and tried to figure out what possessed him to marry Lily.
Lily tossed, turned, and tried to figure out what possessed her to marry James.
Sirius wondered if he was the friend who betrayed Lily and James
Remus wondered why he would spend the rest of his life alone, and why Sirius went to Azkaban, of course, he knew he would end up there someday, but so soon?
Lydia wondered if they were being crazy to take this Harry kid seriously.
Katie wondered along the same lines as Sirius.
Harry wondered if his Mum and Dad would actually like him, once they came out of shock.
Hermione wondered if they would ever get out of this time warp.
Ron wondered if Hermione might be going crazy, from lack of using the library so long.
Peter wondered if the house elves had any extra food.
It was a long night.
~**~
Early the next morning, ten tired, sleepy, and otherwise dead to the world people came down to the common room. They piled into armchairs and couches, except for Peter, who, after thinking about it all night, headed down to the kitchens to get some food. Hermione, after much yawning, was the first one to speak.
"I figured out how we can get back home, but it's going to have to be tonight, and tonight only. I just need to do a quick check at the library to see if I'm right. I am pretty sure, though."
The room went dead quiet. The only thing that was preventing total quiet was Sirius's snores from a red fluffy armchair, which he was laying across, his head and feet dangling, and his mouth open. Katie went over and pushed him out of the armchair, and then sat in it herself. Sirius, waking up with a start, picked Katie up, dumped her ungracefully onto the floor, and resumed sitting in his armchair. The process was repeated several times until finally Katie won, and Sirius sat on the floor. By the time all this had ended, Hermione was back from the library, and she dumped James's invisibility cloak on the floor. James's mouth dropped.
"How did you?? What?? I..." He stuttered.
"How did I get your cloak? How did I know about it?" Asked Hermione smiling.
"Yeah, pretty much."
"Harry has the same one, and you keep it in the same place he does." She answered promptly.
"Last night I worried that my kid would turn out just like James..." muttered Lily, "I was right."
"Come on, I'm not all that bad," said James and Harry together.
"Yep," said Lily, "I was right."
"ANYWAY..." said Hermione, "the only way to get out of a time warp like this is to be in the exact same positions, in the exact same room with the exact same clothes on..."
"Hermione, stop with the exacts," yawned Ron.
Hermione looked hurt. "Fine," she said huffily. "Anyway, you get the idea. We have to be there at midnight, tonight, or else it won't work. We only have two days to work the spell, or else we will have to wait another year before we can work it again."
"So we only have today," said Lily soberly. It reflected what she was thinking. She and James only had today to get to know their son as he was like as a teenager, and one day was not enough.
"Yeah," said Harry, who was thinking the same thing, only vice versa.
"Well," said Sirius cheerfully, "It's time to go down to breakfast."
~**~
Harry sat up in his Dad's dormitory, looking around. It would be the last time that he looked in here, at his dad's stuff, and Sirius's stuff...and Remus's stuff...and the evil rat's stuff...and...well...everything else that was lying about in a heap on the floor. He was feeling rather dismal, until Sirius burst in. Sirius never walked calmly into a room, he always banged open the door so it hit the wall, and slammed it shut again.
"Harry, I have to talk to you," he said in a low, worried voice.
"What?" said Harry, getting worried about where the topic was headed.
"I was the one who betrayed Lily and James, wasn't I? It all fits, I'm James's best friend, and then I get sent to Azkaban...Harry, you have to tell me if I did so that I can go kill myself before I go over to the dark side. I'll go jump off the astronomy tower, or insult Lily, or laugh at a dragon, I just can't betray Lily and James. You have to tell me." He spoke with a quiet desperation that Harry had never heard before, and he knew that Sirius truly would kill himself.
"No, you did not betray my parents," said Harry seriously, "You were wrongly accused and put in Azkaban." Sirius paled slightly. "But, if it's any consolation, you are my godfather and you're the only thing that keeps me going sometimes." Sirius then smiled. "Cool." And bounded out the door again.
The door burst open again. This time, it was not Sirius, but Katie.
"I was the one who betrayed Lily and James, wasn't I?" she asked, looking carefully at Harry. "It all fits, I'm Lily's best friend, if Sirius was wrongly accused, then it must have actually been me and..."
"No," said Harry, who was having the strangest sensation of déjà vu. "It wasn't you. Don't worry about it." And Katie walked out of the door, then turned back and pecked Harry on the cheek. "My parents died by Voldemort too," she said, "I'm just glad to see the person who destroyed him." And then she walked out of the room. The door opened quietly. Harry, half expecting to see someone else comes out of the woodwork, turned. Peter crept quietly in.
"I forgot my wand," he said, and, after picking up several piles of clothes, he found it, and scurried out the door.
"Cringing bit of filth," Harry spat, using the exact same words that Sirius had when describing Peter in the future. "Doesn't even have the decency to ask if he killed them, which he did."
~**~
At 11:55 ten people were in the exact same clothes, in the exact same positions, in the exact...you get the point. They had set up a punch table and Sirius was busying himself with spiking the punch, and Lily and James were having a mock fight in a corner. At 11:57, they stopped for a moment to say goodbye.
"Goodbye, Mum, Dad..." Said Harry, trailing off at the end.
"Harry, I..." Lily started, and then stopped, and hugged him, whispering "I sure you were the best son ever, and if what you said comes true, I think I'll be thankful that I heard you call me 'Mum.'" All though both James and Lily were both the same age as Harry, the bond was there. James shook Hermione and Ron's hands, then awkwardly hugged Harry as well. It was 11:59. Harry smiled.
"I'll write you when I get home, Sirius. Goodbye." They disappeared.
~**~
Dear Harry,
I was at Remus's tonight, when we both realized that tonight was the night you visited us a long time ago. Your Mum and Dad, thinking that if they really died, wanted to leave you something to remember them. Here you go.
I'm waiting for my letter.
Sirius
Harry, having just got back with Ron and Hermione on the same night that they had left, laughed and pulled out the other something that was in the envelope. It was a picture of Lily, James, and Harry, when they were all the same age. Katie had taken it, when they were hugging. On the back was written: "Harry, we thought you'd like this. We love you. Mum and Dad."
~**~
A/N: Finito. About the part when James and Harry hug: I hate it when there's this big emotional scene, and the two guys shake hands. That just isn't right. Oh well. Review PLEASE!!!!
P.S. Does anyone know the author to Gilded Lily? I've been dying to read the rest of it, and I can't find it anywhere! You're talking to a desperate woman, here! Please tell me!!!!! Thanx.
"You heard that, did you?" Harry asked tiredly. "Well...you might as well come in. There's nothing else for me to say."
"There is a lot for you to say," said Katie briskly, pulling a very shell-shocked Lily and James to the door. The problem was, that James and Lily didn't really want to go through the door. At least it looked like it. Every time they got near the ledge where the door was, they just wouldn't step up to get into the kitchen. They kept bumping their shins on the ledge. After this process was repeated several times, Sirius finally picked Lily up, tossed her into the kitchen, then he and Remus picked James up, and tossed him in. Both landed in a heap on the floor. Lydia snorted.
"Now that we're all comfy..." said Katie, settling herself in a chair, while James and Lily came out of shock long enough to untangle themselves. Harry shook his head and sat down hard in a chair.
"Now, Harry, if what you're saying is correct, Lily and James are your parents?"
"Of course they are," Sirius butted in. "I kinda thought that they might be somehow related like that from the very first."
"What?"
"Well, when there's a mini-me James walking around with Lily's eyes, what else would you expect?" Asked Sirius, with a maddeningly superior look on his face.
"And, uh, out of curiosity, Sirius," said Katie, "why DID YOU NOT MENTION YOUR THEORY TO US??"
"I didn't think you'd believe me. You never do, whenever I get one of my 'mad theories' as you call them. My theory was right this time. It's nothing to sneeze at, you know."
"The world is coming to an end," sighed Katie, "when Sirius's theories start coming true."
"Oh shut up, both of you," said Remus. "What I want to know about is the rest of what you said."
"I wonder," Harry muttered to Hermione, "if we all put a memory charm on them at once, would it be powerful enough to..."
"Don't bother," said Sirius, "we can block them. One time a 7th year tried after we caught him and Lisa Holmes..."
"That's another story," interrupted Remus. "What I want to know about is..."
"Oh shut up!" Lily burst out. "Do shouldn't what WE want to know come first, considering Harry IS our kid?"
The room got very quiet. James gave Lily a smile, and then asked, "Ok, so you're not really Harry Percival Evans, are you?"
"No, my real name is Harry James Potter."
"And you are..." James glanced nervously at Lily.
"You are my parents." Harry looked perfectly calm as he said this, but his face was dead white. Hermione, thinking he was going to faint in the chair, walked over and placed a comforting arm on his shoulder. Harry looked up at her, his eyes thanking her, and she and Ron took over for a while. After all, she thought, it isn't everyday one meets their dead parents. I would be passed out on the floor by now.
"You heard the whole story," said Ron. "Lily and James get killed by you-know-who. That's all you need to know."
"What about this being betrayed by a friend?" asked Sirius as casually as possible.
"I'm sorry, we can't give any more details on that," said Hermione firmly. "That's all you really need to know. We're from the future. Right now, this is the past. We aren't supposed to be here, we're supposed to be in the 5th year a Hogwarts school, in the year 2002. Lily and James are Harry's parents. The Avada Kedavera curse kills them. Harry lives. He defeats Voldemort," here she stumbled, as if not used to saying the name. "That's it. That's all you need to know, and you shouldn't even know that."
"What I want to know," said Lily, "was whom Harry stayed with if we were..." she swallowed, "dead."
"With Sirius and Katie, of course," said James with certainty. "After their married and all..."
"James, I would not be talking about marriage when you have your kid sitting in front of you." Said Katie
"I wasn't finished," said James "Who else would it be? Am I not right?" He addressed Hermione.
"Em..."
"I can't tell you that," said Harry, speaking up again. "We told you all we could, and we can't tell you any more. It would change the past if we told you any more."
Hermione looked proud. "I finally knocked some sense into his head," she muttered.
"Listen," said Ron, "We're tired, you're tired, we're all tired, and we don't know if Harry, Hermione, and I are ever even going to go back to the Hogwarts that we know. Lets get some sleep and figure this out in the morning."
In the end, everyone mumbled, muttered, and grumbled, but finally got themselves up to bed.
~**~
No one got any sleep that night.
James tossed, turned, and tried to figure out what possessed him to marry Lily.
Lily tossed, turned, and tried to figure out what possessed her to marry James.
Sirius wondered if he was the friend who betrayed Lily and James
Remus wondered why he would spend the rest of his life alone, and why Sirius went to Azkaban, of course, he knew he would end up there someday, but so soon?
Lydia wondered if they were being crazy to take this Harry kid seriously.
Katie wondered along the same lines as Sirius.
Harry wondered if his Mum and Dad would actually like him, once they came out of shock.
Hermione wondered if they would ever get out of this time warp.
Ron wondered if Hermione might be going crazy, from lack of using the library so long.
Peter wondered if the house elves had any extra food.
It was a long night.
~**~
Early the next morning, ten tired, sleepy, and otherwise dead to the world people came down to the common room. They piled into armchairs and couches, except for Peter, who, after thinking about it all night, headed down to the kitchens to get some food. Hermione, after much yawning, was the first one to speak.
"I figured out how we can get back home, but it's going to have to be tonight, and tonight only. I just need to do a quick check at the library to see if I'm right. I am pretty sure, though."
The room went dead quiet. The only thing that was preventing total quiet was Sirius's snores from a red fluffy armchair, which he was laying across, his head and feet dangling, and his mouth open. Katie went over and pushed him out of the armchair, and then sat in it herself. Sirius, waking up with a start, picked Katie up, dumped her ungracefully onto the floor, and resumed sitting in his armchair. The process was repeated several times until finally Katie won, and Sirius sat on the floor. By the time all this had ended, Hermione was back from the library, and she dumped James's invisibility cloak on the floor. James's mouth dropped.
"How did you?? What?? I..." He stuttered.
"How did I get your cloak? How did I know about it?" Asked Hermione smiling.
"Yeah, pretty much."
"Harry has the same one, and you keep it in the same place he does." She answered promptly.
"Last night I worried that my kid would turn out just like James..." muttered Lily, "I was right."
"Come on, I'm not all that bad," said James and Harry together.
"Yep," said Lily, "I was right."
"ANYWAY..." said Hermione, "the only way to get out of a time warp like this is to be in the exact same positions, in the exact same room with the exact same clothes on..."
"Hermione, stop with the exacts," yawned Ron.
Hermione looked hurt. "Fine," she said huffily. "Anyway, you get the idea. We have to be there at midnight, tonight, or else it won't work. We only have two days to work the spell, or else we will have to wait another year before we can work it again."
"So we only have today," said Lily soberly. It reflected what she was thinking. She and James only had today to get to know their son as he was like as a teenager, and one day was not enough.
"Yeah," said Harry, who was thinking the same thing, only vice versa.
"Well," said Sirius cheerfully, "It's time to go down to breakfast."
~**~
Harry sat up in his Dad's dormitory, looking around. It would be the last time that he looked in here, at his dad's stuff, and Sirius's stuff...and Remus's stuff...and the evil rat's stuff...and...well...everything else that was lying about in a heap on the floor. He was feeling rather dismal, until Sirius burst in. Sirius never walked calmly into a room, he always banged open the door so it hit the wall, and slammed it shut again.
"Harry, I have to talk to you," he said in a low, worried voice.
"What?" said Harry, getting worried about where the topic was headed.
"I was the one who betrayed Lily and James, wasn't I? It all fits, I'm James's best friend, and then I get sent to Azkaban...Harry, you have to tell me if I did so that I can go kill myself before I go over to the dark side. I'll go jump off the astronomy tower, or insult Lily, or laugh at a dragon, I just can't betray Lily and James. You have to tell me." He spoke with a quiet desperation that Harry had never heard before, and he knew that Sirius truly would kill himself.
"No, you did not betray my parents," said Harry seriously, "You were wrongly accused and put in Azkaban." Sirius paled slightly. "But, if it's any consolation, you are my godfather and you're the only thing that keeps me going sometimes." Sirius then smiled. "Cool." And bounded out the door again.
The door burst open again. This time, it was not Sirius, but Katie.
"I was the one who betrayed Lily and James, wasn't I?" she asked, looking carefully at Harry. "It all fits, I'm Lily's best friend, if Sirius was wrongly accused, then it must have actually been me and..."
"No," said Harry, who was having the strangest sensation of déjà vu. "It wasn't you. Don't worry about it." And Katie walked out of the door, then turned back and pecked Harry on the cheek. "My parents died by Voldemort too," she said, "I'm just glad to see the person who destroyed him." And then she walked out of the room. The door opened quietly. Harry, half expecting to see someone else comes out of the woodwork, turned. Peter crept quietly in.
"I forgot my wand," he said, and, after picking up several piles of clothes, he found it, and scurried out the door.
"Cringing bit of filth," Harry spat, using the exact same words that Sirius had when describing Peter in the future. "Doesn't even have the decency to ask if he killed them, which he did."
~**~
At 11:55 ten people were in the exact same clothes, in the exact same positions, in the exact...you get the point. They had set up a punch table and Sirius was busying himself with spiking the punch, and Lily and James were having a mock fight in a corner. At 11:57, they stopped for a moment to say goodbye.
"Goodbye, Mum, Dad..." Said Harry, trailing off at the end.
"Harry, I..." Lily started, and then stopped, and hugged him, whispering "I sure you were the best son ever, and if what you said comes true, I think I'll be thankful that I heard you call me 'Mum.'" All though both James and Lily were both the same age as Harry, the bond was there. James shook Hermione and Ron's hands, then awkwardly hugged Harry as well. It was 11:59. Harry smiled.
"I'll write you when I get home, Sirius. Goodbye." They disappeared.
~**~
Dear Harry,
I was at Remus's tonight, when we both realized that tonight was the night you visited us a long time ago. Your Mum and Dad, thinking that if they really died, wanted to leave you something to remember them. Here you go.
I'm waiting for my letter.
Sirius
Harry, having just got back with Ron and Hermione on the same night that they had left, laughed and pulled out the other something that was in the envelope. It was a picture of Lily, James, and Harry, when they were all the same age. Katie had taken it, when they were hugging. On the back was written: "Harry, we thought you'd like this. We love you. Mum and Dad."
~**~
A/N: Finito. About the part when James and Harry hug: I hate it when there's this big emotional scene, and the two guys shake hands. That just isn't right. Oh well. Review PLEASE!!!!
P.S. Does anyone know the author to Gilded Lily? I've been dying to read the rest of it, and I can't find it anywhere! You're talking to a desperate woman, here! Please tell me!!!!! Thanx.