So, back again

So, back again. Third part. All constructive criticism welcome. All flames ignored. All good reviews duly noted and all authors put on list at bottom. Right, carry on (Note: You will not know who Jason is without reading the Werewolf) … in this part … some more realisations …

Back to the Future (3): Explanations

Sirius entered the room, took one look at James, and fainted dead away. Remus followed him, looking paler than James had ever seen him.

    'James?' he said faintly.

    'Remus,' said James cheerfully. 'Long time no see.'

    'But you're – you can't be –'

    'Dead?' James replied. 'Oh, I am. Definitely. 'But that's my present self. Ever remember that time in our seventh year when I happened to find a time-turner?' Remus nodded weakly, still gaping open-mouthed at James. 'I had a little fun with it before giving it back. I came here to visit my son and my friends. Well, except one.'

    'Peter,' said Harry darkly from his bed.

    'Yes. I've an idea how we can have some fun with him – you'll see. First we need to wake Sirius, though.

    'You can't be James,' Remus suddenly blurted out. James looked at him.

    'Can't I?' he said simply, and before anyone could do anything James had transformed into his Animagus form. A large bronze stag reared it's head; its prongs glinting in the sunlight from outside. James changed back with a small pop, and stared at the open-mouthed people around him.

    'Hmm. Believe me yet?' There were a number of shaky nods. Remus looked close to tears.

    'I thought I'd never see you again,' he said huskily. 'I knew I wouldn't. I –' he didn't seem able to find the words. He simply wiped away a number of stray tears. James couldn't say anything either. He simply walked over and embraced Remus.

Hermione, lying next to Harry on the bed, had never seen such an odd sight. The fact that Remus believed him had done something funny to James' face. His blue eyes were oddly over bright, and Remus was almost suffocating him. But James didn't seem to mind.

    'It's so good to see you, James,' said Remus, still looking at James as though he couldn't quite believe it. 'How – how did you get here?'

    'You – you think I'm me?' said James weakly. Remus' face suddenly burst into a wide grin.

    'Well, how many other wizards do I know that are an unregistered Animagus – that can change into a stag – and look exactly like you. I believe I saw you earlier on?'

    'That was horrible,' said James fervently. 'Looking into a room to see that one of your best friends is about twenty years older than you.'

    'It was the time-turner,' said Ron suddenly, although James had already told him this. 'That's how you got here.'

    'Quite. Oh, and Harry, Hermione, Ron? Can I change you back? It'd be nice to see the real versions of all of you.' Harry, Ron and Hermione exchanged glances.

    'Can you do that?' Harry asked.

    'Simple,' said James. He muttered a few words a waved his hand over the three of them. Again, Harry, Ron and Hermione felt as though their skin was melting, and presently, the three of them stood in their original forms.

    'Ah, that's much better,' said Ron, looking into a mirror at his now freckly face. 'Thanks – er, James.' But James wasn't listening. He was staring, transfixed, at (a/n Now I deliberated for a long time which name to put in here. Then I remembered that James loves Lily. Damn) Harry.

    'Bloody hell,' he said softly, for it felt to him as though he was staring into a mirror. 'Incredible.'

    'We won't be able to tell you apart,' said Hermione.

    'You forget,' said James, turning to her. 'That we have different eyes. Hmm.' He surveyed Hermione for a few seconds and turned to Ron. 'I see what you like about her,' he whispered softly into Ron's ear, so no one else could hear. Ron flushed, but grinned.

    'Right,' said James, taking charge. 'Where's Neville Longbottom?'

    'I can tell you that,' said Remus. 'Neville was taken home this morning because of shock.'

    'Seeing his dad?' said James blankly. 'Why should that shock him?' Harry bit his lip.

    'Er – dad? Something rather nasty happened to Neville, shortly after you and mum died.'

    'What was it, Harry? And call me James.'

    'Well – some of the Death Eaters caught Frank and his wife – and – and tortured them to the point of insanity. They're in St. Mungo's.' James clapped a hand to his mouth.

    'Oh my God,' he said. 'No wonder he was shocked. Is this Neville a bright student?' He was surprised to be answered by sniggers from Ron and Hermione.

    'No,' said Ron. 'Quite the opposite, in fact.'

    'That makes sense,' said James. 'The fact that the potion worked would only serve to make him even more surprised. But this is good. Excellent, in fact. I can pretend to be Neville Longbottom, trapped within James Potter's body.'

    'And if someone tries to change you back?' said Hermione.

    'People can be persuaded,' said James cryptically, waving his hand. Remus chuckled.

    'I don't think that's the best idea, James,' he said. 'The Ministry went ballistic when you did it on me.'

    'What are you talking about?' said Harry, with a slight sense of foreboding.

    'The Unforgivables,' Remus replied. 'James learned how to do them – somehow.'

    'Yes, but I only used them when desperate times required desperate measures, as you should well know. And anyway, what's illegal is using the curses, not knowing them.'

    'You know the Unforgivables?' repeated Hermione faintly. 'But – you have to be – you have to –'

    '- Be really powerful?' James finished. 'I know. But I've only ever used Unforgivables twice – the Imperius curse, on both occasions. One was inadvertent. The other saved mine and – er – someone else's life. You must have used one once, Harry.'

    'Yeah,' said Harry, who had remained silent. 'Once. I killed someone.' Remus, Hermione and Ron gaped at him. James looked unsurprised.

    'Who?' said Ron faintly.

    'Lucius Malfoy,' said Harry, with malice. 'I didn't mean to – I just –'

    '- Felt power coursing through you and your wand seemed to do the rest?' James finished. 'That's what you get when you're an Heir. You are still, aren't you Remus?' At this, Harry, Ron and Hermione started.

    'What – oh yeah,' said Remus. 'But I was never as powerful, because I wasn't raised in my Heir's house. And being a werewolf – that made me much less powerful than you and (a/n Aha! Nice try! You'll have to wait for The HoM {Year 3} to see who the Heir of Ravenclaw is. You'll never guess).

    'You're an Heir?' said Harry to Remus, amazed.

    'Heir of Hufflepuff,' said Remus simply.

    'Right, let me just sum up,' said Harry impatiently. 'My dad's just come forward twenty years in time. He's the Heir of Gryffindor and so am I, and his best friend – who is incidentally twenty years younger than him – is the Heir of Hufflepuff. Yes?' James nodded.

    'I can imagine it's difficult. It'd be like – Michelle appearing back in our time.' Remus looked away, his hands in his face. James bit his lip, but the other three merely exchanged puzzled glances.

    'Remus was in love with Michelle,' said James softly. 'Voldemort got to her –' James suddenly stopped speaking at the looks on Harry, Ron and Hermione's faces. 'What?' he said.

    'You said – you said You-Know-Who's name,' said Hermione shakily. James laughed.

    'You think I was afraid of him?' he said, bitterly. 'Oh no. He was afraid of me. And I bet he's afraid of you now, Harry.'

    'Voldemort was afraid of you?' said Harry incredulously.

    'Yes,' said James, his voice full of hate. 'I was the Heir of the only person Slytherin feared. How do you think Slytherin died? Gryffindor put his sword though his heart, that's how. And I have that sword.'

    'So do I,' said Harry blankly. Well, I can summon it, at least.'

    'When have you used it?' James asked, interested. Harry sighed. He began to recount to James all the details of what had happened in his second year. He told him how he had summoned the sword from the Sorting Hat, how he had used it to kill the Basilisk, how he had managed to get rid of Tom Riddle. When he finally finished, James looked immensely proud.

    'You're a Parselmouth, eh?' he said, amused. 'How?'

    'Voldemort,' Harry replied. 'I got it when he gave me this.' He pulled back his fringe and showed James a scar, shaped like a lightning-bolt.

    'That looks nasty. The curse did it, I suppose?'

    'Yeah. Mum – well, Lily to you, I suppose – she died to save me.' James suddenly wiped away a tear.

    'I would have brought her along,' he said slowly. 'You'd have liked to meet her. Especially you, Hermione. You're similar in so many ways. Smart, beautiful, kind …' he bowed his head for a few seconds. Hermione blushed, and James grinned.

    'Don't mind James,' said Remus, smiling. 'A born flatterer. Some of the things he said to Lily – you'd have thought he was entering a cheesiness contest.'

    'What about you and Sirius, though, eh?' James replied, laughing. 'You had your fair share of "Your beauty is like a bright summer's day". At this, everybody laughed.

    'What?' James said. 'Now Sirius, he was a master. What would he say, Remus? Hmm … things like "Your breath smells like warm Butterbeer – let's make out" He was very direct –' Harry, Hermione, Ron and Remus were now all laughing uproariously.

    'Can I ask,' said Ron, containing himself for a moment, 'whether you ever wrote a poem for Lily that went,' he laughed again, 'something like this? "Her eyes are as green as a fresh-pickled toad –" This was too much for both Ron and Hermione. They looked at Harry for a few seconds, and burst into great peels of laughter.

    'What's going on?' said a sharp voice from the corner of the room. It was Professor Snape.

    'Snapey,' said James cheerfully, turning to Snape, whose expression went from perplexed to completely horrified. 'What? Not happy to see me?' He chuckled bitterly as Snape went crashing to the floor, next to Sirius.

    'I think we'd better revive them,' said Remus. 'Anyway, don't you want to talk to Sirius?' James paused. Was he really nervous about speaking to his best friend?

    'All right,' he said. 'But let's get rid of Snape first. I'm Neville, remember?' He approached Snape. 'Enervate!' Snape opened his eyes, and stared at James and Harry.

    'Potter?' he said weakly.

    'No, it's me, Professor,' said James. 'Neville. They sent me back, but I'm stuck as Harry's dad.' A look of intense relief spread across Snape's features.

    'Detention, Longbottom.'

    'With you, sir?' James asked innocently.

    'Yes. I must inform the other staff. Especially those with weak hearts.' He strode out of the room, muttering something about the incompetence of children these days.

    'He's as big as idiot as he was twenty years ago,' said James, laughing. 'I'm gonna scare him good at the detention.'

    'How?' asked Remus, amused.

    'Oh, you know. "Sir, it may just be the potion, but did I save your ugly arse from a werewolf when I was sixteen" That should be good,' he added, as the others laughed. 'Come on. Time to pass on the news to our mutual friend.' He stepped over Sirius and muttered 'Enervate.' Sirius came to, and stared at James.

    'James,' he said weakly. 'It is you. How the hell did you get here?' James was taken aback.

    'How did you know?' said James.

    'Hmm … over ten years as your best friend? Knowing that you handed in a time-turner shortly after you got that scar.' He pulled back James' fringe, and showed everybody the small lightning bolt scar on his forehead. 'Why do you think I fainted. I knew it was you. You fooled me good earlier, though. I'd forgotten we'd taken Iris solution. James – I – I never – I shouldn't have –' James didn't answer. He embraced Sirius tightly. Sirius was still looking as though he didn't quite believe it.

    'It's incredible,' he said softly. 'Incredible. So, why are you here? Torture Snape?'

    'Did you ever grow up?' James asked, laughing. However, Sirius face pained at these words. 'Oh Sirius, I'm sorry. About Azkaban …' He trailed off. He had absolutely no idea what to say.

    'Well,' said Sirius. 'If it wasn't for a certain son of yours, I'm sure I'd have no soul.'

    'Why? How did you escape?' Sirius began to tell James everything. He told him how Peter had faked his death, how he managed to escape when seeing Peter disguised as Ron's pet rat. A number of times, Harry and Remus spoke, when Sirius found it hard to continue. At the end of it all, James stood, amazed.

    'You conjured a Patronus?' he said amazedly to Harry. 'Only one person I know conjured a Patronus that young…'

    'Who?' asked Harry, interested.

    'Who else,' said Remus. 'But himself? He conjured one at exactly the same age and saved exactly the same person.' Sirius nodded in agreement.

    'The number of times James saved our arses,' he muttered. Hermione spoke up.

    'Yes, I know someone like that,' she said, beaming at Harry, who grinned.

    'How boring our lives would be,' said Ron, grinning. 'Without the Potters. Good for you Harry. And you, James.' Harry and James looked at each other, smiling.

    'Strange, really,' Harry mused. 'I always expected my dad to be older.' Everybody laughed. The realisation was still only sinking in, especially for Harry, Remus and Sirius, and James' presence seemed to brighten the mood immensely. Hermione couldn't place it – but there was something – special, about James. She knew there was also something special about Harry. And she would know – she'd been his friend for seven years. She suddenly remembered back to the time when Harry had saved her from Voldemort, the previous year. She vividly remembered floating – and then Harry's face was there, staring into her own. He'd never told her what had happened – he tended to fall rather silent when the topic was mentioned. Ron hadn't been there – in fact, nobody had. Hermione had never found out …

*

Later that night, James sat up playing wizard chess with Ron. They had told everyone that it was Neville, stuck as James. Everyone took their story without question.

    'My, how well I know that look,' said James grinning, as Ron moved his bishop and smiled slyly. 'Peter always gave me that one. Just as he played a great move. I have no idea where he went so dreadfully wrong.' He stopped talking for a second. Harry and Hermione, who had doing their Charms homework, fell silent to listen.

    'I don't suppose you've heard much about Peter, when he was younger?' They shook their heads. 'Peter wasn't clever – oh no. He wasn't really good at Quidditch either. But Peter – ironically enough – was the trustworthiest person I knew at school. After it, that person became Sirius, but while at school, Peter was very trustworthy. Peter knew all our secrets. He knew who liked each other, and what everyone was getting everyone else for Christmas. He realised that Lily and I loved each other before we did. He never told Sirius and Remus. Only one other student knew as well.

    'Who?' Harry asked.

    'I don't suppose you've heard of him. Jason, his name was, Jason Mak. A great friend, he was. In our third year, his parents died, and there was – some – unpleasantness. There was one tale he always recounted, after Lily and I got together. It was in our sixth year …

***

James walked quickly up the corridor. Another death, he thought, this is getting out of hand. Well, I suppose it is the season to be jolly, he thought bitterly, noticing Hagrid putting up trees as he passed the Great Hall. He walked through and door, and bumped straight into Lily, knocking her to the ground.

    'Oh, sorry Lil',' he said, pulling her to her feet.

    'Hi James,' she said. 'Where are you going? Gryffindor Tower?' James nodded. 'Not a good idea,' said Lily, smiling. 'Sirius has been working on something – "Dung Grenades", I think he called them.' James laughed.

    'Same old Sirius,' he said. 'Where are you going, then?' Lily was about to answer, when there was soft laughing from the far end of the corridor. It was Jason, grinning broadly.

    'Hi Jas,' said James. 'Why are you so happy?'

    'Look above you,' said Jason simply. James and Lily looked up. The two of them noticed a sprig of mistletoe, right above their heads. James cheered.

    'Finally!' he said, grinning. 'Six years I've been waiting to stroll under some mistletoe with you, Miss Evans.'

    'Hmm … hormonal urges, is that what it is?' Lily asked, grinning.

    'Naturally,' said James. He bent down, and kissed Lily softly on the lips. When he pulled back, she had a slightly dazed look on her face. 'Lily,' he asked. 'Are you all right?'

    'What? Oh yeah,' she said, looking completely disorientated.

    'Come one, shall we go back to the Tower? Or do you want to go for a walk?'

    'Let's go to the Tower. We can see if Sirius has stopped smelling.'

    'I don't think that day'll ever come, personally, but all right.' He slung an arm around her, and said 'Onwards, fair maiden!' in a knightly tone.

From the far end of the corridor, Jason studied Lily's face carefully as her and James walked through the door. He knew that look. He turned, and opened the door. He looked back, sighed, and muttered 'Head over heels.' before turning and walking through the door.

***

   

    'I remember that day,' said James quietly. 'Anyway, like I say, Peter was someone you could trust. From what Remus and Sirius have told me, I made him our Secret-Keeper because of this. I never thought he'd cross over. Anyway, because he did, I think a little revenge is in order.'

    'You want to get back at him?'

    'Harry, Peter is no longer my friend. He chose the Dark Lord over you, Lily and me. Nobody gets away with that.' He pictured Peter in his mind for his moment. How could you, Pete? he thought.

    'How can you find him?' Hermione asked.

    'Do you have the Marauder's Map, Harry?'

    'What – I – yes, I do. Accio Map!' The Marauder's Map came soaring into the room.

    'How did you get this?' James asked.

    'Er,' said Ron. 'My brothers – they stole it – off Filch.'

    'Did they now? Sound like people I'd like to meet. Anyway, when I wrote this, I added my own secret charm to it – the Marauder Locator. I can say the name of the Marauder, and it'll show me where they are.'

    'Really?' said Harry. 'That's clever. I could have used that, if I'd known …'

    'No you couldn't,' James said simply. 'I made it so only I could do it. Right, I had to press against the Trophy Room,' he did. 'And say the name backwards. Laitmrow,' he said softly. Suddenly, the thin ink lines disappeared. They were replaced by words, and a smaller map. The words said:

Peter is in Hogsmeade.

The map showed Hogsmeade, and a small black dot signified Peter. James grinned, and folded up the map.

    'Right,' he said. 'Harry, give me the Cloak. It's time I paid a certain old friend a visit …'

And cut. Three parts in three days. Looks good. My thanks section:

HGW (Yes, asking about the gladness is a bad idea), Lavander (Three parts in three days. That ain't bad), the seraphim (Hermione and James … I'm evil. But James wouldn't do that to Lily. Thanks for your two reviews!), illusions2525 (I think I tried to e-mail you, but it might not have worked. Your review was good, very good), Lilly Potter (You don't really have to wait very long. Cheers), Mladybug3 (It is confusing – my friend Jason {Mak} said that, but he's thick {Oh dear, he'll kill me when he reads this} And James was being evil – I have no control), Kelly (Two reviews and only one word. Impressive), gumdrop (Werewolf 12 is almost finished. I'm a fast typer, what can I say?), beth (Thanks a lot!), Moony Lupin (I think I read one of your fics – can't remember if I reviewed. I will, if I haven't), Crymson Tyrdrop (Love the pseudonym. This quick enough?), Cali (She might be – she might not be. We'll see …), Spartacus (I think this bit is pretty boring, myself. Next part ought to be fun, though.), Lily of Ravenclaw/Silverflame (Another great pseudonym. Thanks a lot for your comment), The House (Andrew, my man, you are A STAR!! The first of my friends caring enough to review. We'll tell that spiky git all about it, oh yes. See you when I hand this to you tomorrow, probs. Ciao), Ravenclaw Filly (Next part is out well, now. Irony is right. I live by irony …), Liz (I know, it can be tricky. Look out for three stars: ***: that indicates a time swap. Thanks), Harry'sLostSister (Well, I'm horribly sexist. Nah, just kidding. Would I write wonderful things about all you wonderful ladies if I was? I dunno – I have a sick and twisted mind – but they say I'm clever. *Shrugs* Ask The House what he thinks {He knows who I am – unfortunately for him})

Wow! A lot of reviews. You people are marvellous. Now, I know this chapter is a little tedious, but I needed to make sure everyone knew what was going on. Action in the next chapter. Rats being tortured and so on. Any interesting comments, pointers, mistakes with SPG (Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar) point them out to me, either in a review, or at andrei_36@hotmail.com. See you later, peeps. Oh, and thanks to all people who have reviewed BU and W. At the end of W, I'll write a nice long thanks section.

Ciao