A/N. Hello again! Sorry about the small cliffhanger last chapter. I tried
to do one in this one, but I don't think it worked out as I would have
hoped. Thank you a bunch to the people who reviewed! Hope you like this
chapter. Please R/R, and also, Happy Holidays! ~Urania
Disclaimer: Alright, alright. The disclaimer on the first chapter applies to the whole story! Must I be repetitive? I do not own Harry Potter.
1 When Old Times Meet New
Ch. 3- Explanations, Dissappearances and News of Arrivals
"Alright," Harry said. "Where should I start? First off, right now you are dead." He looked grimly at James.
"Dead? You must be joking! I can feel my pulse right now." James tapped his wrist.
Harry sighed. "No, no, your future self. Voldemort-"
But before he could finish saying something, all three marauders turned white. "Don't say You-Know-Who's name!" Remus exclaimed.
"Well," Harry replied, "What's wrong with it?"
"I heard that he has some sort of tracking system, so that he always knows whenever someone says his name," Sirius said in a whisper.
"Voldemort, Voldemort, Voldemort!" Harry said loudly. The others cringed from him. "Now, he hasn't come yet, has he?"
"No. but. Just don't say his name!" James pleaded.
"Alright then. So Tom Riddle killed James and Lily. That was fourteen years ago, though, I never got to know you."
"I died fourteen years ago?" James made a face. "You never got to know me? Sirius, Remus, I hope you treated him okay."
"Just a second, I'm coming to that part. I'm not really good at explaining these kinds of things," said Harry impatiently. "So. do you know about the Fidelius charm?"
"No," said James and Sirius simultaneously.
"Oh, yeah, I think I've heard of it," said Remus. "Isn't it some kind of protection charm?"
"Yes. I think it's some kind of ancient magic that Dumbledore found. So you have to have a secret-keeper, and only they know where the person being hidden is, unless they choose to tell someone."
"And we hid under the Fidelius charm?" James asked.
"Yes- and at first you chose Sirius to be your secret-keeper."
"You did?" Sirius asked sarcastically, but grinning. "I'm honored."
"Harry said at first, Sirius. Just had to trust Remus over you, I'm afraid."
"No, no, no. That's not what happened." Harry rubbed his eyes. "It was Sirius who suggested that you switch to- to- Peter Pettigrew."
"Wormtail? I did?" Sirius asked, puzzled.
"Well, your reasoning was that Voldemort- oops, sorry, Tom Riddle would go after you, but never Pettigrew." Harry grimaced at the name. "Especially if everyone, including Dumbledore, thought that Sirius was the secret-keeper."
"This isn't getting very scary," said Sirius sing-songingly, drumming his fingers on the table impatiently.
"Wait, wait, wait." Remus had been thinking for a long time. "If James was killed by You-Know-Who, then it was because the secret-keeper told Voldemort, right?" Harry nodded. "But if everybody thought Sirius was the secret keeper, and James and his wife were dead, then everyone would think it was Sirius who betrayed them-"
"And that's partially why he was sent to Azkaban for life," Harry said grimly.
"What?!" Sirius practically shouted. He immediately sprang to his feet and stormed out of the room.
***
Harry, Remus and James, after watching Sirius dash out, tore after him. However, they must have turned a different way than he, as they didn't ever catch up with them. Instead, while searching each room they came upon, they ran into the Transfiguration classroom. Ironically, this was their next class-and they were just barely on time.
"Harry! Where were you? You're almost late!" Hermione reprimanded them.
"We- I was explaining everything to them-" Harry pointed back to James and Remus's seat- "And then Sirius ran out."
Hermione looked flabbergasted. "Harry! You can't tell them anything!"
"No no, Dumbledore said I could." Turning back to James and Remus, he added, "I still haven't told you everything yet."
Remus mouthed 'later' to Harry, pointing to the front of the room.
Professor McGonagall took role, and then glanced at the note at the bottom of the page. Adjusting her spectacles, her eyes widened when she saw James and Remus. Giving Harry an inquisitive look, she said with a voice quivering ever so slightly, "Potter? Do you have a visitor today?"
"Yes, professor."
"Do you know these two already?" McGonagall inqured again to the rest of the class. Most of the Gryffindors nodded, but the Ravenclaws looked on with curiosity. McGonagall took this as a universal yes and continued on with the lesson. She never looked at James or Remus in the eye, and tried to stay on the other side of the room.
Midway through the class, Remus remarked, "Professor McGonagall is a lot stricter than Professor Dumbledore!"
"Usually she comes over here more," said Ron. "I don't know why she's staying away. Did you know her really well in school?"
"Yes- well, she's- I mean, she was- head girl, whereas we're 5th years. We don't know her too well," answered James.
"What was Professor Dumbledore like?" Asked Harry. "We've never had him for a regular teacher."
"Oh, he's great," replied James. "He doesn't really give a lot of homework, but does a lot of stuff in class. And, he's always liked the Gryffindors a touch more than everyone else."
"I can imagine that. He's sort of like that now."
The two were interuppted by Professor McGonagall. "Class is over, everyone. For homework please finish your transfigurations and write a short essay on the complications of transfiguring Muggle technology."
After Harry, Ron, Hermione, James and Remus had packed up their books, McGonagall asked Harry to stay after a while.
"Potter, who are the two boys following you around?" This time she gave him a piercing stare.
"It's my father and Remus Lupin, professor. Didn't the headmaster already tell you?"
"No, he didn't," she replied quaintly. "Professor Dumbledore has been very busy now. But I figured it might be them; I remember the time that they dissappeared after class. It caused quite an uproar. They came back two hours later, though, with no memory of anything except that they had been to the future." She sudddenly smiled at Harry. "Has he tried that broom of yours yet, Harry? I daresay that our quidditch team would be quite interested in him. He was a very good chaser."
***
James dug his hands into his pockets. Remus sat in an armchair by the fire, thinking hard.
"Where would have Sirius gone?" Remus asked for the twentieth time; this time, it was more to himself.
James dug his hands in even more. Then, suddenly, he brought them out quickly, a used piece of parchment in his hand. "The map! I had it in my pockets during that Charms class- remember, we had just finished our prank on Snape?"
Remus jerked around and stared at the paper. "James, that's wonderful! Put it on, quickly!"
"I solemnly sweat I am up to no good," James said all in a hurry, tapping the paper with his wand. Ink lines sprouted from the point that he touched it, and crossed and zigzagged to each corner.
Skipping over the title of the map, which they had memorized months before, Remus and Jame's eyes darted around it, looking for a little dot with "Sirius Black" on it.
And they did see a dot labeled "Sirius Black"; but it was shaped like a dog unlike other people, and following another dot labeled "Remus Lupin," walking onto the Hogwart's grounds from Hogsmeade.
***
The next morning, a tawny owl swooped down on Harry during breakfast. Harry fished into his pumpkin juice for the tiny note that the owl dropped. He opened it, and read the large, slanted loopy handwriting,
"Harry- Lupin and Snuffles are here at Hogwarts. They have some business with me to attend to first, but you may bring Remus and Sirius up to my office this afternoon after lunch"
It was signed, in the big , loopy handwriting, by Professor Dumbledore.
Disclaimer: Alright, alright. The disclaimer on the first chapter applies to the whole story! Must I be repetitive? I do not own Harry Potter.
1 When Old Times Meet New
Ch. 3- Explanations, Dissappearances and News of Arrivals
"Alright," Harry said. "Where should I start? First off, right now you are dead." He looked grimly at James.
"Dead? You must be joking! I can feel my pulse right now." James tapped his wrist.
Harry sighed. "No, no, your future self. Voldemort-"
But before he could finish saying something, all three marauders turned white. "Don't say You-Know-Who's name!" Remus exclaimed.
"Well," Harry replied, "What's wrong with it?"
"I heard that he has some sort of tracking system, so that he always knows whenever someone says his name," Sirius said in a whisper.
"Voldemort, Voldemort, Voldemort!" Harry said loudly. The others cringed from him. "Now, he hasn't come yet, has he?"
"No. but. Just don't say his name!" James pleaded.
"Alright then. So Tom Riddle killed James and Lily. That was fourteen years ago, though, I never got to know you."
"I died fourteen years ago?" James made a face. "You never got to know me? Sirius, Remus, I hope you treated him okay."
"Just a second, I'm coming to that part. I'm not really good at explaining these kinds of things," said Harry impatiently. "So. do you know about the Fidelius charm?"
"No," said James and Sirius simultaneously.
"Oh, yeah, I think I've heard of it," said Remus. "Isn't it some kind of protection charm?"
"Yes. I think it's some kind of ancient magic that Dumbledore found. So you have to have a secret-keeper, and only they know where the person being hidden is, unless they choose to tell someone."
"And we hid under the Fidelius charm?" James asked.
"Yes- and at first you chose Sirius to be your secret-keeper."
"You did?" Sirius asked sarcastically, but grinning. "I'm honored."
"Harry said at first, Sirius. Just had to trust Remus over you, I'm afraid."
"No, no, no. That's not what happened." Harry rubbed his eyes. "It was Sirius who suggested that you switch to- to- Peter Pettigrew."
"Wormtail? I did?" Sirius asked, puzzled.
"Well, your reasoning was that Voldemort- oops, sorry, Tom Riddle would go after you, but never Pettigrew." Harry grimaced at the name. "Especially if everyone, including Dumbledore, thought that Sirius was the secret-keeper."
"This isn't getting very scary," said Sirius sing-songingly, drumming his fingers on the table impatiently.
"Wait, wait, wait." Remus had been thinking for a long time. "If James was killed by You-Know-Who, then it was because the secret-keeper told Voldemort, right?" Harry nodded. "But if everybody thought Sirius was the secret keeper, and James and his wife were dead, then everyone would think it was Sirius who betrayed them-"
"And that's partially why he was sent to Azkaban for life," Harry said grimly.
"What?!" Sirius practically shouted. He immediately sprang to his feet and stormed out of the room.
***
Harry, Remus and James, after watching Sirius dash out, tore after him. However, they must have turned a different way than he, as they didn't ever catch up with them. Instead, while searching each room they came upon, they ran into the Transfiguration classroom. Ironically, this was their next class-and they were just barely on time.
"Harry! Where were you? You're almost late!" Hermione reprimanded them.
"We- I was explaining everything to them-" Harry pointed back to James and Remus's seat- "And then Sirius ran out."
Hermione looked flabbergasted. "Harry! You can't tell them anything!"
"No no, Dumbledore said I could." Turning back to James and Remus, he added, "I still haven't told you everything yet."
Remus mouthed 'later' to Harry, pointing to the front of the room.
Professor McGonagall took role, and then glanced at the note at the bottom of the page. Adjusting her spectacles, her eyes widened when she saw James and Remus. Giving Harry an inquisitive look, she said with a voice quivering ever so slightly, "Potter? Do you have a visitor today?"
"Yes, professor."
"Do you know these two already?" McGonagall inqured again to the rest of the class. Most of the Gryffindors nodded, but the Ravenclaws looked on with curiosity. McGonagall took this as a universal yes and continued on with the lesson. She never looked at James or Remus in the eye, and tried to stay on the other side of the room.
Midway through the class, Remus remarked, "Professor McGonagall is a lot stricter than Professor Dumbledore!"
"Usually she comes over here more," said Ron. "I don't know why she's staying away. Did you know her really well in school?"
"Yes- well, she's- I mean, she was- head girl, whereas we're 5th years. We don't know her too well," answered James.
"What was Professor Dumbledore like?" Asked Harry. "We've never had him for a regular teacher."
"Oh, he's great," replied James. "He doesn't really give a lot of homework, but does a lot of stuff in class. And, he's always liked the Gryffindors a touch more than everyone else."
"I can imagine that. He's sort of like that now."
The two were interuppted by Professor McGonagall. "Class is over, everyone. For homework please finish your transfigurations and write a short essay on the complications of transfiguring Muggle technology."
After Harry, Ron, Hermione, James and Remus had packed up their books, McGonagall asked Harry to stay after a while.
"Potter, who are the two boys following you around?" This time she gave him a piercing stare.
"It's my father and Remus Lupin, professor. Didn't the headmaster already tell you?"
"No, he didn't," she replied quaintly. "Professor Dumbledore has been very busy now. But I figured it might be them; I remember the time that they dissappeared after class. It caused quite an uproar. They came back two hours later, though, with no memory of anything except that they had been to the future." She sudddenly smiled at Harry. "Has he tried that broom of yours yet, Harry? I daresay that our quidditch team would be quite interested in him. He was a very good chaser."
***
James dug his hands into his pockets. Remus sat in an armchair by the fire, thinking hard.
"Where would have Sirius gone?" Remus asked for the twentieth time; this time, it was more to himself.
James dug his hands in even more. Then, suddenly, he brought them out quickly, a used piece of parchment in his hand. "The map! I had it in my pockets during that Charms class- remember, we had just finished our prank on Snape?"
Remus jerked around and stared at the paper. "James, that's wonderful! Put it on, quickly!"
"I solemnly sweat I am up to no good," James said all in a hurry, tapping the paper with his wand. Ink lines sprouted from the point that he touched it, and crossed and zigzagged to each corner.
Skipping over the title of the map, which they had memorized months before, Remus and Jame's eyes darted around it, looking for a little dot with "Sirius Black" on it.
And they did see a dot labeled "Sirius Black"; but it was shaped like a dog unlike other people, and following another dot labeled "Remus Lupin," walking onto the Hogwart's grounds from Hogsmeade.
***
The next morning, a tawny owl swooped down on Harry during breakfast. Harry fished into his pumpkin juice for the tiny note that the owl dropped. He opened it, and read the large, slanted loopy handwriting,
"Harry- Lupin and Snuffles are here at Hogwarts. They have some business with me to attend to first, but you may bring Remus and Sirius up to my office this afternoon after lunch"
It was signed, in the big , loopy handwriting, by Professor Dumbledore.