Unknown Times
Chapter 4
The five people stared at each other for a long time. It was when Lily opened her mount to continue to chastise the three boys whom were looking rather guilty Sirius began to lead her off towards the secret room before she could start to speak.
"We'll explain exactly what we're up." Sirius said looking around the room to make sure that no one was listening. "Just give us some time so that we can explain it to you somewhere private where we can't be overheard. You see, there was …an unusual occurrence when we were in Hogsmeade. We are just trying to fix it."
Lily's eyes widened at this statement. "What did you lot do this time? Is anyone injured?"
"What makes you assume we injured someone?" Sirius said defensively. "Besides it was not our fault. You just assume that everything that happens to us is our fault."
"You must admit that much of the stuff that happens to us is our fault, Padfoot." James reasoned, walking with Peter and Remus behind Sirius and Lily.
"I know that and I don't even know most of what you all do." Lily said.
"Sirius is right, though," Remus spoke up in Sirius' defense. "This isn't like all the other times that were our fault. We didn't do anything this time. At least we don't think we did. We just ran into the problem, actually Sirius seems to be the one to involve us in the problem."
"It's always Sirius, isn't it?" James said with a grin. "So, you were just minding your own business when this problem appeared out of no where and you had to get involved?"
"Yeah, something like that." Peter said hiding a grin at how close to the truth James' description of the events was.
"Well, that is a rather accurate description of what happened." Remus remarked. "If you just add a few more details then you would have the exact description of what happened."
"You do realize that I wasn't being serious about that." James said with an intrigued look at his friends.
"Yes, we realize that you meant the comment was a joke, but it was what happened. I thought you realized that sometimes people don't go looking for trouble but that trouble finds them."
Lily was walking along side of the boys, listening to their conversation. She smiled at the dynamics of the friendship, since friendship at that magnitude was rather rare.
Even Lily who been known to haunt the library at times was surprised at the knowledge that the boys had of the library. She had been to a far corner of the library once, but she had used the map of the library to do so. They seemed to be wandering through the labyrinthine aisles with ease. She was astonished when they entered a well used room this far in the back of the library.
Lily stood in the doorway for a moment surveying the room. Sirius had already entered and went to place his pile of books on the table in the center of the room. Lily started as she felt her boyfriend's hands leading her into the room, so that the others could enter as well. James was smiling in amusement at her look of awe. Suppressing a blush, Lily looked towards the center of the room where the other three boys had gathered after depositing their book and her mouth dropped open at the sight of one of the couches that Sirius had been previously blocking.
"Was kidnapping part of this situation that wasn't your fault?" she said accusingly, looking at the three boys, the limits of what she believed them capable of was expanding.
"Yes, I guess we did kidnap him," said Sirius angrily. "But if you knew the whole story …"
"Fine then," Lily said with an edge in her voice. "Enlighten us with the whole story." Lily than sat down on the couch opposite the one with the sleeping child and glared at Sirius. James joined her, surveying his friends with a calculating look; he knew that they were trying to explain the situation, having been included at other times when all four of them needed to give explanations. James also knew that the situations that he and his friends got into usually were not the easiest to explain.
"Well, this all starts when were in Hogsmeade, getting ready to come back to the castle." Remus said. When coming up with an interesting explanation Sirius or James usually did the explaining; however, when a truthful explanation needed to be given Remus tended to assume the role as narrator. Often the roles would be rotated to keep people guessing which were true explanations and which were false. Lily paid rapt attention to Remus' face; James, on the other hand was looking curiously at Harry's face.
"This boy, Harry, is the problem that appeared out of no where, as James put it. He didn't know how he got there and seemed rather lost. Peter went back to the castle to get the cloak and the map, while Sirius and I took him to The Three Broomsticks. We knew that we were not going to return him to his home soon and he was panicking, so we gave him a sleeping potion. We'll be able to get him home safely once we've sorted things out"
"But, what about his parents?" Lily asked. "Are you going to ignore them, surely they are worried about their son? I thought that you would at least have the decency to think about the repercussions of your actions."
"Yes, we did think about his parents." Remus said in a strange tone. He looked like he was choosing his next words carefully.
James caught Sirius's eye, pointed at himself and then at Harry. Sirius slowly nodded and pointed at Lily with a mischievous grin. James' sight followed the finger and couldn't help but smile.
"However, he doesn't live with his parents, but with his aunt and uncle."
"Why?" James asked quickly. "Why would he ever live with his aunt and uncle?"
"James, be quiet and let Remus explain." Lily interrupted before James could continue to question the rationale of Harry's housing. "You know what everything is like. I bet his parent's died. I would guess that he was sent to live with them since they were his family." She glanced at Harry's sleeping form; he looked peaceful and familiar.
The room was silent after Lily's statement. Sirius, Remus, and Peter looked awkward; this was explaining everything faster than they had intended to. James was looking questioningly at his three friends, Lily's point made sense the world had been getting darker.
"Yes," Sirius said breaking the silence. "Harry said that his parents died in a car crash when he was little. He also doesn't seem to have any knowledge of the magical world."
"A car crash?" James said curiously, staring intently at his friends. "Why would his parents die in a car crash?"
"Muggles often die in car crashes, James." Lily said wondering what her boyfriend knew that she didn't. "He sounds like a Muggle, but you made it sound like he arrived with a portkey."
"His aunt and uncle are Muggles." Peter said. "We don't think he is
"So his aunt and uncle lied to him? Typical," James muttered. "I guessing that you are assuming that his parents' death was magical."
"Yes, but that is about all we know." Remus said. Lily, however, was frustrated; everyone in the room seemed to have some sort of understanding about what was happening and remembered that time travel had something to do with this mess.
"What is going on?" She asked, her eyes widened in slight understanding and drifted again towards Harry. She felt James arms pull her into a hug as she comprehended what was going on, and she did not want to let go. If she understood what the boys were saying, than he would die. Even with all the rumors floating into the castle and the knowledge that they would be leaving at the end of the year, she did not seriously think about the death of anyone she cared about. She began to cry into James' shoulder.
"Shh," He quieted her knowing that she understood. Then still holding her, he turned to his friends. "When is Harry from? I'm also assuming that the Dursleys' have not changed much."
"Ten years," Remus answered. "And, no, the Dursleys' sound the same as always from Harry's behavior." Lily broke away from James at the moment and look quizzically at Remus.
"How would Harry know them?" She said with distaste in her voice.
"Well, James doesn't have any siblings and Petunia's your only sister." Sirius said casually, then seeing Lily's still confused look. "Well, who else would Harry's mother be? I mean look at James. You don't have to hear him talk about you …" Sirius stopped when a book collided with the side of his head; he looked up to see James with a smirk and another book in his hands.
"Sirius does have a point, Prongs." Peter said, ducking behind one of the couches to avoid an airborne book. "It's a wonder that any of us can get to sleep at night with you …"
"I don't talk that much!" James interrupted looking furious and getting up from his position on the couch and climbing across the table to reach the other boys and began chasing them around the room.
"Lily?" Remus asked. "Are you alright?" Lily grinned and looked towards the chase.
"Yes," she said. "Perhaps we should go have dinner before the three of them wake Harry up or we miss dinner."
"No," Remus said with a laugh. "We should leave them there. Don't worry about that; Harry won't wake up until morning. There really isn't much we can do tonight, besides sift through the information." Lily and Remus then left the library and headed towards the great hall for dinner leaving Harry to sleep.
Disclaimer: I own nothing related to Harry Potter. I am writing this to satisfy my own personal "What-If" fantasies.
Authors Note: Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I love you all!
Just so people know I am changing this to be all of chapter five. The rest of what I wanted to use for this chapter is too long to be a continuation of this chapter.