WHEN TIME STANDS STILL
Thanks to:
PadfootandProngs91 (I hope so too), babyjayy, Lily and James Potter, volleypickle16, missprongs, EriEka127, SPASH Panther, Kaaera, Calen, blip- dragon, Silvercrystal77, gaul1, Amandinka, TheWall, Jeanne2, insanechildfanfic, walker-of-the-shadow-path, princesscutle86, Constance Truggle, violet-angel07 and The Lady Reaper of the Shadows.
Japonica: Good luck avoiding storms, then ;) I hope you'll be reviewing in June...
supernova8610: Was it really? I was afraid it was a tad boring.
An Anti-Cheese Muffin: I'm sorry – you really know how to make a person feel guilty, don't you? ;)
Ally of Pirate's Swoop: I'll be sad to see it end, too, but I'm going to have a lot more fun with the next. ;)
CHAPTER 19: MIDNIGHT MARAUDING
"How about the Transfiguration classroom?" Sirius asked. "It's closest."
"No, let's go to the Room of Requirement," James said. "You know about that, Harry?"
"Yeah – one of the House-Elves told me."
"What for?"
Harry considered how much he could safely say.
"We had a really foul Defence Professor last year. Fudge – he's the Minister in my time – named her Hogwarts High Inquisitor."
"High Inquisitor? I've never heard of that position," Sirius said.
"I'm not surprised – Fudge invented it."
"So what does it mean? High Inquisitor?"
"Means she was Dictator of Hogwarts for a year. She even had Dumbledore thrown out and named herself Headmistress – oh, he's back now! Anyway, she forbade all clubs, societies, teams, so on and so forth. She even tried to ban Gryffindor House from having a Quidditch Team! And in her classes we did nothing but read a horrible book about negotiating with your enemies and other stuff that would have made Voldemort split his side laughing. She never let us touch our wands at all."
"Ah," James said. "I begin to get the picture."
"Yeah. My friends, Ron and Hermione, and I started the Defence Association – or Dumbledore's Army, whatever you like to call it – and we met in secret in the Room of Requirement."
"Wow," Sirius said. "I bet I encouraged you, didn't I?"
"Yeah, you did. You even came to Gryffindor Tower by the Floo Network and Umbridge –"
Harry stopped short. He had said too much. For a moment he saw it again... Sirius's head in the fire, Umbridge's hand clutching at empty air... and then, just a few months later, the fiasco at the Ministry.
His throat was suddenly dry. He had been enjoying himself so much over the past few days that he had completely forgotten that there was a future waiting for him, a future without James or Lily or Sirius, a future in which he had to kill or be killed. He would go from being just another student to Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, burdened with more responsibility than anyone else in the wizarding world.
"What is it?" Sirius asked quietly.
"What?" Harry said, startled.
"The door appeared five minutes ago, Harry. What were you thinking about?"
"Me? Oh – nothing. Really, nothing. Aren't you coming?"
Harry pushed open the door and entered the Room of Requirement. It was arranged much as it had been for the DA.
Sirius and James entered after him.
"Right," Harry said, "the incantation –"
"Never mind the incantation," James said firmly. "We have all night to think about the incantation. What were you thinking about outside?"
"Really, nothing."
"Don't lie," Sirius said. "You looked like your best friend had suddenly died. What happened in your time that's so horrible?"
"No –"
"Harry," James said. "Please. We're not trying to force information out of you. Whatever's happened, it'll help you to talk about it."
"And don't worry about the future. Dumbledore's going to Obliviate us. Whatever you tell us will be forgotten as soon as you have left."
"I can't tell you," Harry said. "I just can't tell you."
"Harry, if you hate the future so much, why are you so desperate to go back to it?"
Harry looked at his father.
"Did you know that the feather in Voldemort's wand came from Fawkes?"
"Dumbledore's phoenix?" James asked.
"Yeah."
"How do you know?" said Sirius.
"I have the other wand. That's why I have to go back."
James and Sirius stared at him for several seconds.
"You," Sirius breathed finally. "You have the other wand? The brother to Voldemort's?"
In response, Harry pulled his wand out of his robes and held it out to Sirius, who took it almost gingerly.
"This," he said, twirling it between thumb and forefinger, "is the wand destined to defeat Voldemort?"
"You are fated to defeat Voldemort?"
"Or have him kill me. Only one of us can live at the end." Harry's voice trembled slightly. "Dumbledore keeps trying to – to get me to accept the fact that I have to be either a murderer or a victim... I've fought him four times, but I don't want to kill... I've never wanted to kill."
"I imagine Dumbledore didn't, either," James said softly.
"Dumbledore?"
"He's killed dark wizards, didn't you know? Grindelwald wasn't the last; there have been Death Eaters..."
"Harry," Sirius said, handing the wand back, "I won't pretend that I like this, or that my future self will like it. It's not easy to be a hero, and certainly not a fate I would wish on anyone except Snape. But you can handle it."
"You'll find a way, Harry," James said. "Remember that – there is always a way."
Harry nodded.
"Now, about the incantation," Sirius said. "What did you say it was?"
*~
"Back, are you?" the Fat Lady said. "Why bother? It's still only four in the morning; the night hasn't even begun."
Sirius yawned and gave her the password.
"Harry," James said suddenly, as they went up the stairs, "am I doing a good job as a father? In the future, I mean."
Harry answered without turning to look at him.
"As good a job as can be expected, under the circumstances."
"I don't know if that's good or bad," Sirius said. "Probably means you spend all day giving him lectures about his responsibilities to the wizarding world – I, on the other hand, encourage him to form illegal Defence societies. I'm obviously doing a much better job than you are."
"Shut up, Padfoot," James said. "You're probably too irresponsible to know better."
"That, Prongs," Sirius said, "is an act of war."
As Harry pushed open the dormitory door, a stag streaked past him, followed by a huge black dog. He grinned when the dog, attempting to jump over Peter's bed, fell short and landed on top of Peter, causing him to wake up with a shout.
Suddenly, James transformed back into himself.
"Why not do it now?" he said.
"Do what?" Remus demanded sleepily. "What time is it? What are you three doing up? Do I even want to know?"
"Yes, you do," Sirius said, as he also transformed and bounded over to his friend's bed. "Up, Moony." He began pulling the blankets off systematically.
"No, you can't involve me –"
"Nonsense," James said briskly. "Even Prefects aren't above a little occasional rule-breaking. Too bad we don't have the Map."
"Actually," Harry said slowly, "it was... er... recovered from Filch later. I has it on me when I came here."
Peter stared at him.
"You know about the Map?"
Harry cursed himself; so much for caution!
"Never mind," Sirius said quickly. "Just bring it, and let's go."
"I don't suppose anybody would like to tell me where we're going?" Remus said grumpily as he pulled on his robes.
"Harry showed Sirius and me this very useful spell – come on, we may as well do it now as anytime –"
*~
"Done," James said gleefully. "All the classrooms in less than an hour! This is going to be fun! Nobody's going to be able to cast a single spell tomorrow, not even McGonagall and Flitwick!"
"Not even Dumbledore if he tries to come to the classrooms and sort out the chaos," Sirius said.
"Yeah, but he'll guess what we've done."
"Big deal. So we're back in Detention tomorrow –"
"Beginning tomorrow," Remus said, "and probably lasting the rest of our lives. Tell me again why I agreed to this?"
"Because it's an essential part of being a Marauder."
"How come Wormtail got let off?"
"How come? He nearly set McGonagall's desk on fire – he was too sleepy to cast straight."
"Oh, and I'm not allowed to be sleepy?"
"Quit grumbling," Sirius said. "You enjoyed it. You've spent too much time since Fifth Year making sure people follow rules."
"Except you two, who seem to think rules exist to be broken."
"You mean there's another reason?"
"Honestly! I would have expected you to be responsible, Harry, if even these two have completely lost it."
"You sound like Professor Lupin again."
"Professor Lupin?" James said. "You're a Professor, Moony?"
"Yeah, he taught me Defence for a year."
"I knew it!" Sirius said. "Moony would have to be a Professor – a job where he can make people follow rules all day! Hey, Harry, has anyone ever tried to force the Map to reveal information?"
"Oh, yeah – Snape did once. I... er... went to Hogsmeade without permission, with the Invisibility Cloak, and threw... er, some mud... at Lucius Malfoy's son. Only the Cloak slipped, and he went running to the castle to tell Snape, and Snape caught me sneaking back –"
"So what happened?"
"Well, the Map called Snape a lot of names; I thought I was dead. But then Snape sent for Professor Lupin –" Harry broke off as Sirius and James went into gales of laughter.
"So did Moony rescue you from that slimeball?"
"Yeah. But then he gave me a lecture I never forgot about keeping rules."
James and Sirius began to laugh again, and Harry and Remus joined them helplessly.
Something on the Map caught Harry's eye.
"Filch!"
"Quick – down here!" Sirius said, pulling open a tapestry.
They tore through the secret passage, and found themselves in a room – Harry caught his breath as he looked around.
"This is it!" he said.
There was only silence, and thinking he hadn't been clear enough, he went on, "This is where I got sent to the past, the same room. I thought I'd never be able to find it again!"
Still silence. Harry turned around, puzzled, to find himself alone.
"Sirius? Remus? James?"
No answer.
Struck by a sudden thought, Harry ran to the calendar.
October 1996.
"It looks like I'm back," he said.
There was only one way to find out.
Thanks to:
PadfootandProngs91 (I hope so too), babyjayy, Lily and James Potter, volleypickle16, missprongs, EriEka127, SPASH Panther, Kaaera, Calen, blip- dragon, Silvercrystal77, gaul1, Amandinka, TheWall, Jeanne2, insanechildfanfic, walker-of-the-shadow-path, princesscutle86, Constance Truggle, violet-angel07 and The Lady Reaper of the Shadows.
Japonica: Good luck avoiding storms, then ;) I hope you'll be reviewing in June...
supernova8610: Was it really? I was afraid it was a tad boring.
An Anti-Cheese Muffin: I'm sorry – you really know how to make a person feel guilty, don't you? ;)
Ally of Pirate's Swoop: I'll be sad to see it end, too, but I'm going to have a lot more fun with the next. ;)
CHAPTER 19: MIDNIGHT MARAUDING
"How about the Transfiguration classroom?" Sirius asked. "It's closest."
"No, let's go to the Room of Requirement," James said. "You know about that, Harry?"
"Yeah – one of the House-Elves told me."
"What for?"
Harry considered how much he could safely say.
"We had a really foul Defence Professor last year. Fudge – he's the Minister in my time – named her Hogwarts High Inquisitor."
"High Inquisitor? I've never heard of that position," Sirius said.
"I'm not surprised – Fudge invented it."
"So what does it mean? High Inquisitor?"
"Means she was Dictator of Hogwarts for a year. She even had Dumbledore thrown out and named herself Headmistress – oh, he's back now! Anyway, she forbade all clubs, societies, teams, so on and so forth. She even tried to ban Gryffindor House from having a Quidditch Team! And in her classes we did nothing but read a horrible book about negotiating with your enemies and other stuff that would have made Voldemort split his side laughing. She never let us touch our wands at all."
"Ah," James said. "I begin to get the picture."
"Yeah. My friends, Ron and Hermione, and I started the Defence Association – or Dumbledore's Army, whatever you like to call it – and we met in secret in the Room of Requirement."
"Wow," Sirius said. "I bet I encouraged you, didn't I?"
"Yeah, you did. You even came to Gryffindor Tower by the Floo Network and Umbridge –"
Harry stopped short. He had said too much. For a moment he saw it again... Sirius's head in the fire, Umbridge's hand clutching at empty air... and then, just a few months later, the fiasco at the Ministry.
His throat was suddenly dry. He had been enjoying himself so much over the past few days that he had completely forgotten that there was a future waiting for him, a future without James or Lily or Sirius, a future in which he had to kill or be killed. He would go from being just another student to Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, burdened with more responsibility than anyone else in the wizarding world.
"What is it?" Sirius asked quietly.
"What?" Harry said, startled.
"The door appeared five minutes ago, Harry. What were you thinking about?"
"Me? Oh – nothing. Really, nothing. Aren't you coming?"
Harry pushed open the door and entered the Room of Requirement. It was arranged much as it had been for the DA.
Sirius and James entered after him.
"Right," Harry said, "the incantation –"
"Never mind the incantation," James said firmly. "We have all night to think about the incantation. What were you thinking about outside?"
"Really, nothing."
"Don't lie," Sirius said. "You looked like your best friend had suddenly died. What happened in your time that's so horrible?"
"No –"
"Harry," James said. "Please. We're not trying to force information out of you. Whatever's happened, it'll help you to talk about it."
"And don't worry about the future. Dumbledore's going to Obliviate us. Whatever you tell us will be forgotten as soon as you have left."
"I can't tell you," Harry said. "I just can't tell you."
"Harry, if you hate the future so much, why are you so desperate to go back to it?"
Harry looked at his father.
"Did you know that the feather in Voldemort's wand came from Fawkes?"
"Dumbledore's phoenix?" James asked.
"Yeah."
"How do you know?" said Sirius.
"I have the other wand. That's why I have to go back."
James and Sirius stared at him for several seconds.
"You," Sirius breathed finally. "You have the other wand? The brother to Voldemort's?"
In response, Harry pulled his wand out of his robes and held it out to Sirius, who took it almost gingerly.
"This," he said, twirling it between thumb and forefinger, "is the wand destined to defeat Voldemort?"
"You are fated to defeat Voldemort?"
"Or have him kill me. Only one of us can live at the end." Harry's voice trembled slightly. "Dumbledore keeps trying to – to get me to accept the fact that I have to be either a murderer or a victim... I've fought him four times, but I don't want to kill... I've never wanted to kill."
"I imagine Dumbledore didn't, either," James said softly.
"Dumbledore?"
"He's killed dark wizards, didn't you know? Grindelwald wasn't the last; there have been Death Eaters..."
"Harry," Sirius said, handing the wand back, "I won't pretend that I like this, or that my future self will like it. It's not easy to be a hero, and certainly not a fate I would wish on anyone except Snape. But you can handle it."
"You'll find a way, Harry," James said. "Remember that – there is always a way."
Harry nodded.
"Now, about the incantation," Sirius said. "What did you say it was?"
*~
"Back, are you?" the Fat Lady said. "Why bother? It's still only four in the morning; the night hasn't even begun."
Sirius yawned and gave her the password.
"Harry," James said suddenly, as they went up the stairs, "am I doing a good job as a father? In the future, I mean."
Harry answered without turning to look at him.
"As good a job as can be expected, under the circumstances."
"I don't know if that's good or bad," Sirius said. "Probably means you spend all day giving him lectures about his responsibilities to the wizarding world – I, on the other hand, encourage him to form illegal Defence societies. I'm obviously doing a much better job than you are."
"Shut up, Padfoot," James said. "You're probably too irresponsible to know better."
"That, Prongs," Sirius said, "is an act of war."
As Harry pushed open the dormitory door, a stag streaked past him, followed by a huge black dog. He grinned when the dog, attempting to jump over Peter's bed, fell short and landed on top of Peter, causing him to wake up with a shout.
Suddenly, James transformed back into himself.
"Why not do it now?" he said.
"Do what?" Remus demanded sleepily. "What time is it? What are you three doing up? Do I even want to know?"
"Yes, you do," Sirius said, as he also transformed and bounded over to his friend's bed. "Up, Moony." He began pulling the blankets off systematically.
"No, you can't involve me –"
"Nonsense," James said briskly. "Even Prefects aren't above a little occasional rule-breaking. Too bad we don't have the Map."
"Actually," Harry said slowly, "it was... er... recovered from Filch later. I has it on me when I came here."
Peter stared at him.
"You know about the Map?"
Harry cursed himself; so much for caution!
"Never mind," Sirius said quickly. "Just bring it, and let's go."
"I don't suppose anybody would like to tell me where we're going?" Remus said grumpily as he pulled on his robes.
"Harry showed Sirius and me this very useful spell – come on, we may as well do it now as anytime –"
*~
"Done," James said gleefully. "All the classrooms in less than an hour! This is going to be fun! Nobody's going to be able to cast a single spell tomorrow, not even McGonagall and Flitwick!"
"Not even Dumbledore if he tries to come to the classrooms and sort out the chaos," Sirius said.
"Yeah, but he'll guess what we've done."
"Big deal. So we're back in Detention tomorrow –"
"Beginning tomorrow," Remus said, "and probably lasting the rest of our lives. Tell me again why I agreed to this?"
"Because it's an essential part of being a Marauder."
"How come Wormtail got let off?"
"How come? He nearly set McGonagall's desk on fire – he was too sleepy to cast straight."
"Oh, and I'm not allowed to be sleepy?"
"Quit grumbling," Sirius said. "You enjoyed it. You've spent too much time since Fifth Year making sure people follow rules."
"Except you two, who seem to think rules exist to be broken."
"You mean there's another reason?"
"Honestly! I would have expected you to be responsible, Harry, if even these two have completely lost it."
"You sound like Professor Lupin again."
"Professor Lupin?" James said. "You're a Professor, Moony?"
"Yeah, he taught me Defence for a year."
"I knew it!" Sirius said. "Moony would have to be a Professor – a job where he can make people follow rules all day! Hey, Harry, has anyone ever tried to force the Map to reveal information?"
"Oh, yeah – Snape did once. I... er... went to Hogsmeade without permission, with the Invisibility Cloak, and threw... er, some mud... at Lucius Malfoy's son. Only the Cloak slipped, and he went running to the castle to tell Snape, and Snape caught me sneaking back –"
"So what happened?"
"Well, the Map called Snape a lot of names; I thought I was dead. But then Snape sent for Professor Lupin –" Harry broke off as Sirius and James went into gales of laughter.
"So did Moony rescue you from that slimeball?"
"Yeah. But then he gave me a lecture I never forgot about keeping rules."
James and Sirius began to laugh again, and Harry and Remus joined them helplessly.
Something on the Map caught Harry's eye.
"Filch!"
"Quick – down here!" Sirius said, pulling open a tapestry.
They tore through the secret passage, and found themselves in a room – Harry caught his breath as he looked around.
"This is it!" he said.
There was only silence, and thinking he hadn't been clear enough, he went on, "This is where I got sent to the past, the same room. I thought I'd never be able to find it again!"
Still silence. Harry turned around, puzzled, to find himself alone.
"Sirius? Remus? James?"
No answer.
Struck by a sudden thought, Harry ran to the calendar.
October 1996.
"It looks like I'm back," he said.
There was only one way to find out.