Chapter 3 is now up! Thanks so much for your reviews; my "thank you"s and author's notes are at the bottom of the page. Enjoy!
Chapter 3
Harry continued to stare at his young, handsome godfather, at a loss for words.
Sirius chuckled. "What's the matter?" he said, reaching for the book. "You look like you've seen a ghost!"
Harry shook himself, then grinned. "Sorry, I guess my mind was somewhere else. Here," he added, handing Sirius what turned out to be a copy of The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection.
Sirius shook his head, laughing. "You must be new here." He held out his hand to shake Harry's. "I'm Sirius Black, and I'm a sixth year."
"I'm--er--Michael Preston," said Harry, shaking Sirius' hand and berating himself for coming up with such a weird name. Nonetheless, he decided it'd be best not to let anyone in this time period know his true identity. "I'm, uh--an exchange student."
"Cool," said Sirius, smiling. "From what school?"
Harry thought quickly. "A school not very far from here," he said, grinning casually so as not to make Sirius suspicious.
Sirius laughed. "Alright, then. So, how long are you staying here, Michael?" he asked, as the two of them walked across the school grounds towards a group of other sixth years, who were huddled under a chestnut tree.
"Two months," said Harry, without skipping a beat. "I write for my school paper, and I'm here for an article I'm working on, featuring wizarding schools in England. I'm including a special highlight on Hogwarts."
Sirius beamed. "Well, you'll definitely have a lot to write about, Michael," he said proudly. "Hogwarts is great! I'm sure you'll enjoy your stay here."
"Thanks," replied Harry. They reached the pack of sixth year boys, all of whom were Gryffindors. One of them had spiky, grayish hair, gray eyes, and a long, slender face. Another had a round, shiny face and brown, wiry hair. And the third boy, Harry noticed, look just like him.
He had the same black, unruly hair Harry did. He had deep brown eyes and a nicely-set jaw, and was just about an inch taller than Harry. With glasses, he would have passed for a cloned Harry anytime.
"Ah, Padfoot," said the spiky-haired boy, looking up from a book he was reading. "About time you came back!"
"Yeah, well," said Sirius, running a hand through his black hair, "I stopped for a little chit-chat with this kid right here." He pointed to Harry. "Guys, this is Michael Preston. Michael, meet my three best friends."
The three boys waved. "This is Remus Lupin," Sirius explained, pointing to the spiky-haired boy. "This is Peter Pettigrew," he said, indicating the mousy-haired youth, who, Harry noticed, was way shorter than everyone else in the group. "And this," Sirius said proudly, "is my very best friend, James Potter."
James grinned at Harry. He apparently couldn't help commenting on the striking resemblance between them, for he said, "Wow, you're practically my mirror image!"
Harry giggled. "Funny, isn't it?"
"Michael's an exchange student from another school," Sirius went on. "He's doing an article on wizarding schools, and--you guessed it--Hogwarts is one of them."
"Excellent!" the other three chimed at once.
"Will we be able to read the article anytime soon?" James asked eagerly.
"Oh, I think so. I'll let you know sometime after my two-month stay here," said Harry. He glanced around the grounds, taking in the lively, fresh air and feeling as if the place really was new to him.
"We're all from the Gryffindor house," Remus explained. "See the gold and red symbol with a lion on our robes?" He pointed to the Gryffindor symbol on the left breast of his robes.
Harry, acting curious, asked, "What are the other houses called?"
"Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin," replied Sirius promptly. "Ravenclaw houses all the smart kids."
"Those in Hufflepuff are the loyal and hardworking ones," Peter put in.
"And the Slytherins," said James darkly, "are the most rotten of the lot."
"What do you mean?" Harry asked.
"Well," said Sirius simply, "they're what you can call bad seeds. Not very nice people, that lot, and definitely not very bright, either." James, Lupin, Peter, and Harry broke into laughter.
"Er--what did Remus call Sirius? Padfoot?" Harry asked, just for the heck of it.
"Oh, yeah," said Remus, laughing. "That's Sirius' nickname. He's Padfoot, I'm Moony, James is Prongs, and Peter's Wormtail. We rarely call each other by our real names; we always refer to each other by our nicknames." He laughed amusedly.
"Why don't we show Michael around?" James offered. "He's new here, after all."
"Yeah, that's a good idea," said Remus, turning to Harry. "C'mon, Michael, we can start the tour here." Chuckling, the four boys led Harry towards the Great Lake.
"This," said Remus, pointing to the crystal-clear water, "is Hogwarts' Great Lake. See that big creature swimming in the water? That's the giant squid."
Harry looked into the water, and to his surprise, he was in awe at the enormous squid. He'd seen it a dozen times, but he never really noticed its true size.
"Uh huh," said James. "The squid's alwa--"
He broke off suddenly, and stood still, his eyes transfixed at a spot near the lake somewhere to their left. Harry whipped around to see what James was staring at, and soon recognized that it was a who.
She was a beautiful, slender girl, with auburn hair and sparkling green eyes. Harry thought she was very pretty. She was seated with three or four friends at the edge of the lake, her right hand swirling in the water, making small, wavy shapes. The girls were in deep, animated conversation, and seemed to have noticed James's group standing at the other end of the lake.
Sirius snorted. "Snap out of it, Prongs," he said, elbowing his friend in the ribs. "You ain't got a chance with Lily, and you know it."
It then occurred to Harry that the girl who had caught James's eye was his own mother, Lily Evans.
"OW!" James yelped. "Look, I know nothing's ever going to happen between me and Lily, but how can I help it? She's so beautiful!"
Remus rolled his eyes. "Don't bother, Padfoot, we're just dealing with a little teenage crush. Prongs'll get over her soon."
"This is not just a 'little teenage crush,'" said James indignantly.
"Er, who is she?" asked Harry. This was his chance to see first-hand what had really happened between his mother and father when they were still teenagers.
"Only the prettiest girl in the whole school," said James. "Lily Evans."
"She's a Gryffindor fifth year," said Sirius. "Prongs has had his eye on her for…what? Three years now?"
"We think Lily likes him, too," chuckled Remus. "Only we can't be so sure. Lily's never talked to James at all, ain't that right, huh, Prongs?"
James rolled his eyes at Remus. "She's just shy, that's all."
The rest of the boys exploded into peals of laughter. Lily and her group of friends had turned and were now staring at James and the rest, whispering and giggling madly.
"You know," said Sirius, "that friend of Lily's…what's her name? Arianne? She's kinda cute. No, wait a sec--she is cute! I think I'm gonna go talk to her."
Sirius started over towards Lily's group, but Peter held him back. "Oh, no, loverboy, we're still in the middle of giving Michael a tour of Hogwarts."
"Oh, yeah," said Sirius, turning to Michael. "Let's go inside the castle, then…LET'S GO, PRONGS!" he yelled at James, who was still staring at Lily.
"Okay," said James, grinning. The five headed for the great oak doors, Harry still carrying his trunk. Lily and her friends chortled and resumed talking.
They got to the grand entrance hall, with the huge marble staircase leading up to the numerous castle corridors, and the doors to the Great Hall to their left.
"I'm hungry," said Peter. "Why don't we get a bite at the Great Hall?"
"Sounds good to me," said Sirius. "Now that we're away from those girls, I'm starting to notice how hungry I am," he said, grinning. "Come on, Michael."
They entered the hall, and Harry saw all the four house tables, exactly as they were in the future. Several students were seated at tables, munching on cakes and gulping down apple juice. A few girls looked up at Harry, then whispered curiously.
Remus laughed. "Looks like you're catching some girls' attention already, Michael!"
As they sat down at the Gryffindor table and grabbed some chocolate chip cookies off a platter, Sirius growled lowly. "Oh, look, boys--it's Snivellus."
The other three looked up immediately. Harry turned his head and saw, with a weird pang, Severus Snape strutting through the doors and towards one end of the Gryffindor table.
"That, my friend," said Sirius to Harry, "is the greatest slime ball in the history of this school: the one and only Severus Snape."
Harry squinted to see Snape flop down on the bench, take a slice of raspberry pie, and bury his nose in a very thick textbook.
"We've all hated him ever since we laid eyes on him," said James, his face split into an evil grin. "We try to make his life as miserable as possible."
"Speak for yourself," said Remus. "I don't hate him, and I don't waste my time playing childish tricks on someone totally innocent."
Sirius waved an impatient hand at Remus. "Oh, Moony, get a grip! This guy's a despicable piece of snot, you know that. We've almost done every trick in the book to persuade him to leave this school, yet he stays, waving his greasy head high in the air whenever he walks past us."
Harry felt a little miserable at Sirius' words. He knew Snape had never done anything to Sirius and his friends, yet here they were, talking negatively about him and discussing how they'd prank him almost everyday just for fun.
"But, has he done anything wrong to you guys?" asked Harry in a small voice, hoping to make Sirius and the rest realize that Snape didn't deserve that kind of treatment.
"Oh, no," said Sirius, biting into his cookie. "He's never done anything wrong to us."
"Although he has been jealous of Prongs's Quidditch abilities for years," Peter put in.
"Not to mention my good looks," said James, grinning slyly.
"But he's never hurt you or played tricks on you, has he?" said Harry. "Why pull pranks on someone innocent?"
Sirius laughed softly. "Michael, get this: Do you know when you hate someone so much without any real reason? And you just want to make that person's life as hard as possible because you just want to teach them a lesson they half-deserve?"
Harry nodded uncertainly.
"That's how we feel," said Sirius, his voice low. "You see, Snape's the kind of person who's just easy to hate. Not that he doesn't have a few good qualities, mind you, but--"
"What good qualities?" interrupted James. "Old Snivellus doesn't have any good qualities, thank you very much. His best quality is probably his extraordinary ability to remain hidden behind a book for as much as six straight hours."
"--but still, there is something about him," continued Sirius, "something vile, something incredibly despicable, you know what I mean?"
"Er--yeah," said Harry resignedly. So that was how Sirius and James really felt towards Snape. No wonder they never really got to resolve their "conflict;" there was no room for acceptance in the first place. Sirius and James rambled on about the various pranks they'd pulled on "Snivellus" so far, occasionally sniggering and glancing in Snape's direction.
"I'm done," said Remus, licking off some cookie crumbs from his fingers.
"So am I," chorused Peter. "Anyway, now that we've had our stomachs filled, why don't we head over to the common room? I reckon Michael needs some rest after his trip. Er, you will be staying in the Gryffindor dorm with us, won't you, Michael?"
Harry paused. He never thought about that. He decided to lie and say he would be staying with the Gryffindors.
"Excellent," said James. "Come on, we can help Michael unpack."
They rose, exited the hall, and ascended the giant staircase and followed the very familiar corridor (to Harry, at least) to the portrait of the Fat Lady.
"Wheezing banshee," said Sirius. The Fat Lady nodded and swung the portrait open, revealing the Gryffindor common room. The group strolled in. Harry looked around, and, just as he'd expected, saw that the common room looked just the same.
"This is the common room, Michael," said James, glancing around proudly. "Here, let's bring up your trunk…"
Sirius, Remus, and Peter stayed behind as James ascended the steps to the dormitory with Harry, holding one end of his trunk, and Harry, the other end. When they got to the boy's dormitory, Harry's trunk was laid down beside one of the beds, and his clothes were stashed in a chest in front of the bed.
"Come to think of it," said James curiously, "why are you wearing a Gryffindor robe, Michael? I mean, I never knew exchange students wore the same robes students at their new school wore…"
"Well, I had some Hogwarts robes made, just so I could fit in better with the crowd here," Harry said. "And for fun, I stuck this Gryffindor patch on my robes." He gestured at the lion symbol on his robe, and hoped James would buy his story.
"Wicked," said James, an expression of comprehension crossing his face. "That's real wicked of you, Michael." He slapped Harry hard on the back, grinning, then turned to exit the dorm. "Well, we'll let you get some sleep. If you want, you can walk with us to class tomorrow…"
"Oh, I can't," said Harry. "I won't be going to class; I'll be too busy walking around the school, taking pictures and making notes for my article.."
"Yeah, alright, then," said James, smiling. "Anyway, we'll see you tomorrow at breakfast, okay?" He turned and strode out of the door, leaving Harry alone in the dormitory.
He didn't really have any intention of going to sleep, but now that he thought about it, he decided a nice, long rest would do him good. He'd worked hard practicing and doing his homework for almost three weeks, and he figured his lack of rest could take its toll on him if he didn't get enough sleep now.
Jumping into bed and pulling the covers over him, Harry turned the day's events over in his mind. He now knew exactly what Sirius, and more importantly, his father, looked like. The thought that he had been in close quarters with two of the people he loved so much, had heard how their voices sounded, and had seen the way they acted, gave him a huge burst of fulfillment. He had also caught a glimpse of his mother when she was a young girl. He hoped he'd be able to see her again in the days to come.
He had also witnessed Sirius' and James's incredible loathing of Snape. Seeing them talk about Snape like that hurt him, and he felt as determined as ever to put an end to this dispute between them, not necessarily for his future school life, but for Sirius' and James's own good. Harry knew it wasn't his place to decide what others did and didn't do, but in this case, these people were his own relatives. Sirius and James were good people, and although he understood perfectly that they were real mischief-makers, Harry knew it wasn't like them to hate a schoolmate so much as to make their life stupendously miserable. It just wasn't their style.
Harry turned over on his side, closed his eyes, and slowly drifted to sleep. He dreamt he was in the Great Lake again, swimming with James and Sirius. Only this time, Lily was with them. She was doing a backstroke, grinning broadly, when suddenly she was pulled to the bottom of the lake by one of the giant squid's tentacles. James, Sirius, and Harry were horrified. Harry tried to swim down and save her, but he seemed to have lost all ability to move. He looked around at James, and deduced that he was in the same horrifying predicament, for his eyes were wide, staring at his limbs which seemed to have gone stiff. Sirius, on the other hand, could move perfectly. He dove down and grabbed Lily's arms, kicking the squid away. He brought her to the surface, climbed out of the water with the unconscious Lily in his arms, laid her down on the grass, and stroked her hair lovingly…
A voice somewhere in Harry's mind spoke. This is going to be the longest two months of your life, Harry Potter.
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Author's Notes:
Okay, this chapter didn't explain much, but I had to show the transition in the setting and characters, right? ;) The next chapter will be much more exciting, I promise you that. Anyway, on to the review thanks:
fallen816angel: I'm glad you like the time-travel idea! I like it, too. And, like I said, this is my first fic. Hope you like the rest of my story. :D
I'm not the weakest link: Thank you. :)
I can see Thestrals: Lol, I'm so happy my story kinda left you in suspense. ;) I'm glad you like it, and thanks for adding my story to your favorites!
rhythm emotion2: It's great you like my plot! :) Well, I came up with the time-travel thing because of this Archie comic strip I read, lol. I decided that since Harry was so depressed because of Sirius' death in OotP, why not give him a chance to at least go back in time and be able to say goodbye? :P Anyway, thanks for reading my story!
Yup, that's all for now. To everyone else reading my story, please review this! I'd really appreciate more criticism, tips, etc. Watch out for Chapter 4, aight! :D