AN: Thanks for reviewing! Yes, this is much different from what I normally write. And to all those who are disappointed by my not updating my other two stories: this bunny wouldn't leave me alone. I have been driven to get it out of my head the last month. So, it's taken all my energy from my other stories. I am working on them.

Lily will show up again, but only briefly in chapter 5.

Also, this story is complete. It is being put up as it is being beta'd.

Chapter One

C Minor

There had been many times Remus Lupin had considered giving in. When he had recovered from that full moon to discover three friends dead and the fourth their killer topped the list. The moment now stretching before him was coming a close second.

It had been hard coming back to Grimmauld Place without Sirius that night, and as the days passed they seemed to loom as if on the edge of something so big everything he knew about himself and his world was about the change. Remus had spent the last month in seclusion, only coming out of his room when forced. Dumbledore had made him leave the sanctuary Remus had created for himself to attend an Order meeting, as well as to leave for the Shrieking Shack to change at the full moon.

Now, though....

Several Order members had happily flown off to retrieve Harry from Surrey and to bring him back here. Remus knew from his brief letters that Harry would rather tromp off to Voldemort and challenge him to a duel to the death than to step foot in the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black. In face, he had pleaded, to both Remus and various Order members he had contacted, to not make him come.

What Remus didn't want to deal with was the guilt and anger he felt about the entire situation. He loved Harry dearly for who he was, but he was also the reason Remus was alone once more. He knew that it wasn't Harry's fault that Sirius was dead, but a part of him felt that way nevertheless. The guilt that he could have somehow prevented this by doing what his instincts had wanted him to do - petrify Sirius and leave him in a safe, hidden corner - was tearing him up inside.

In just a few minutes, Remus would have to face Harry once and for all. There would be no parchment to hid behind, no couched words or platitudes to pretend that nothing of any significance happened. Just the two of them left with all manner of month-long pent-up emotions.

Remus looked about his room, not really seeing the neatly made bed and haphazard piles of books.

"I'm not ready for this," he muttered to no one.

A knock on the door startled him. He whipped around with wand at the ready.

"Remus?" Tonks' voice came from the other side of the locked door. "Professor Dumbledore needs to speak to you."

He sighed. "Right now?"

"Yes. He's in the kitchen fireplace."

Remus could not deal with this at the moment, but he really had no choice. Pocketing his wand, he opened the door and brushed past a confused Tonks.

"Remus?" she asked.

He ignored her, as well as the portrait of Sirius' mother, who was obviously winding up for a particularly vitriolic rant. Remus brushed past Molly, who was worrying up a storm over Harry having a safe trip.

"Albus?"

White eyebrows rose. "Ah, Remus. Are you doing well?"

Remus eyed the old man, wondering what this was all about. "I haven't changed from yesterday, if you really want an answer to that."

Dumbledore frowned. "I was afraid of that."

"Afraid of what, exactly," he asked, a growling tone to his voice. "That I'm still depressed? Afraid of me going insane? Or are you worried about what may happen to Harry when he and I talk?"

Hogwarts' Headmaster looked shocked, but Remus wasn't going to apologize for what he had just said.

"Remus," Dumbledore tried to soothe, "What I was worried about is your ability to handle a problem that he's, quite literally, landed at the castle's front door. I'm afraid that as soon as Harry arrives, I wish for you to bring him here to Hogwarts."

"How?" Remus was worried by how quiet Dumbledore was being. The last time he'd seen Dumbledore like this was the night he'd appeared at the house after being run out of Hogwarts.

"Fawkes will be bringing a portkey, which will take you to my office. I wish for you to stay there until I arrive."

Remus nodded reluctantly. "Very well." He paused. "I don't have to tell you that Harry will NOT like this at all, do I?"

Dumbledore gave a small, rueful smile. "No, you do not. Once you arrive, I will do my best not to make you wait very long. I will be bringing in someone who will have any manner of things to contribute to the Order, as well as Harry."

The headmaster nodded his goodbye and pulled out of the fire just as the front door slammed. As Sirius' mother unleashed her favorite rant on the filth of mudbloods, Remus took a deep breath to steel himself for what was about to happen.

"Shut up, you fucking bint!" came Harry's shout from the front door.

"Harry, no!" Mrs. Weasley yelled just a little louder than everyone else gathered in the front entryway.

Remus sped up down the hall. Pushing past various shouting Weasleys and Order members, he stopped in shock when he caught sight of Harry physically attacking the portrait of Sirius' mother. A series of hisses was coming from his mouth as he took a small, mostly melted blade and cut along the frame.

Sirius' mother was silent, which was what shocked Remus the most. He could only guess that she was startled that one of her house's invaders spoke parseltongue. Remus himself wasn't very comfortable with it, just because he had been afraid of snakes since early childhood. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that he wasn't the only one.

They were all frozen in that tableau for what seemed like hours: Harry ripping at the portrait while everyone else yelled at him to stop. When Harry pulled the canvas from the wall, he pulled something out of his pocket. Remus watched in amusement - that device lit a small fire (ingenious, really) - and horror as Harry set the canvas on fire.

"Burn in hell, you bitch." Harry spat on the ashes as they fell to the floor. As the picture burned amid Mrs. Black's shrieks, Harry flipped the lighting device in his hands. "Looks like Dudley's fag habit did come in handy, after all."

He looked at the crowd, making eye contact with only Remus. He stooped, picked up Hedwig's empty cage from the floor, and headed towards the stairs.

"Harry?" Remus asked as he was the first to move. "Would you please join me in the kitchen?"

Piercing green eyes zeroed in on his face, but Remus resolutely stared back.

"Harry?" Mrs. Weasley asked, launching a volley of questions and comments by those gathered. The Weasley matriarch reached out to Harry, but he dodged even with his arms loaded down with his trunk and owl cage. She tried to follow - as well as Ron - but Remus shook his head at them before following Harry himself.

"What was that all about?" Tonks' voice drifted down the hallway as Remus entered the kitchen.

"Now what's the problem?" Harry asked sullenly from where he was leaning against his trunk.

Remus closed his eyes for the briefest of moments. He had to have had a curse put on him at birth to have to deal with cranky teenagers no matter what age Remus himself was.

"Professor Dumbledore would like us to portkey to his office as soon as possible."

"Why?" Green eyes glittered angrily.

Remus shrugged. "I don't know, Harry."

Harry didn't say anything.

"I lost him too, Harry," Remus blurted out in the uncomfortable silence.

"Not like I did!" Harry stood straight. "You got to be with him all last year! And all of your school years. I only got to be with him two months! So don't go telling me that you understand MY loss!"

He was taken aback by the realization that Harry had put a lot more hope in Sirius being cleared than any of them had ever thought. Remus' insides crumbled with the thought. He reached a hand towards Harry that fell short, even though neither of them moved.

"Oh, Harry."

"Harry? Remus?" Mrs. Weasley called from the other side of the kitchen door.

Remus handed Harry one end of the ribbon Fawkes had brought, the short note stating that it would not activate until both of them touched it. "Take Hedwig's cage, and I'll bring your trunk, Harry."

Harry really and finally looked at him. "Do we have to take a portkey?"

Remus could hear the faintest of trembles in his voice, and he remembered the trauma Harry must have gone through to have to travel with Cedric's body a year ago.

"Harry?" It was Mrs. Weasley again.

Remus tightened his grip on Harry's trunk, a lightening spell on it to keep him from losing it, and grabbed the other end of the ribbon, hearing Molly call out "Remus?" as the portkey activated.

Harry glared at the glittering gold pieces that had survived his rant last month. He wished he could smash those as well - right now - but he wouldn't do it while Dumbledore wasn't here. Instead, he was here with Lupin, who seemed to want to talk, but couldn't.

Hedwig was still miffed at him for the trauma she'd been put through at the Dursleys as they were leaving, but she'd still flown here and not to Grimmauld Place, somehow knowing that Harry would be here soon. She was ruffling her feathers to show her annoyance, sitting as she was on Fawkes' unoccupied perch, seeing as he was still sitting on the table at Grimmauld.

He was determined to stew in this anger a little bit longer if it made Dumbledore pay attention to him. Harry really didn't mean to take it out on Lupin, but he was just so frustrated by the entirety of the recent events that he didn't care what the fallout was at the moment.

It was his life - his LIFE! - that was on the line if the prophesy was really true. But dammit, shouldn't Harry be included in decisions that directly involved him?

He hated being angry all the time, though. It made him feel as if Voldemort was still inside his skin, even if the bastard hadn't managed to creep back into his head. And it wasn't as if being back with the Dursleys had done him any good either. The one good thing that had come out of everything since he turned fifteen was that he'd gotten hold of Dudley's lighter and burned the portrait of Sirius' mother to a crisp. It would be even better if he could get a hold of Kreacher and hex the stupid house-elf to hell.

A burst of flames and a sweet trill announced the arrival of Fawkes, who settled onto his perch beside a startled Hedwig. Harry got up and went over to pet the phoenix, because no matter how angry he was with Dumbledore, there was no way he would take it out on Fawkes. He also gave Hedwig a few scratches so she wouldn't be jealous. Even if he was angry, he wasn't about to treat his feathered friends like he was being treated.

The door opened mid-pet of Fawkes, Harry's hand held frozen in place by Dumbledore's appearance in the doorway. Fawkes gave a reminding trill, and Harry finished the stroke before pulling back to cross his arms.

Dumbledore's blue eyes were devoid of their customary twinkle, and there was an air of bewilderment around him. The sight still didn't move Harry's anger, but it did make him curious as to what caused the normally unflappable man to be so unsettled.

"Ah, Remus. Harry - "

Harry snorted at the familiarity - it was a slap in the face in light of the man's behavior last school year.

"I asked you to join me here because of a new development that has popped up, and I need your help to solve it." Dumbledore sighed and Harry could hear exhaustion in it. It startled him almost fully out of his anger, but not entirely. "Before you meet him, I need to tell you, Harry, a little more about your family."

Harry perked up at this. Not even Sirius, last Christmas, had been able to tell him much about his family beyond his parents.

"As Sirius may have told you, your parents began dating in their seventh year. That is not entirely correct."

"What!?" Remus jumped out of his seat. "I was there! I watched them all year as they grew closer and closer."

Dumbledore raised his hands in a hushing motion. "Remus, not everything was as real as you thought it was."

Remus opened his mouth to refute the statement.

"However, it did truly become real enough that they married. When they did begin 'dating,' it was a ruse to protect Lily."

"From what?" Remus asked. "That charm that misfired was by a Hufflepuff. I doubt any of them would go after Lily for that."

Dumbledore shook his head. "The protection was for what happened between when Lily disappeared and then returned. If any of the Slytherins found out where she had been, it would have been disastrous."

"What charm was this?" Harry had to ask, curiosity eating a hole in his stomach.

"In seventh year you will learn several more types of banishing and retrieving charms," Dumbledore explained with the twinkle just forming in his eyes. "One of them is time-released, and can carry most anything, and is commonly used by those in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement for enchanted objects that are unsafe to touch.

"It is illegal to use on living things, because their own innate magic will change both the destination and the time it was to be at. Your mother, Harry, was hit by a fellow student, by accident. She ended up in a most unexpected time."

"How do you know?"

"From Poppy's reports, as well as Lily herself. You see, the time Lily was sent to... she lived almost three years there."

"That's why..." Remus started.

Dumbledore nodded. "Which brings me to James' side of the family." The headmaster leaned forward and looked at Harry. "James' father Cariodic was also a victim of the charm, and he was brought forward many years into the future."

"How far?" Harry asked, narrowing his eyes. He did not like the way this was going.

"I was unaware of how long until our visitor just now told me."

Harry glowered at the old man as he paused. Did he really have to take so long to answer a question?

"Cariodic Potter came forward in time over nine hundred years. He was taken in by the Potters and adopted as their son after their own child died without issue." Dumbledore took a deep breath.

"Cariodic Potter was born Cariodic Slytherin, son of Salazar Slytherin."

Remus cringed as the glass cases all around Dumbledore's office exploded into miniscule shards.

"You're lying!" Harry bellowed.

Fawkes and Hedwig squawked their displeasure at being woken from their respective naps.

Dumbledore shook his head. "I'm afraid that it is the truth, Harry. There is also more to this than just this news."

"Bring this guy up, then!" Harry stood and rested his hands on the desk, leaning forwards until his nose was a bare inch from Dumbledore's. "I want to meet the man who dares to say that!"

Dumbledore heaved a great sigh. "Very well." He rose wearily from his seat, alarming Remus with the movement. He had never seen Dumbledore look so old as he did at this very moment.

As Dumbledore talked to a house-elf, Remus felt a foreboding come over him. He didn't know whether the change coming was for the good or not - he just knew it was coming. It was like what he had felt before Harry arrived at Grimmauld Place either. This was going to be a significant change to life as he knew it.

He looked over at Harry, who had sunk back into his chair. The almost sixteen-year-old seemed to be looking at Fawkes and Hedwig, who had settled against each other. Fawkes' head was nestled into Hedwig's neck, the bright red and gold plumage of the phoenix showing brilliantly against the pure white feathers of the snowy owl. The charming picture calmed Remus in a way no words of comfort ever would have.

The door opened, startling both Remus and Harry out of their reveries.

"You wanted to see me, Albus?"

The familiar voice sent chills down Remus' spine. There was no way it could be who it sounded like. He was dead and had been for almost fifteen years. Remus had been to the funeral, where there had been a body laid out to view. Along with his wife's.

"Remus?" the man asked, coming further into the room. "You've gotten so old, man!" Hazel eyes were widened in surprise, but there was a smirk on his lips.

"Who are you?" Harry asked, jumping out of his chair. "And why do you look like my dad?" He turned to Dumbledore. "You've been taken in by one of Voldemort's tricks. 'Cause only he would think of sending someone who looks like James Potter to let your guard down!"

The James look-alike stepped back as Harry leaned into his face.

"Go back to your bastard lord, Death Eater!" Harry shoved the man in the shoulder and stomped to the door. He turned the knob and looked back at Dumbledore. "When you've come to your senses, Headmaster, I'll be at the Quidditch pitch, dreaming of being able to play once more." With that, he stomped down the stair, a flutter of white, red, and gold following before the door shut.

Dumbledore sighed again as Remus pulled his eyes away from the door finally. Remus looked again at the man who wore James' face. It looked like his friend, but he could remember looking at that face before they burned the body. He had fought the Ministry after that Halloween, wanting to give his friends a nice and proper burial, but they had insisted on a funeral pyre, to keep people from digging up the parents of their hero.

"Who are you?" Remus asked in a soft yet demanding voice.

The man sighed. "I really am James Cariodic Potter. My father came to me when Dumbledore, here, recommended Lily and I to undergo the Fidelis Charm. He had me go to the house and gather some things."

James paused. "I had just gathered some things I wanted to take to Godric's Hallow with me when Dad came up behind me and plucked some of my hair. I turned around to yell at him when he handed me a bunch of letter and pointed his want at me."

The hazel-eyed man teared up and said in a choked voice, "he said, 'this is for the best, son. I'll see you in a little bit.'"

Remus shook his head. "It's been fifteen years, James. How...?" He wanted answers now and would contemplate later.

" - Did no one find out?" James replied. "You know that Dad loved his potions. Albus - " he nodded at the headmaster - "and I figure he used Polyjuice potion. I don't think he meant to send me this far forward."

Dumbledore nodded. "Yes. The letter Cariodic wrote me indicates he only wanted to send you forward just enough so that you wouldn't be in any danger."

"He should have let me protect my own family!" James shouted.

Remus was suddenly struck by how eerily similar James and Harry were in their tempers. Although it looked like Harry had a shorter fuse than his father - a sure sign that Lily was his mother, although that was never in doubt.

Dumbledore looked at James. "Because that is what any father will do for his children. They will live for them, and they will die for them. That is what every good parent does for their children."

James deflated into his chair, all animation leaving him in a long, exhaled breath. "That was Harry, then?"

Remus nodded, along with Dumbledore.

"Then where are Lily and Dad?"

Remus closed his eyes in sadness for his friend as Dumbledore replied. "They're gone, James. They were killed by Voldemort himself on Halloween, three weeks after going through with the Fidelis charm. Harry was the only survivor of the attack."

James' eyes widened. "Harry? But, how is that possible? Voldemort would never let anyone stay alive even if he wasn't there."

"Remember the prophecy, James," Dumbledore intoned. "'He will mark him as his equal.'"

Remus nodded in agreement. "Did you not notice the scar on Harry's forehead?"

James shook his head. "No."

"That is where Voldemort tried to cast the Killing curse at him. Harry is the one the prophecy named, James. It's not Neville." Dumbledore looked intently at James as he finished.

James slumped into his chair and put his hands over his face. The three men sat in silence until James finally looked up once more.

"So much has changed, it's going to take a while to get used to it." He paused for the briefest of moments and smirked at Remus. "Tell me, Moony, just what kind of trouble our dear Padfoot has gotten into."

Remus crumpled and turned away, eyes watering at the hope and happiness on James' face. He did not want to be the one to tell James what befell his best friend.

"Moony?"

He just shook his head, unable to answer. Remus sensed when James jumped out of his chair.

"What happened to Sirius?!"