Title: Time And Time
Again
Author name: Moonstarlet
Author email:
sailorcomet18@yahoo.com
Category: Humor, Romance, History,
Angst (just a l'il bit more)
Keywords: Harry, Lily,
James
Spoilers: PS/SS, COS, POA, GOF
Rating: 5
stars... I mean... PG
Summary:
Voldemort plans to go back in time to kill James and Lily before
Harry is ever born. Can Harry save his mom and dad? What happens when
the mom *likes* the son? Plus, the Marauders at 15...oh
lordy!
Disclaimer: JKR and Warner Bros. own Harry Potter
and all related characters, locations and spells. I am making no
money from this and intend no copyright infringment. (obviously)
A/N:
I honestly had no idea how to make a reunion scene between Harry and
James, soooooo, I didn't. You'll see what I mean. Enjoy (I hope).
God, I hate angst, but it always seems to come out of me, please
forgive me, I'll try not to do it again.
*******************************************************************************************
1995, Winter, Harry
His. Father. Was. Alive.
*Is alive.* Harry reminded himself. *He *is* alive.*
The last few hours had passed in a blur. Harry had felt a multitude of emotions and was just beginning to recover. He lay in the safe nest of his four poster, with the curtains closed, listening to the snores and grunts of his fellow Gryffindors as they slept.
That morning, the headmaster had called Harry to his office. Dumbledore then told Harry, quite bluntly in Harry's opinion, that his father, James, was alive and well. Maybe not well, but he was alive. James had somehow (Harry hadn't paid much attention to the details... His father was alive!) been sent to future..., or the present... It was confusing.
At first, Harry, so used to being an orphan, refused to believe. After all, everyone knew that James Potter had died 14 years ago, just as everyone knew that the same attack that had killed James, had spared his 1 year old son.
But, Dumbledore persisted. He insisted that James was alive. In fact, he was just outside the large oak door in Dumbledore's office. At this, Harry couldn't help but jump to his feet and rush at the door, throwing it open.
He had expected to see no one there. He had expected to run to the door, open it, then wake up, finding that he was in his bed, and that all of this had just been a dream. What Harry didn't expect was to open that door and find a boy, no older than he, leaning against the door, a surprised and guilty expression on his face, obviously caught eavesdropping.
It was like looking in a mirror. Harry had been told, numerous times, that he looked like his father. He'd seen his father in the photo album he kept in his bedside drawer, and, yes, they looked alike. But, in all those pictures his father was old... well not old, really, but *older.* The resemblance was that of a father who passed his good looks on to his son. Similar, but slightly different.
James Potter the teenager, Harry realized, looked *exactly* like Harry Potter the teenager. Except for those eyes.
His father had blue eyes. Bright blue eyes, like the sky on a clear summer day. They shone with intelligence, courage and mischief. Looking into his father's eyes, Harry realized that while Sirius may have raised havoc in his days, it was James who really was the marauder, the leader.
Then, his father spoke.
"I'VE GOT AN EVIL TWIN!!!!" A grin spread across the boy's face, he punched at the air with his fist and shouted, "Awesome! Bloody brilliant!"
From behind, Harry felt the headmaster place a hand on each shoulder, as if to keep Harry from falling. Because he did feel like falling, like everything was falling.
Dumbledore ushered Harry and his *living, breathing father* back in to the office.
"James," he said. "Would mind telling us your version of the events this morning?"
Harry looked at his father, a teenager, still a boy, really, who had no idea of the future that awaited him. James spoke once more.
"Well, sir, evil twin," he nodded in Harry's direction, "Sirius and Remus and Peter and I got up around five, snuck out of the common room and went down to the stables to get the animal hairs we needed for the Transmogrification Potion. Then we snuck back up to the castle, waited for the elves to finish in the Great Hall. Then we-"
"After the shenanigans, I mean." Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling once again. "After I called you to my office."
"Oh, right, sorry." James cleared his throat, loudly, preparing to launch into an exciting and elaborate narration, but the professor interrupted him before he could start.
"A brief version, if you don't mind, James."
"Oh, alright, then," James deflated visibly. "Right, so, I was in here, with you sir when we heard this loud 'boom' and the ground shook. You went off to find out what had happened. You told me to stay, sir, but then I heard screaming and I couldn't just ignore it. So, I went down to the Great Hall, and I saw..."
James paused here, confusion and uncertainty showing in his eyes.
*What happened?*, Harry wondered.
Dumbledore gave James that piercing stare and asked him to continue.
"Right, well. I saw Peter but-"
"Wormtail was there?" Harry asked.
James gave Harry an odd look. "I don't know any 'Wormtail.'" He turned back to the headmaster, "the thing is, sir, I had seen Peter just a few minutes before and he was fine then, but when I met Peter outside the Great Hall, he looked... well, he looked weird."
Harry could see Dumbledore's mind working already. "Describe how Peter looked, James."
James nodded. "Okay. He was old and balding. He had wrinkles and... and.. his hand was..."
"His hand was..?" Dumbledore prompted.
"His hand had this strange stuff on it, like silver or platinum. It looked like it had been painted on sir, like a really tight glove. It almost looked like it *was* his hand. I think, sir, that he may have been cursed by someone. Some kind of aging or disfiguring curse."
"It was Wormtail!" Harry said, astonished. His father glanced warily at him again.
Dumbledore held up a hand, motioning Harry to be silent. "James, did Peter say anything to you?"
James nodded. "He..., he asked me if we were still friends." James looked confused at this.
Dumbledore nodded then asked, "did he say anything else to you?"
"Um..., yeah, he did..." James scratched his head, trying to remember. "He said something about... Harold... Harvey. Anyway, Peter said to tell Harvey that... um... oh, yeah! Peter said tell *Harry* that he fulfilled his debt." James looked up at Dumbledore, "What d'ya think Peter meant, Professor?"
*******************
1995, Winter, James
Lily.
He always came back to Lily.
Scrawny, bookish, shy little Lily. Of course, she wasn't scrawny anymore. She was turning into... what? She wasn't a girl anymore, but something (James' own pride, perhaps) kept him from calling her a woman. If she was a woman, James would have to admit that he saw her as a woman, and that he might be attracted to her.
But, James thought, eventually, he would admit that he was attracted to her, because at some point in time, he and Lily got married. Bloody hell, they had a kid! They had sex!!!
That thought brought a smile to James' face. He was gonna have sex!
"Gallopin' Gorgons, I have a kid," James said to himself. "That's a scary thought. Me. A daddy."
*I guess that means I have to be responsible and mature, now. That sucks.*
James rose from the bed and walked over to the window. Looking out he saw the flat, smooth land around the castle and, beyond that, the Forbidden Forest. Hanging high in the night sky was a slivery-white waning moon. From habit born of 4 years of experience, James thought to himself, *Remus still has a few weeks left...*
After that life-altering meeting with Dumbledore and... his son..., James was taken to a small suite on the third floor of the castle. Of course small was in the eye of the beholder, as the suite consisted of a drawing room (*What exactly is a drawing room, anyway?* James wondered) complete with two large red sofas, an even larger mahogany desk with a very plush, and comfortable chair. James also had his own bathroom done in red and gold colors with a tub the size of an oversized jacuzzi and a great big mirror where James had amused himself for a few moments by striking various "muscle-man' poses. In the bedroom sat an enormous canopied bed with red and gold bed covers, and what proved (upon further inspection) to be satin sheets.
"Kinky..." James had remarked, curious about exactly what Dumbledore used this room for...
Staring out the window, James wondered what his friends were doing right now. Eventually, he mused, he'd have to go back to his own time. Otherwise, he'd never marry Lily. 'You'd never die, either,' a little voice at the back of his head whispered.
True.
But, some how, James thought it wouldn't be right to change history just because he didn't like it. Maybe it was for the best that he had (*has?*) to die. After all, Harry ended up destroying Voldemort for thirteen years before he could get his powers back. If James hadn't (*didn't?*) died, could he be sure that the world, the whole world, not just himself, would be the better for it?
James' head was starting to hurt. Once again, James found himself wishing that Lily was there with him, that way she could figure everything out and let him sleep, or get stock information to take back to their time.
He turned and walked to his bed.
*I wonder how Harry's holding up? This is a lot of stuff for a kid his age to handle.*
Pausing mid-stride, James started. His face contorted into a grimace and he started moaning.
*What the hell was that?! A 'kid his age...?' He's my age, for crying out loud!* James groaned loudly in despair. He was starting to sound like an adult.
*Wait a minute!* James suddenly realized, *Padfoot, Moony and Wormtail are adults! Whoa. Look out world...*
Unless they're not alive, that nasty little voice in the back of his mind said. If you were killed, maybe they were too.
But, no, James remembered seeing Wormtail at the Great Hall that morning. An undoubtedly older Wormtail; an adult. So, Wormtail, at least, was alive.
But what was Wormtail doing talking to Death Eaters? James replayed the scene over in his head.
...From the top of the great marble staircase, James heard voices. Two men... arguing, it seemed.
Tip-toeing down the stairs, James saw that both of the men wore long, heavy black cloaks. The taller of the two was masked and hooded. But the smaller one had no mask. In fact, he looked just like.... Peter?
Peter was still talking to the Death Eater.
The Death Eater was motioning with his hands, but Peter kept shaking his head, more and more forcefully until he finally shouted, "I said go!"
The Death Eater left and Peter began talking nervously to himself. "Let's see... James told Dumbledore that he planned that trick by himself... then they went to his office... about 30 minutes later he met us in the Common Room..."
Stretched out on the bed, James placed his left arm over his forehead, and began thinking.
If the Death Eater followed Peter's orders, then he must trust Peter. If he trusts Peter, then Peter must be a Death Eater.
But that didn't sound right to James' ears. Peter couldn't be a Death Eater, he's too weak and scared of his own shadow. But...
Maybe, James' and Lily's death affected him strangely... Maybe, Peter, devastated by the loss of two of his best friends, sought revenge against the one responsible: Voldemort. Peter joined the resistance against the Dark forces, he even infiltrated the Death Eaters' defenses, became one of them, earned their trust and friendship all the while planning their demise. Peter was a spy!
"Awesome" was all James could say.
*******************
A/N2: Who wants pranks? I do! I do! Unfortunately, my idea of high-jinks is, well, rather non existent. Maybe a whoopie cushion. So, any and all suggestions are welcome. Thanx for reading, please review... it'd be much appreciated. Sincerely...., me.
