Title: Time And Time Again
Author name: Moonstarlet
Category: Humor, History, Romance and far too much Angst
Keywords: Harry, Lily, James
Spoilers: PS/SS, COS, POA, GOF
Rating: You'll Have A Reading Experience That Borders On Divine...
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: Harry Potter, Hogwarts and all related characters, settings, spells, etc. are the property of JKR, WB, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, etc. I am making no money from this and intend no copyright infringement.
A/N: I've got another biggie for ya'll. It's so big I had to cut it in two. Hope you enjoy!
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April 1st, 1976
The months since the beginning of the spring semester had gone by quietly. Which worried Harry a great deal. Why hadn't his parents been attacked yet? Not that Harry wanted anything to happen to James and Lily, but he'd been in the past for over five months and nothing had happened. It made him extremely anxious.
Well, some things had happened. The Daily Prophet reported nearly daily attacks on Muggles, Muggleborns and anyone who was vocal against Voldemort. Hogsmeade weekends had been cancelled indefinitely after a family of half-bloods were found massacred in their home in the village. Some of the students didn't return to Hogwarts after the winter break and following the start of the spring semester the number of missing pupils slowly increased, until the Easter break, when roughly a third of the students were withdrawn from classes by their parents.
Harry didn't understand this. He'd always thought that Hogwarts was the safest place on earth. Voldemort obviously wasn't afraid of entering the homes of wizards, so why would parents take their kids out of the one place that Voldemort was afraid to go? Never having had parents himself, Harry didn't realize that sometimes families feel safer when they're together, even if they even if they really aren't.
The week before Easter break, James informed Harry that he and Sirius always spent Easter with Sirius's family. James had lived with the Blacks for three years, since his mother had died. He invited Harry along, pointedly ignoring Sirius' complaints about unwanted visitors.
Sirius's mother met the boys at King's Cross on the first day of the Easter Holiday. She immediately engulfed Harry in a hug, welcoming him to the family with tears in her eyes.
"When Sirius told me how your parents were being held hostage by Guatemalan Dark Wizards, Henry, I said to myself, 'how could I possibly look myself in the mirror if I let that poor, brave boy spend his holiday alone in that castle."
Harry shot a questioning look at James, who simply shrugged, before succumbing himself to hugs and kisses.
Mrs. Black was carrying a large taupe colored bag, with odd shaped bulges in it. The bag caught Harry's attention when one of the bulges moved. Noticing where Harry's eyes were looking, Mrs. Black gave the bulge a heavy smack and grinned ruefully at Harry. "Sometimes the little buggers try to get out," she said, before slapping Sirius on the back of the head when he wolf whistled to a passing muggle girl. "Keep your head out of the gutter, young man."
To Harry's amazement, Sirius promptly ducked his head, looking abjectly at the floor and apologized in what seemed to be a sincere tone, "Sorry, mum. Won't happen again." James caught Harry's eye and mouthed "Mama's boy."
"Ow!"
"James Potter, I saw that!"
"Sorry, ma'am. It won't happen again."
Mrs. Black caught Harry's eye and winked. Harry had to struggle to smother his grin.
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The Blacks lived in a quaint Muggle neighborhood, with brick two-story homes and perfectly manicured lawns. Yet, where the homes on Privet Drive seemed unnatural in their perfection, this neighborhood's beauty stemmed from a sense of relaxation, that everything was perfect simply because it didn't have to be. Harry felt immediately at home.
That night, during dinner (three courses served at precise fifteen minute intervals; a barley soup, cobb salad, and a rack of lamb with mashed potatoes, and a squash medley) Mr. Black arrived. He Apparated into the kitchen, and called out for his family. Sirius and James began to rise as soon as they heard the "pop" Harry had come to relate with Apparation, but Mrs. Black hissed at them to "sit down until the dessert course is served." They sat back down. She rose and floated into the kitchen.
James and Sirius were immediately out of their chairs and pressed against the door that separated the kitchen and dining room. Harry reluctantly rose from his chair (he'd never tasted lamb that good) and moved towards the door to listen.
"--you put the extra wards up, Donna?"
Harry didn't hear a reply, but Mrs. Black said, "What does Dumbledore think? Has he told you what's going on?"
Mr. Black sighed and Harry heard a chair creak. Presumably, Mr. Black had sat down. "He's being very secretive about the boy. I was honestly surprised when Albus agreed to let Henry stay here. Have you talked to him?"
Harry jumped when he heard his alias. Sirius and James glared at him, both with a finger to their lips.
"He thinks I believe that silly story James told me. Oh, but he's such a sweet boy, Thaddeus. Polite, with a good, honest face, although I imagine he gets into nearly as much mischief as James and Sirius. I can't see how he could be involved in any of this."
The chair creaked again and Mr. Black spoke, "Well, I don't imagine we'll find out until Dumbledore thinks it's time. Till then, we can only just keep an eye on him."
Footsteps approached the door and the three boys leapt back into their seats with barely seconds to spare. Mr. and Mrs. Black entered the dining room, Mr. Black carrying a plate, and the meal continued.
Harry had been given the guest bedroom, but after dinner, he followed James into Sirius's room.
Sometime after 2 am, Harry dragged himself to his room, groggy, exhausted and frustrated that he didn't have any new information about Voldemort's plans.
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The next day Harry woke up late, the sun was nearing the middle of the sky when he managed to pull himself out of bed. In the kitchen he found a card with his name, Henry, written on it, on top of a warming dish. Swearing that he'd forever praise Mrs. Black's name, he pulled off the top of the dish. Waffles with strawberries and whipped cream, scrambled eggs smothered in cheese, bacon, sausage, ham, fried potatoes and the biggest glass of orange juice Harry had ever seen. He fell on the meal like a ravenous beast and didn't come up for air until every last bit was devoured. He drained the glass, the leaned back and belched happily.
"I don't know whether to be appalled or proud."
Jerking around, Harry saw Mrs. Black watching him with an amused expression on her face. He blushed from the roots of his hair to the base of his neck. "It was very good, ma'am," he mumbled inadequately, staring at the floor and feeling like the least classy person in the world.
"I'm surprised you could taste anything, the way you inhaled it all." Seeing Harry's head drop another inch toward the floor, Mrs. Black stopped her teasing. "But, thank you, Harry. I'm glad you enjoyed it."
She picked up the plate and glass and placed them in the sink, where they began to wash themselves. "Sirius and James are outside dreaming up heaven-knows-what new tortures for poor Mrs. McElheny next door. I'm surprised she hasn't yet shrunk their heads to the size of a golf ball. The only other witch for miles around and they insist on terrorizing her. Go on and join them, Henry. I'll call you boys in for dinner in a few hours." She waved Harry to the back door.
As he stepped out, he remembered something. "Mrs. Black?"
"Yes, Henry?"
"What's you first name?"
Mrs. Black cocked her head to the side, puzzled. "Why, it's Donnatella, dear. Why do you ask?"
Harry grinned. "No reason, ma'am."
He stepped into the sun and smiled. "All praise be to Donnatella Black! Gosh, I could stay here forever," he said to himself as he walked towards where James and Sirius were tossing a Quaffle back and forth.
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James looked shocked. "You've never seen pictures of anyone in our family?" Harry shook his head, caught between shame and embarrassment.
"Well, you haven't missed much," Sirius interjected, grinning although his eyes looked on Harry with pity. "The Potters aren't the most... pulchritudinous people in the world."
James' eyes narrowed. "What the hell does pukindigenous mean?"
Sirius smirked, began to clean his nails. "Look it up."
James stalked to the nearly bare bookcase in Sirius' room, scanned the titles and ripped the dictionary off a shelf. He flipped through pages, bending the two covers back until they were almost touching, then stopped, mouthing words. Jaw clenched, he threw the book aside and lunged at Sirius. "You calling my family ugly?!?"
Sirius leapt from his seat near the writing desk and threw the chair to the floor, causing James to trip and crash face first into the ground. "All I'm saying is, if you broke your nose just now, it couldn't make you look worse!"
James was pursuing Sirius around the room, dodging a Quaffle, books, a bass guitar, and an unknown girl's purple silk underwear when:
"Stop that racket, right now!" Mrs. Black's voice came through the floorboards. "Or else!"
"Sorry, mum." "Sorry, Mrs. Black."
James lumbered to the bed and tossed himself on it. "Where'd you learn that 500 galleon word anyway?"
Sirius smiled, his face lighting up with charm and amusement. "Remember Alyssa? That bookish Ravenclaw with the librarian glasses ?"
"She kept her hair in that awfully tight bun, made her look Chinese, right?" Sirius nodded. "Well? What about her?"
A predatory gleam came into Sirius' eyes, he chuckled. "She's a librarian, alright. But, with the right... shall we say, inducement... she's a very naughty librarian."
James offered his congratulations. Harry was speechless; he'd never even kissed a girl, not counting Hermione.
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The next day, as Harry was walking through the hall, James tugged him into his bedroom. Harry landed on the bed. "What'd you do that for?"
James handed a leather bound book to Harry. "Here."
Opening the book, Harry was somehow unsurprised by what he saw. Inside were dozens of pictures of Harry's unknown family. There, on the first page, were his grandparents, Charles and Evangeline. Charles had his arm around his wife's waist and was grinning like a maniac up at Harry, while Evangeline planted a kiss on her husband's cheek.
Underneath was a photograph of James and his mother standing in front of the Hogwarts Express. James was short, round-faced and exuded mischievousness.
"That was my second year at Hogwarts, just before Mom died." Harry looked up, unsure what to say. He turned the page.
His great grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins he'd never heard of and would never meet. They were everywhere and Harry couldn't get enough. He looked until his eyes began to hurt. A strange feeling was in his chest, as if a glowing ball of white had taken residence there and was growing bigger and bigger.
Heavy footfalls made Harry look up. James rounded the corner and entered the room carrying a loaded plate of food.
Confused, Harry spoke, "Wha--"
James interrupted, shrugging his shoulders, "You weren't really paying attention to anything else, so I figured I'd just let you look and bring something up for you after dinner."
"When was dinner?"
James grinned. "Started almost an hour ago." Harry blushed. James shrugged again, "It's okay. I get it. Don't worry about it."
"You'd better be careful, or people will think you're my father."
"Shut up, you prat."
"I concur," Sirius said as he strolled into the room.
"You concur with what?"
Plucking a chicken leg off of Harry's plate, he replied, "Henry is a prat who should most definitely shut up."
Harry made a face and stuck out his tongue. He turned the page, looked down and saw Sirius. The picture was yellowed and wrinkled, as if it'd been around for a long time and the label underneath said, "Orion King Black, 1726."
"Who's this?"
James glanced over Harry's shoulder. When he saw the picture, he rolled his eyes, groaning. "Sirius's lots-of-greats granduncle. Was friends with the King of England, invented something or another. Made lots of money."
Confused by James's tone of voice, Harry looked at Sirius, "Why--?"
James rolled his eyes again. "Sirius probably stuck it in there to remind me that he's an annoying, pompous jerk."
Sirius shrugged. "James is just jealous because I was born into wizard nobility and he's a simple plebian."
James raised a fist to Sirius. "I'll 'plebian' you!"
"'I'll plebian you?'" Sirius scoffed. "That's something only a lowly commoner would say." He sucked the meat off the chicken leg, then threw the bone at James.
Harry ignored the brief fight that followed, too engrossed in the pictures of the past to really care who was moaning, who was bleeding and who was begging for mercy.
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A/N2: I'm so sorry for the long wait, but you know how personal life can get. I won't even get into it. Oh? No... I couldn't... Are you sure? Well, okay. My baby niece, Tahje, seems to like me (which is something I'm afraid to admit I was worried about.). However, every time I pick her up, she leaks on me. Poop, pee, drool, vomit. I'm trying not to take offense. Of course, when she laughs I kinda forget that I'm covered in slober. Anyway, chapter 21 is underway as we speak (or write, or read or whatever it is we're doing). See you in a few weeks. Love..., me.
