Disclaimer: Ugh, I own nothing.
Summary: Harry travels back in time and join his parents in their sixth year at Hogwarts. Not as stupid as it sound (or at least I hope so). OotP spoilers!
Author note: Yep, another edited chapter. I'm eternaly grateful to Aln-Mai:)
Chapter 4
Harry, Ron and Hermione were standing next to the staff table in the Great Hall. They felt the same nervousness that every student felt when transferred to a new school (although they weren't, in truth).
They had spent last night in front of the fireplace in their apartment, discussing everything that had happened. Hermione cried, for the first time since their adventure had started. Ron and Harry needed more than one hour to soothe her as she threw out all the tension she had felt for the past six weeks. Between the sobs she told them that she couldn't stop thinking about her parents and how they surely missed her.
Ron didn't even want to think about what his family must have been going through. And Harry...
Harry just sat on the coach and stared into the fire. He was sorry, really sorry for his friends, but he couldn't help nervous excitement somewhere deep inside. His parents...Sirius...he knew that he should want to go back, but instead he just waited anxiously for the next day, hoping that this strange dream wouldn't end too soon.
They talked for more than five hours. They didn't realize how much this conversation meant to them, but the fact that they were there for each other really comforted them.
Dumbledore found them in the morning, asleep together on the sofa, looking calmer and more relaxed than they had in the days since their arrival.
However, now the peaceful feeling was gone and they watched students filling the Great Hall, holding each others' hands to add themselves some encouragement.
Harry was getting more and more impatient. He stared at every new student that appeared with growing anxiety, until finally Lily Evans entered, chatting with a short, round-faced girl. His gaze transfixed on his mother while she talked cheerfully, smiled and sat down at the Gryffindor table.
"Harry?" Hermione whispered to his ear. "Doesn't the girl that your mum is talking to remind you of someone?" Harry hadn't really paid any attention to the girl Hermione was referring to, but when he looked at her, he had to agree that she looked somewhat familiar.
"I think it's Neville's mother," Ron said darkly, and Harry looked at two happy girls with a sudden realization of the terrible fate awaiting them in the future. One dead and one leading a sad excuse of a life on the closed ward at St. Mungo's...
Suddenly Dumbledore stood up and raised his hand. The Great Hall fell silent.
"Welcome to a new school year. Let the Sorting begin," the headmaster announced.
Soon, the large group of first-years was herded into the Great Hall by twenty-year-younger Professor McGonagall. The Sorting started with a usual song. About half of the children had been placed in their proper house when the main doors opened abruptly and four boys made a late entrance.
Harry gasped as he recognized the Marauders immediately. They seemed totally unperturbed by being late, and walked casually to the Gryffindor table with smug smiles on their faces.
Quite a lot of heads turned to watch young wizards, mostly with some kind of awe, while Professor McGonagall's lips turned into the typical, thin line as she glared at four Gryffindors. After reaching the table, Sirius immediately started a conversation with some girls and James laughed at his best friend.
Harry stared at his father and godfather with mixed emotions. He certainly was happy to see them, but their behavior was too similar to what he has seen in Snape's Pensieve. Involuntarily, he glanced at the Slytherin table and noticed his future Potions Master glaring at the Gryffindor table with a scowl.
Hermione squeezed his hand reassuringly.
Finally, the Sorting was over and Dumbledore stood up again and cleared his throat.
"I have a pleasure of introducing three more students this year. Let me present Hermione, Ron and Harry Bradley, who will all start their sixth year." There was mild applause and some whispers, as Hermione advanced to the stool in the middle.
As soon as she put the hat on, it screamed "GRYFFINDOR!" This repeated with Harry and Ron.
The trio went to their table and noticed other sixth-years beckoning them to come and making them some space to sit. As they were approaching, Sirius slowly scanned Hermione. His gaze traveled from her head to her feet as if he was assessing her and finally a handsome grin appeared on his face as he stood up.
"Welcome to the noble house of Gryffindor," he said pompously, with an exaggerated bow. "My name is Sirius Black."
"Hermione Bradley," replied Hermione and offered her hand. Sirius took it, but instead of shaking it, he kissed it loudly with another bow. He straightened and murmured "enchanted" with a mischievous expression. Hermione wasn't sure whether he was trying to charm her or to ridicule her.
Ron rolled his eyes and stretched his hand, mumbling "Ron Bradley." Sirius shook it briefly, but his attention was on Hermione the whole time.
After greeting Harry in the same manner, Sirius continued to play the role of the host.
"This," he announced, pointing at James, "is James Potter, Captain of our Quidditch team and the not-so-secret love of half of the Hogwarts female population." Someone snorted and Harry was pretty sure it was his mother.
James shot her an unhappy look, only to shrug and run his hand through his hair a moment later. He turned to the new students and said with a dismissing gesture in the direction of Sirius, "Don't pay attention to him. He just recently discovered that he has an artistic talent—good actor—but an even better painter..." James and Sirius both smirked viciously and Sirius was about to add something when a laugh from somewhere in the Great Hall interrupted them. Harry, Ron and Hermione turned and saw something big and colorful floating above the Slytherin table. Harry stared for a while, until a sudden comprehension hit him. It was Snape! His head looked like a balloon with a giant hooked nose. His hair was enchanted to change colors and something that looked like large drops of paint was falling from it every now and then.
Teachers rushed to the Slytherin table, all with their wands out. At the same moment, Lily Evans stood up and glared furiously at the Marauders.
"You're going too far." Her voice was shaking with anger. "You will have a year-long detention for that!"
"Ah, ah, Evans..." Sirius' smirk changed into an innocent look. "Honestly, I don't understand—you think it's us who did this—childish prank?"
Lily didn't answer and Sirius went on, his voice cold.
"Well—you might be right—but please, you surely understand that we can't have this—ahem—git, offending our fellow students. Don't you agree?"
"I told you!" Lily shouted, outraged. "I told you that I DON'T want YOU to defend me in any way! I can take care of myself!"
"I'm sure you can, Evans..." Sirius started, but James broke in, his cheeks flushed, his temper getting better of him.
"Listen, Evans, if you think that I will let Snivellus, or anybody for that matter, call YOU the worst possible names and treat you the way he does, than you are very wrong!" his voice trembled a little as he looked soberly at the girl in front of him. "I don't know why you hate me so much, but it doesn't change the fact that..." his voice trailed off as if he said too much and suddenly he turned on his heel and stormed out of the Great Hall.
"Just in time, Prongs," murmured Sirius under his breath, eyeing McGonagall, who was now approaching their table with a very angry expression. "Black, Potter—where is Potter?"
"He had to leave, professor—he is very fragile and he couldn't stand a sight of fellow student in such a distress..."
"Stop that crap immediately, Black. You go to my office NOW. You too, Pettigrew, Lupin. I just can't believe it..." she stalked into the entrance hall and three boys followed her.
Harry, who had so far observed the scene in front of him with wide eyes, looked around the Great Hall. Snape was nowhere to be seen; probably the teachers had taken care of him. People in the different tables were talking animatedly and looked either annoyed or amused. The official atmosphere of the welcoming feast was gone.
Harry, Ron and Hermione took their seats, uncertain what to do. Harry looked at his mother and noticed that she was still angry and seemed to be arguing over something with herself, as her mouth moved slightly. Harry felt an urge to comfort her and before he had a chance to think about this, he found himself saying the first words that came to his mind.
"Don't worry—it's not your fault..."
Lily raised her head and looked at him in surprise.
"I don't think it's my fault!" she snapped. Then as she realized who was she talking to, she looked at Harry apologetically.
"I'm sorry—Harry, right?" Harry nodded. "I shouldn't take it out on you—only they annoy me so much! They always make some sort of pranks on Snape and they tell me it is because of me—I just can't stand it! Is it so difficult to understand that I don't need them to protect me? Agh—sorry, I'm still angry..."
"I can see that," Harry said with a smile.
"Anyway, my name is Lily Evans..." she started with a shy smile, when suddenly, Dumbledore's voice broke into their conversation.
"I am really sorry, that the feast was—er—interrupted in such a manner. Please, continue your meal. I can assure you that this—unfortunate incident will not affect Mr. Snape's health."
There was some laughter at the words "unfortunate incident" and Lily scowled.
"They will get away with this, again! They should have been expelled a long time ago, but their grades are too good..." she mumbled angrily to herself and then turned back to Harry. "I hope you won't judge the school by what you've seen today—it's really great place. Anyway, where did you study before?"
After that, the conversation followed the typical route for people who were trying to get to know each other. Lily introduced the other Gryffindors: Alice Nesbit, future mother of an unhappy boy called Neville and her best friend; tall and graceful Lea Leafdrop; hyper, short-haired Heather Star, who happened to be a Gryffindor Chaser. There were some other girls, but Harry didn't manage to remember their names. As for boys, there were only five of them apart from Marauders: Limey Goodkid, who hadn't spoken even once throughout entire meal; the twins: Daniel & Damian Strawinski, both tall, tanned and blonde; Terence Torp, a short and clumsy boy, usually pranked by Slytherins, and Pat Parmesano, who came from Italy and declared that his father was the boss of Sicilian Gang.
Hermione explained that they had been home tutored thus far and that their mother had died that summer, so they had to go to Hogwarts. Everybody immediately started to express their condolences, while the trio tried to look genuinely sad. Hermione, who did most of the talking, was really doing a good job.
Finally, the feast came to an end, and after the usual speech from Dumbledore, they were dismissed to go to their common rooms.
Hermione looked around her dorm with a mixture of strange emotions and thoughts loading her mind. She was extremely tired, partly because she hadn't slept much last night, but mostly due to the fact that, for the first time in her life, she had to pay very close attention to every single word she said.
It was so easy to make a mistake. When they were talking about teachers, she had almost slipped, saying some snide remark about her old Potions Master. When the topic was Quidditch, she had to kick Ron under the table when he was about to say something about Harry and him being on the team. Almost every subject seemed dangerous...she only hoped that they would manage...
Ron and Harry will have good practice for their future job as Aurors, she thought grimly.
At least they didn't have to pretend that they didn't know their way around Hogwarts. They told their new classmates, that they moved here right after their mother's funeral.
Now, she observed Lily, Alice and Lea as they unpacked their things, chatting. She had taken an immediate liking to Lily and Alice, although she was not so sure about Lea. There was something about her that reminded her distinctively of Pansy Parkinson, nothing about her looks though, as Lea was very pretty and graceful compared to Pansy.
Alice was rather shy and very similar to Neville in her behavior. She had a gentle way of speaking and a warm smile, which made Hermione feel somehow reassured. Lily, on the other hand, was really straightforward. She told Hermione on their way to Gryffindor common room that she would gladly help her in anything including schoolwork, and Hermione accepted her offer with a smile. From what she saw so far, she and Lily had the same over-achieving attitude toward learning and they were both prefects. Or at least, Hermione used to be one...
That was another thing that was going to be extremely difficult—pretending to be a worse student then she really was. It was necessary, however, as it would by highly suspicious if she knew more than people who were taught in one of the best wizarding schools in the world.
A sudden burst of laughter threw Hermione out of her thoughts. She looked at her roommates and asked, "Um, sorry, I wasn't listening. What happened?"
"Oh, you missed my story?" Lea glanced at her with a hint of disappointment, which was soon gone. "Well, I don't really mind telling it one more time—you know Heather, right? Well, she started dating a guy from Slytherin during the holidays and James went berserk. He was all about "you can't play well, if you are not sure which team you want to win". It was really funny..." Lea giggled. "It might be difficult for Heather score with Duncan being Slytherin keeper—she will get easily distracted..."
"Well, it works both ways, doesn't it?" Lily asked. "Duncan will probably be even more distracted anyway. I don't really see why Potter makes such a fuss over it..."
"Oh, Lily..." Lea's voice was playful. "Why are you always so irritated about anything James does? I mean, he's handsome, and popular, and talented, AND crazy about you—why don't you just give him a chance? He's got everything that a guy needs to have!"
"He is a conceited, big-headed show-off, who would probably get bored with me after a week, the same way his best friend does with every girl that he dates!"
Hermione snorted at that; she couldn't help being amused about how wrong Lily was. Lea looked taken aback.
"Well, I guess I should warn you, Hermione, that Sirius is the biggest playboy in this school. You've seen how he acted about you. He acts like that around every attractive girl that appears, so it's better that you don't think that he found you really special or anything. I know that it sounds harsh, but I've seen it way too many times. Better keep away from him," Lea said all that very quickly and without really looking at Hermione.
"And he isn't any different from Potter," Lily added. "I'll bet that he will invite you to sneak out for a date in Hogsmeade, boasting how he knows all the secret passageways in the castle..."
Hermione looked up at Lily, suddenly alarmed.
"Is there anything wrong?" the other girl asked.
"No..." Hermione replied nervously. "I just forgot about one thing—I need to tell something my brothers—I'll be back in a moment..."
Hermione stood up and left the room, all alarms in her head ringing... How could she forget about that? He knows all the secret passageways in the castle!
James Potter was furious. The first day of school was a total disaster. It started pretty normally, meeting Remus and Peter on the train and discussing their holidays—typical, boring travel to Hogwarts. He left the compartment only for a while, to get them some snacks and of course he HAD TO walk right into Severus Snape telling Lily Evans that she should stay at home, because Hogwarts was not a place for Mudbloods.
What was he supposed to do, ignore the stupid git and let him taunt the girl he respected deeply? He wanted to hex him, but the bloody coward fled and James only shouted at him that he would be sorry for what he had said.
And so they came up with the prank. Stupid as it was, they didn't really have time to prepare anything subtler and anyway, that was not the point!
Evans, of course, didn't appreciate it, but he didn't expect her to. But he wasn't prepared for her being this enraged. And as if it was not bad enough, he had almost said aloud his feelings for her! Not that she didn't know, he had made it clear quite a few times, but he certainly didn't want everybody to hear how much he really cared.
And then McGonagall threatened him with getting kicked off the Quidditch team if he didn't start to behave.
They ended up with detention on Sunday, which meant that he would not only lose their last day of freedom (which he already had some plans for), but also miss his first Quidditch practice. And he was the Captain! He was RESPONSIBLE for how they played! But McGonagall wouldn't listen, of course.
And when they left her office, he bumped into Heather Star in the middle of snog-session with a Slytherin Beater. He knew that he shouldn't yell at her the way he did, but he was simply too angry to restrain himself.
He headed towards their dorm, his friends following him without a word. He opened the door with a kick and stopped abruptly at the sight of the two boys in the middle of unpacking. He glared at them.
"Can this day get any worse?!" he groaned loudly. Exactly at the same moment Sirius asked with dangerous voice, "What are you doing here?"
"We live here!" the taller of the two (what was his name...Ron?) replied.
"No way!" Sirius was furious as well. "This is OUR dorm—go to the other one!"
"Don't shout, Sirius!" Remus said, trying to make peace, as usual. "It's not their fault! Sorry for them..." he added, speaking to Ron and Harry. "It's just been a really bad day..."
"No, it's NOT just the bad day! We can't have them here, Moony, and you know perfectly well why not!" Sirius stopped in the middle of his tirade and stared at the doors, his mouth open.
James followed his gaze and saw the new girl, Hermione, standing at the doorway, looking nervous.
"Ever heard about knocking? What if we've been changing just now?" he asked angrily.
"You think I don't know what a guy looks like?" she snapped and then turned to her brothers. "Harry, Ron, we have to talk now! We are in trouble!"
James watched them leave, wondering what kind of trouble one can get into on the first day in a new school.
Ron and Harry left the room gladly.
"You came just in time, Hermione—nice beginning, isn't it? I can't believe it, they're throwing us out!" Ron said, but Hermione didn't pay attention to him.
"Ron, shut up, this is important!" she said impatiently, and Ron glared at her, but stopped talking nevertheless.
"We forgot about the Marauder's Map!" she said quietly, her voice deadly serious.
Author's note: Finally something's going on! I got bored with writing about all those preparations they were making in previous chapter, but I wanted this story to make sense, so couldn't just skip them :/
Anyway, I want to make some things clear, because I can't really do it in the story. I try to follow the canon as much as I can, so there will be no Lucius Malfoy, Bellatrix, Narcissa and Andromeda Black in this story, cause they are supposed to be older than the Marauders and so they are not at Hogwarts anymore. Same with Molly and Arthur. I have put Neville's mum in, as her age is not specified anywhere. I also gave her the family name Nesbit. It doesn't appear in the books, I think and I guess I took it from some other fanfiction I've read... I decided not to put Frank in, let's say he is two years older than his future wife, or something like that.
The last thing: it would be logical that Harry, Ron and Hermione had their names changed as well, but it would be difficult to write and confusing to read, so I left them with their real names. Hope it doesn't bother anyone.
And, by the way, THANKS FOR REVIEWS!
