James found himself suddenly in divination, sat opposite Ron looking into a crystal ball "Harry, maybe we could say you died in a freak accident with a pack of cornflakes?" Ron looked up and saw James staring up at him. Over the years Ron had probably gained half a foot on Harry and James was exactly the same build as his son.

"Oh, hi there. If you haven't guessed we are in divination, make up ways Harry will die we will get top marks. OK?" James smiled, he was getting a distinct feeling of deja-vu.

"Sure, I dropped Divination because I found that bit depressing, must be hereditary" James suppressed a laugh, the woman at the front of the class was not the small frail witch with long straight grey hair he was used to. He couldn't work out if her Hippy-esque looks were an improvement on this or not. Professor Rhodes wore all black as opposed to this woman's flowing coloured fabrics. It was obvious that both individuals where trying to look the part. Despite their physical appearance differing when it came to teaching they were cast from the same mould.

"Indeed, Hermione dropped it too, said it was a waste of time. Mind you she was actually time travelling in order to fit in all her classes".

"So, out of the three 2 of you have been time travellers, you ever done it?" It was Ron's turn to hold back a giggle.

"Never, got close once but that's a different story". Secretly Ron had always regretted missing out on the latter part of the adventure at the end of third year, he was locked up in the Hospital wing with a broken leg so couldn't try it. James was intrigued but Ron stood firm, he told him about 1981, he definitely weren't going to start telling him off what had gone on when the three of them were at Hogworts.

"Ron, something's been bothering me. If me and Lily are dead who does Harry live with?" This had been beating James up, he guessed it was some muggles because Harry had single handedly dragged James' year average Muggle Studies up to an E. "He lives with Lily's sister, husband and kid but he stays here over most holidays and over summer he comes over to ours a lot."

"That figures, Lily's a muggle born and I take it they are the only family left. Does he like it?" James asked. Ron wouldn't lie so he said nothing. Thankfully the noise and scuffling which marked the end of the lesson interrupted the conversation and Ron took less than 10 seconds to leave the room.

"Let's go, Hermione is meeting us in the Room of Requirement" Ron said. To James this sounded interesting...


Lily and Harry stayed in the deserted classroom for ages, talking about everything they could think about without screwing life up. Harry talked about the quidditch and his friends at Hogworts. He showed his mum a picture of the trio he kept in his pocket, she noticed immediately that Ron was a Weasley from the ginger hair and freckles, also Ron was almost as lanky as his dad was at his age. Arthur was the prefect when she first started, and had been the one to show her were the common room was on the first night. Harry found it strange to think of every one as his age, especially people who have always had authority over him like Mr Weasley and Professor Lupin. Lily told Harry of her family (her sister, parents and great-aunt), her primary school (Holcombe Brook County Primary School) and friends she missed when she was at Hogworts (Nicola, Kirsten and their assorted randomness).

"You look so much like James it's scary you know. When we first did that essay I didn't even notice it weren't him".

Harry smiled he was almost in a daydream, that place which is better than life. "Yeah, that's what everyone says, heard it so many times 'You look just like your dad but you've got your mother's eyes'".

"So who is your mum?" Lily was getting curious now; right from that first muggle studies she had picked up on the eye colour and now, weather or not is was intentional, Harry had given yet another hint. That's before you even consider that Harry was being civil to her or that she felt protective of him. Harry just smiled

"I can't tell you, you know that she dies young and no one should have to know that. James only found out because he went through my stuff. Ron said it was cute, he was worried about me not having photos of him in case he was a bad dad but it didn't bother him as much when he found out he was dead." Lily was amazed, James Potter acting mature? Alarming.

"It's odd, I've never spoken to him and yet here we are living each others life, mines so different from his."

James followed Ron as he paced the corridor, walking up and down by the tapestry of Gregory the Smarmy occasionally muttering to himself "we need a room to meet Hermione in". James thought he had finally gone loopy, but maybe that was a little rich from a guy currently masquerading as his teenage son. On the third time of walking back along the corridor a door formed from the seemingly solid wall in inside was Hermione. The room was small with 2 battered sofas in it and a small table littered with chocolate frogs and butterbeer.

"Hi guys, you OK?" she asked, before taking a swig from a butterbeer bottle. Ron threw his bag on the floor and slumped down on the sofa at an angle almost on the horizontal, James took his lead from him.

"He's back" Ron nodded his head towards James who gave a feeble wave.

"Hi". Hermione just smiled back, she missed Harry when he was away, he was quieter than James and less cocky. The trio settled down for what was going to be another bland night, Hermione with her homework outstretched on her lap while James and Ron talked quidditch and munched Chocolate Frogs. It wasn't long until the group had tea and went back to their dorms. All this switching times knackered James and as a result he was finding himself struggling to stay awake most of the time. As soon as he finished a divination essay for Harry, in which he was decapitated by a particularly violent door, James retired to bed. It was only 9 o clock but with nothing else to do and the increasingly large bags forming underneath his eyes he found sleep was possibly the best option.
Harry just looked at his mother trying to digest each feature, her slightly wavy red shoulder length hair framing her face and her pale complexion but most startling of all her vividly green eyes just like his own. He wondered if Lily would ever make the link, maybe if her and James...no when... her and James stop detesting each other she would realise who Harry was. Lily saw Harry's eyes were wet, almost like he was forcing himself not to cry. Harry must have picked up on this for he suddenly changed the subject.

"Hey, Lily. I want to show you something." Harry took his mother by her wrist and led her to the third floor corridor where he knew the room of requirement would form. "Think of a room with whatever you want in it. No matter what it is". Lily thought this was a weird question but did so anyway, she couldn't help but trust this impostor.

She pictured her bedroom in Surrey, its slightly pink walls and her white dressing table in the corner. "Got that image in your head, keep thinking about it and follow me". Harry walked backwards and forwards along the corridor and on the third time a door formed. "Go look inside".

Lily was amazed, an exact replica of her room was before her, right down to the Youth Dew perfume on her dresser and the small ballerina teddy on the middle of her immaculately made bed. "How did you know?" she asked Harry.

"I didn't, it's called the room of requirement if you just think about what you want and walk past it three times it takes the form of what you want. I just thought I'd share it with you, it comes in handy" Lily was now the one fighting back the tears,

"Thank you" she whispered walking into the room and wandering around. Harry waited outside "Aren't you coming in?"

"Only if you want us in there." Harry looked apprehensive at the door, he was so different to James, and by this point James would be trying to seduce her. "Come in you silly personage" Lily smiled and invited Harry to sit on her bed.

"It feels like forever since I was last here". The couple sat on the bed and talked about anything and everything, well Harry had to keep stopping himself from telling his mother too much. Eventually Lily fell asleep, her head on Harry's shoulder. Harry gently moved her onto her bed, taking care not to disturb her slumber and covered her with the duvet. Harry went over to the wall and fell asleep on the floor, leaning against the wall. He wanted to stay with his mother for as long as was possible.

Harry dreamt about his mum, what it would be like if she had lived, if he had at least one parent to bring him up, a life without the lies or the Dursley's. Eventually his mind wandered

Harry was in a dark room; only a small amount of light came in through a small crack in the curtains. But it appeared to be a large room, the kind you get in Victorian town houses. There was a large fireplace in on the wall adjacent to the obscured window. The room was sparse and the subtle smell of dusty made Harry want to sneeze. The only furniture was a large leather chair at one side of the room in which sat a pale man with slit like nostrils and red eyes. The man was covered head to toe in a long dark cloak.

"Have you got it Wormtail?" A raspy snake like voice came out of the cloaked man's mouth. Voldemort's mouth Out of the shadows came a small rat like person, silver hand glinting in the darkness.

"Yes master, I have it." He passed a small gold chain to Voldemort

"Potter has been troublesome, my life would be better without him. 13 years without a body due to that troublesome boy. Break the cycle though, no parents no child"


Harry woke up, screaming in pain rubbing his hand vigorously along his scar hoping for the pain to subside, it wasn't working. He felt an arm being put around him. "Harry, are you OK? It was just a nightmare" Lily pulled him into an upright position.

"It was more than that, it's happened before. If only this bloody thing would stop burning I could think straight" Harry tried unsuccessfully to hide the frustration in his voice, he couldn't even open his eyes yet the pain was that intense.

"What's up?" Lily sounded concerned, he couldn't stay angry with her.

He lifted his fringe up, "You see that scar? That's all I got when Voldemort tried to kill me with aveda kedevra, it didn't work and drove him from his body, that's why I didn't want to tell anyone about my parents because they died to save me, and if they didn't Voldemort would have got stronger. It means I'm famous in my time but I hate it. It's not nice having people whisper behind your back as you walk down corridors. Two years ago a journalist saw this happen and did her best to make me seem emotionally unstable and the Daily Prophet carried on their work last year ".

Lily looked shocked, Harry was different from James, James would love the attention but Harry would rather do without. Lily gave Harry a hug, despite him being the same age and probably a damn site more mature than her she had this urge to look over him like a little brother. Harry smiled as he hugged his mother for the first time, feeling her warmth as he nuzzled his head into her shoulder.

"When Voldemort left me my scar it gave us a connection, I get visions of what he's up to and at this moment he's trying to kill my parents so I wasn't born. I think he has a time turner. There was a prophecy made, either I kill him or he kills me" Harry risked opening his eyes; the scar wasn't burning anymore, just a dull ache in his head. "The scar pains hurt like crazy, I get them whenever Voldemort is feeling a strong emotion or near me. It's going now though". He pulled himself up and looked at his mother. "I'm going to have to tell this Dumbledore what's going on"



James Potter woke up, sitting bolt upright in his bed. Squinting his eyes close together trying to get rid of the burning pain on his forehead. That dream had been so real, but what would Wormtail be doing with someone who wanted him dead? James heard Ron's voice,

"Harry, you OK? I think we had better get to Dumbledore." This surprised James, Ron was treating this like it had happened before.

"It isn't Harry, it's James. I just had a nightmare and my foreheads killing me." James opened his eyes and stared at Ron who looked shocked.

"You acted just like Harry did when he has a vision, you weren't dreaming about you-know-who were you?" James face fell, he had just had a dream about Harry's parents being killed, James and Lily being killed and in effect removing Harry from existence.

"This is a common thing?" Ron nodded,

"Dumbledore will tell you, Dumbledore knows everything." He didn't sound too convinced at this statement.
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Hi all (

Welcome to the latest instalment of my little story. The storyline is about to get a little bit of a twist about in a few paragraphs. Hope you like it.

I've gone and got myself a job so in an attempt to counteract the boredom of working in a chemist's in Ramsbottom (I wanted to work in a casualty department, oh well) I have taken to daydreaming and asking stupid questions. One would appreciate answers or sarcastic retorts

Does the Hogwort's Express stop at other stations or would northerners like myself have to spend £70 and 5 hours on a train to get to London, just to come straight back up? I like the idea of some witch on the train going "This train is for Hogsmeade, calling at London King's Cross, Cambridge, Nottingham, Birmingham New Street, Manchester Piccadilly, Manchester Oxford Road (it's in the rules, every train going through Manc has to stop at at least 2 stations...shit knows why though.), Leeds, Newcastle, Glasgow and Hogsmeade.

Where is Godric's Hollow, unless it's abroad why would you fly over Bristol? OK, I guess maybe it's in South Wales at a push, but I REALLY don't want to admit that because that would involve giving Gareth and his "Wales has redeeming features" campaign credibility. Do you recon they were just following the M4 (and my laughable stance that James was actually a Lancastrian can still have hope). After all I can't be the only person to find every journey through the UK incorporates the M4, I live over 200 miles from it and yet we seem to go down it far too much.

Why does Robbie Coltrane work as Hagrid in the films? FFS I learnt what sex was from Fitz in Cracker. Yet there he is in a kids movie and it works....alarming

This is a general rant. What is with the word bangs? Repeat after me, fringe. See? It sounds a lot better than bangs doesn't it? Is this just another attempt to erode our language further and give miserable sods (like me) and English teachers (like Mr Brooke) the opportunity to crib about something? It must stop, along with the disappearing us (e.g. neighbour, honour, mum)