The group descended from the dorms and made their way to the great hall for the main meal. On the way they had decided not to say anything about the new arrivals unless asked, to which they would tell the truth, at least the part that Harry was a relative of James and Ron and Hermione where his friends and they had come to Hogworts due to a risk of attack. No one would think that the group where from the future and hopefully they would also presume they had come to the school to escape the violence and not to fight in it.
The hall was exactly the same as always, the people where different but the lay out was exactly the same, right down to the same golden plates and goblets of pumpkin juice. Sirius refused to reveal any more details about his master plan for Snape, saying that he could not risk being overheard and thus the surprise being ruined. Instead the group resorted to a good old gluttony as Ron and Sirius took on each other to see who could eat the most plates of mash. After three Ron had stalled, his appetite being dwarfed by that of Sirius, by 3 and a half Ron had finally raised his hands in defeat.
"Bloody hell, and we thought you were bad in our time". Sirius laughed
"Nice to know I am still alive and kicking." The trio looked at each other putting up pretence. Harry was hurting inside but he wasn't going to tell anyone else their fate, he had told James, that was enough.
"Yeah, and you still encourage the rule breaking". Hermione said, hoping that her performance would be good enough warrant a muggle drama GCSE.
The conversation didn't continue, they had successfully managed to pull it off. No one had noticed the worried glances and delayed replies. Harry breathed a sigh of relief, and noticed Hermione and Ron also looked calmer.
That night the 4 marauders, the cruelly named dream team and Lily were all in the fifth year's boy dorm outlining the plan for their revenge on Snape. The room must have been charmed to automatically contain enough beds for everyone in that particular house as there were now 6 beds in the dorm and it was slightly larger. Lily, who usually had nothing to do with pranks and that kind of thing, decided this was a matter of family pride. Snape had given her son a serious problem so it was only fair that he should be punished. It was decided that the prank should start with Snape taking an early morning bath in the great lake, courtesy of a dodgy broomstick, then a well placed charm would cause his hair to be died red and held in a beehive for a minimum of 24 hours, Lily was fantastic at this kind of thing and had worked out a way the charm would have to run it's course unless she lifted it, and she was sure she wasn't going to do the latter.
During the planning of how to get close enough to Snape to perform Tarentellegra James and Harry swapped. It was an odd feeling, almost like how Harry imagined apparition to be, one moment he was on that side of the room and they just changed over. No one else seemed to realise and Harry had to admit that maybe Dumbledore did have a point. Now that they were in the same time line these switches had fewer consequences; no random hushed conversation to work out what the hell you were meant to be doing. The planning continued, it was Lily who first realised the change over, "Hey! You're James, Harry was here". The pair burst out laughing. "Yeah, we had a little swapping incident". After a few confused looks everyone just shrugged off the phenomenon and went back to the plans to make a certain Slytherin's life hell for 24 hours. The plan would be played out the next night at main meal, the same time as the original idea just a day later.
Everyone ended up falling asleep in the room, even Lily and Hermione, who were gently placed on Harry and Ron's bed, they slept on the floor being the perfect gentlemen, covered using their outdoor cloaks retrieved from their now enlarged trunks. The night passed smoothly enough, no visions, no nightmares, not even one of the marauders trying to seduce Lily or Hermione. The group awoke ready for the day ahead, out of the three lessons today the group where all together for the first two (Potions and Transfiguration), then James and had Muggle Studies, Hermione had Arithmancy while the remaining individuals had Divination.
Lily and Hermione went off to get changed into their robes, luckily for the newcomers the uniform had changed little in the past 20 years, the only difference being a slightly different tie but there were enough spare ones around to wear. They agreed to meet outside the potions dungeon, although not quite to Professor Noir's standards the teacher was supposedly exceedingly strict. They entered the room and chose to sit in the back corner so they could all work together, everyone wanted to get to know everyone else. Ron and Hermione where a couple in all but name, Lily and James wanted to know their future son and vice versa and the marauders still hadn't given up yet on getting some more information out of the time travellers. Peter was still getting cold shouldered by everyone except Remus and Sirius, but even they were starting to pick up that it wasn't just Ron who had a deep dislike for him. There was only one excuse for such a large scale shunning; he had done something in the future that had directly affected everyone, and not just the trio.
Potions, the subject that caused all the fuss in the first place, was shared with the Slytherins. Today's potion would be veritaserum, rather complex but useful potion used to ensure anyone you were questioning was telling the truth. Professor Gander, a tall stern woman with a died brunette bob which distracted attention from her old, haggard face decided the best way to start the class was with an example of the effects of the potion. "Do we have any volunteers to take the potion?" Everyone naturally shrank back into their seats.
"No one?" Gander said, looked around the room with a cocked eyebrow, "Ok, I recommend one of our new students. Harry Potter?" All eyes turned to Harry, he could not take that potion, who knows what questions he would be forced to answer.
"Sorry Miss, I can't" Harry prayed she wouldn't push the matter, the small gasp, which accompanied his answer, suggested it would not be that easy.
"It's Professor to you, and you shall come down here and take the potion". Hermione looked at him "It'll be easy stuff, where you live and your name, you'll get away with it and you are more likely to attract attention by not doing it." Harry got up and went to the front of the room.
"Please, just ask easy questions, nothing in depth, please". He looked up to pleading; she nodded her head. Harry drank the small vial of potion the professor passed him. The potion was bland to take, just like water, maybe it was so you could spike someone's drink with it without them noticing, it didn't even feel like anything really, just as if you hadn't had a decent nights kip the night before. "If you would just like to sit here, don't worry. Now, what is your full name?"
"Harry James Potter"
"Where do you live?"
"Number four Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey"
"Describe your family"
Shit, now he was in for it, Harry couldn't do anything about it though, he had no control so automatically started speaking. Well at least it wouldn't give too much away, there could be another James Potter and no one would suspect Lily was his mum...
"My parents were Lily and James Potter, they died when I was a baby though. I have no other family except Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon and my cousin, Dudley who I live with"
Harry knew he had said too much, but he couldn't help it, he had no control over the situation. Sirius and Remus where obviously shocked because he said about Lily and James being dead, Lily appeared very controlled. However, he could not work out why the rest of the class where whispering.
"Mr Potter, if you have no family other than those you mentioned what relation are you to James?"
That's why they were staring, and he appeared to be the only person in the room who didn't realise his mistake. "He's my dad" Shit, there is goes. Harry was mentally chastising himself but knowing he couldn't do anything. One thing that he came to grips with in the aftermath of the death of Sirius was that you cannot control everything and sometimes bad things happen. It's life; shame Harry's was worse than most.
"I guess this must be a duff batch, I hope yours will be much better. I must say that saying all your family was dead was not in good taste. Sit down please" Professor Gander said, trying to gain control of the class once again from the whisperings around the room. She eyed Harry suspiciously as she said this though.
The rest of the class simply agreed with the professor, obviously a duff batch, James Potter was at the back of the class, same age as the rest, he couldn't possibly have a son. Some were whispering about how brave the boy must be to deliberately try and lie in front of the professor and making her look like a fool.
The marauders on the other hand knew otherwise, and wanted to collar Harry before the potion wore off. Sirius got there first
"How did they die?"
"Voldemort"
It was Remus' turn "What are we doing in the future?" Harry tried to stop himself but to no avail, fortunately the others overheard the questioning and Lily dragged the marauders off before they could hear the answer. After the effect of the potion subsided Harry turned to his mother.
"Cheers," Harry smiled at her, "Guess you know the story now" Lily laughed "I already did, your dear father didn't tell me but he is useless at keeping things from people".
Harry let out a subdued laugh, Lily nervously picked up on the fakeness in it "No, really, it's ok. I had suspicions that first day in Muggle Studies, I would have asked if I didn't think James was such a jerk".
The class was split into pairs to concoct their potion, Lily and Harry where together, James with Sirius, Remus with Peter and Hermione with Ron, it was decided it was for the best to keep Peter away from the time travellers and Lily. The rest of the class was uneventful, the method was as long as always and involved lots of specific attention, like stirring it 44 and half times anticlockwise and ensuring chopped caterpillars where all between one and seven millimetres in diameter. The group where happy with their results by the end, even Peter who from reports was the thickest in the group had a clear, watery potion. After packing their bags the large group went to put their sample vials on he teacher's desk, however their smooth getaway was hindered.
"You will wait until after class and we shall talk, I will excuse you from transfiguration until I have the full story." With a sense of foreboding the group sat back down waiting for the room to empty, it was obvious some of the Slytherins where time wasting just to find out what the teacher wanted to speak to them for, maybe they had cheated and they were in for a roasting or maybe that cocky Harry was going to get his comeuppance for trying to make a teacher look stupid. Eventually not even the rubber- neckers could wait any longer without getting detention in Transfiguration and they were left alone.
"Now, I know I said that potion was duff in font of the class, but you know as well as me that it wasn't. Does anyone care to enlighten me how James' son is in the room?" The group fell into an uncomfortable silence. They had been kidding themselves that maybe the professor really did believe the verituserum was dodgy. The awkward scenario of the teens trying to concoct a reasonable answer without communicating was replayed. This was becoming an alarmingly common situation. It was Hermione who came clean; she was a swat, it wasn't in her nature to lie or avoid a teacher's questioning.
"Me, Ron and Harry got sent back from 1996 to 1976 by the future Dumbledore. The present one knows all about our situation".
Professor Gander nodded, yet another pause ensured before she finally responded. "So, I know you shouldn't tell me the future, but I promise not to tell. Who are your parents? I don't know any Grangers but I've taught my fair share of Weasley's through the years."
It was Ron who broke the silence this time, "You won't know Hermione's; she is a muggle-born. My parents are Arthur and Molly".
"Molly Prewitt? Well, that was obviously waiting to happen. James and Lily on the other hand, I can't say I'm not surprised" She let out an uncharacteristic giggle.
"Well, as much as I'd love to talk, now my initial curiosity has been quenched I guess you should be off to next period. If your professor has a problem with your lateness please feel free to tell them to talk with me." With that the group vacated the room, deeply relieved she didn't probe too deeply into the situation and appeared to take it all well.
HELLO! Sorry for the delay people but it's amazing what having people digging up the road outside your house can do to your mind. Not good for the concentration. If I get woken up one more day this week by a pneumatic drill I swear I will insert it up various orifices of the person using it.
Anyways hope you like it. I've tonnes of reviews (by my standards anyways) and I'm really grateful, especially that they are all good ones.
I've finished in the chemist now so it looks like I'll be updating more often (I was wondering if doing Pharmacy at uni means that I am doing potions? I think so, and Boots woman could well be the real life Snape).
Right, I'm having a plug. Get on Amazon and buy The Lightening Seeds - Like You Do. Itsa fantastic album which I've been listening to all week and playing at a rediculus volume on my keyboard. You can get it for £1.99 and you won't be dsappointed. You'll probably know most of the songs from sports programmes and adverts. They did Three Lions but there other stuff is probably better. Go buy.
