Disclaimer: Nope I don't own Harry Potter.

"…"speech

'…'thought

Chapter 3: A rough and dangerous two weeks

The next morning the Marauders, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were eating breakfast and talking about last night's Quidditch game.

"You should have seen that goal!" Ron was telling everybody within hearing distance. "Swerve right, swerve left, dive under, fake throwing the quaffle left, and throw it right! Brilliant!" Hermione was blushing as red as the strawberries on her pancakes.

"Ron you're exaggerating"

"No, I'm not! You didn't see it. And Harry," he added angrily, "Was to busy talking to James to notice it."

"Sorry Ron," Harry mumbled.

"Are you ok, Harry? You seem really tired." Remus said. Harry looked up.

"You know, I've gotten used to Ron's snoring by now, but added with Sirius' it's a miracle I got any sleep at all." Everyone laughed and Ron and Sirius turned pink. The truth was Harry had had another nightmare but strangely it wasn't a vision. For some reason it seemed different, like a normal nightmare. It had been about Voldemort as usual but it just hadn't seemed real. In any case, Harry had only gotten about three hours of sleep that night.

"Shut up Harry," Sirius said "You're the one who was talking in your sleep loud enough to wake us all up at 5:00. Right guys?" Remus and James nodded but Ron looked at Harry questioningly, asking silently if he'd had a nightmare. Harry nodded, and Hermione noticed. She quickly changed the subject.

"You know what I heard Lily saying in her sleep last night?" she glanced at Harry making sure it was ok to talk about that, because she was his mom, but he was looking at her as excitedly as everyone else. She turned back to everyone else "She said 'Potter is so dead. Chainsaw…no too violent. Drowning, yes perfect.'" Everyone laughed again, but stopped when Hermione continued. "And I could have sworn she said something about just maiming you instead, James, because you were too cute to kill." It was James' turn to blush while everyone else snorted. Sirius patted James on the back.

"Finally she's come around. Jamsie poo has liked her since second year, but she keeps refusing to go out with him." Suddenly the doors to the Hall burst open. Lily came rushing in and stalked towards them. She stopped at Harry (who had fallen asleep in his porridge bowl) and jabbed her finger in his chest. He opened his eyes groggily, and looked at her. When he saw her hair he screamed. Everyone in the room turned to look at him and burst out laughing. Sam was in hysterics at the teacher table and Richard was laughing too. Dumbledore was barely able to conceal his amusement, and Professor McGonagall's lips were twitching. Harry looked around the room and shrugged. Then he fell back asleep. This made Lily even angrier and she stormed out of the room not even grabbing a piece of toast. Once everyone calmed down they poured some coffee (which Sam had given them on his way out) into Harry's mouth and dragged him off to classes. Soon he was totally awake again, but started to complain in their first class.

"You guys, this is cruel. What am I supposed to do in History of Magic? I can't sleep anymore!" Hermione looked at him sternly but then remembered she was supposed to lay off this year. Then she grinned along with everyone else, and lay her head down. Harry and Ron stared at her but then shrugged, and Ron put his head in his hands and fell asleep. With half an hour left to class Harry was the only one still awake besides Remus. Professor Binns (he was still alive) looked up for once and gave everyone except Harry and the werewolf zero for class. The other two got one hundred.

"Gloating doesn't get you anywhere, you know," Ron remarked, yawning as they headed for divination. Hermione had left for Arithmancy earlier.

"It makes me feel good though," Harry said smirking. Finally they reached the tower, and climbed through the trap door. They sat at two tables next to each other, and James and Remus forced Professor Carlson to let Sirius sit with them by saying he couldn't just sit by himself (there was an odd number of students and only two were usually allowed at a table).

"Think she's like Trelawney?" Ron whispered.

"Dunno, at least she doesn't look like a dragonfly," Harry said and Ron snorted.

"Who's Trelawney?" James asked staring at his teacup. The two boys from the future couldn't believe they were still doing teacups in fourth year. Divination was the only class that wasn't exactly like from their time. Potions was different too, but they didn't know that yet.

"Our divination teacher back at our old school," Ron said rearranging the tea leaves in Harry's cup with his finger so that they actually looked like something, while the teacher's back was turned. Unfortunately, he dropped the cup and Harry was forced to get another one. This time Professor Carlson took it, instead of Ron, and looked in. Suddenly she gasped and dropped it. The second cup shattered and pieces of glass flew everywhere.

"You have the Grim!" the professor shouted. Everyone except the Marauders, Harry, and Ron gasped. Sirius looked very interested suddenly. Harry sighed, getting ready for the usual ranting about how he'd be drowning or falling down the stairs. 'Just like Trelawney' he thought irritably. But he was mistaken; instead of saying anything, Professor Carlson ran off to find a crystal ball. When she came back she pushed Ron's teacup aside (not caring when it fell to the floor and broke) and set up the ball.

"What's she doing?" Lily whispered. Everyone shrugged and continued watching with interest. Then the lady gasped again.

"You are not from here!" she exclaimed. "Neither of you. Your other friend isn't either." Ron and Harry exchanged fearful glances. Dumbledore had promised not to tell any of the teachers about where the trio really was from; was it possible this professor was a real seer? Or had she found out somehow?

"We all know that" Sirius scoffed "They are transfer students, after all."

"Not like that," Professor Carlson snapped. "They are-" she broke off and looked at Harry and Ron. They looked at her with pleading eyes. Their divination professor paused. "You have a rough and dangerous two weeks coming. Especially with the Grim in your tea leaves," she said and stood up. "Class dismissed" Everyone was confused; there was still twenty minutes left. No one protested, though, and they all left.

"What was that about?" James asked on their way down to an early lunch. Sirius shrugged.

"The lady's nuts," he said. Ron and Harry chuckled weakly and Remus looked at them.

"Are you ok? You both look pale. Don't take what she says seriously. Last year she said Sirius would betray someone the second week of school this year and he would get hurt because of it. Or something like that anyway."

"I'm fine; I need to go talk to Hermione. Coming Ron?" He nodded and they sped off down the hall.

"What's wrong with them?" James mused.

"Dunno, but I'm starving let's go to lunch," Sirius said and the three of them went to the Great Hall.

Harry and Ron waited outside the Arithmancy classroom and when Hermione came out they dragged her into the empty classroom near them.

"Hey! What's going on?" she asked.

"In divination, Professor Carlson took out her crystal ball and she saw that we're from the future. She didn't say it out loud though, thank God," Harry said. Hermione paled.

"But Dumbledore couldn't have told anyone; he promised not to! Does this mean she really is a true seer? But that's good, because you can have real divination classes now!" Harry grabbed her shoulders.

"Listen, she also said I have the Grim in my tea leaves and I have a rough and dangerous two weeks coming especially with that stupid dog in my cup. If she's a real seer this is really bad. Remus told us that last year she said something like Sirius would betray someone the second week of school this year and would get hurt because of it. What if he finds out about us and tells everyone?"

"There's a lot more he could find out about us and tell anyone. But he doesn't necessarily have to betray us. I mean, he might betray Remus by sending Snape in the Shrieking Shack. Maybe that's this week, and that would betray Moony because he wouldn't want to kill anyone would he?" Hermione said.

"No, the full moon's only in three and a half weeks."

"We should go ask Sam and Richard," Ron suggested.

"Good idea" They all left the classroom, and ran to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

"They're not here!" Ron wailed. "They must have gone to lunch already. Come on." As soon as they entered the Great Hall they saw Sam and Richard at the teacher's table, talking to each other. The three kids ran up to them.

"Si- I mean Sam, we need to know something," Harry began but the Marauders were coming up to them. Everyone was leaving the Hall; apparently they had missed lunch.

"Look, we can't talk right now but I want to tell you to be careful around Professor Carlson; she's not a fraud," Sam said, and he and his friend jumped up and hurried out of the room, heading to their class. Harry growled impatiently.

"Where were you guys all lunch?" James asked them.

"Nowhere," Ron answered distractedly. "Let's go to class. We have transfiguration, right?" The others nodded, and the Marauders followed them out of the Hall, still looking at them suspiciously.

After transfiguration they had Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"I heard this class was awesome," Remus said eagerly. He, James, and Sirius sat down in the back of the room, but Hermione, Ron, and Harry sat in the front next to Lily. They had decided to try and become friends with her.

"Listen Lily," Ron said, "We're sorry about the hair. We can change it back if you like." She turned towards him and Harry.

"Is this another prank?" she asked suspiciously.

"No, we just want to be friends," Harry said. Hermione smiled.

"The boys are great and all, but I could really use a female friend. And, even though I decided to be more laid back this year, I need a study partner," she said. Lily paused, and then smiled too.

"Fine but if you guys play anymore pranks on me you can kiss a friendship goodbye."

"But you know it doesn't count if the Marauders do it?" Ron said.

"Yeah, I know."

"Ok, good," Harry said and performed the counter charm turning Lily's hair back to normal. They talked for a couple of minutes, and then Sam and Richard came out of their office.

"Hello class," Richard said.

"Hey," Sam greeted them.

"Hello Professors Brown and Lantir," the class chorused. Sam rolled his eyes and sighed exasperatedly.

"Like I've told every single class today, call us Sam and Richie. Or at least don't greet us like that. It sounds so mechanical," he said. The class was surprised at first, but then they decided that so far they liked these new teachers. Richard shrugged.

"Whatever, Sam. Now today we're going to be doing a very advanced charm, but we figured you'll need to know about it. We don't expect any of you to master it, but we know one person in here can." Harry thought he knew what was coming. He closed his eyes hoping Richard wasn't going to say exactly what he did say. "We are going to learn the charm that gets rid of dementors," Richard said.

"The Expecto Patonum charm!" Sam exclaimed clapping his hands together. Richard sighed.

"It's Expecto Patronum," he said. Sam grinned sheepishly as the whole class burst into laughter.

"That's it, I've lost them. I guess you're going to have to do all the teaching," Sam said and sat down in the desk chair, putting his feet up on the table.

"Anyway," Richard said brightly "Harry, you know how to do it, don't you?" Harry glared at him and he looked back apologetically.

"Yeah, I do," the Boy-Who-Lived sighed and started to get up.

"How can he do it? That's really advanced magic; some grown wizards and witches can't make a Patronus and you think a fourteen-year old boy can?" Amelia Jackley said. She was Lily's best friend and had short blond hair and blue eyes. Of course she didn't know that Harry was actually fifteen. Not that that made a big difference, but you know.

"Well if you're sure you he can't do it, maybe he really can't," Sam said. "But do you mind giving him a chance?" he yelled. Amelia (or Mia as people called her) looked taken aback but nodded. Sam and Harry grinned, and the raven haired boy stepped up to the front of the classroom.

"Are you sure it will work without a dementor?" he asked Richard.

"Oh, and now we're supposed to believe he's faced a dementor too?" Mia scoffed. Lily elbowed her in the ribs, and Sam glared at her.

"Yes, it should work," Richard answered. Harry took a deep breath, and looked at James briefly. He didn't seem to be paying attention; he was passing notes with Sirius and Remus.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Harry screamed. A silver stag galloped out of his wand, and stood in front of the class looking for dementors. It was then that James looked up.

Meanwhile… (This is what the Marauders were doing)

Hey Moony, Padfoot, there's something weird about Ron, Harry, and Hermione.

Yeah I know. Like in divination today. I could have sworn they were looking at Carlson with a look that was asking her not to say what she was about to. What do you think, Moony?

I agree, and what's with Harry looking so much like James? Except for the eyes…they're like Lily's.

Speaking of which, look, Harry and Ron just changed her hair back. I guess they're friends now. That's strange…

And they're talking to her. Look, the Professors are coming. Hide the notes!

That was too weird. Call them Sam or Richie?

I think it's awesome. Finally normal Professors! Anyway back to the Three Newcomers Mystery.

I like the name.

Well it is my idea.

I know it's a miracle isn't it.

Shut up, Padfoot, dearest. Now subject TNM is important.

Why?

Because I want to know what is up with them. ANYWAY, let's list what we know about them that seems suspicious.

1. They don't like talking about their past and Ron and Harry changed the subject whenever we tried to talk about their old school last night.

2. I could have sworn yesterday Professor Brown almost called Professor Lantir Moony.

This should be called the Five Newcomers Mystery; FNM

Right. Anyway Padfoot it's your turn.

3. They were like 'Who are you?' when we asked them who they were. Or at least Harry said that.

We were all in divination today so:

4. That thing in divination.

5. Harry's Patronus is a stag.

WHAT?

The class looked at the silver stag in awe.

"Oh my God!" James screamed. Richard and Sam looked at him.

"He liked it a lot, huh?" Sam said nervously. Harry's Patronus vanished and James ran out of the room saying he needed to go to the bathroom. After five minutes Sirius claimed he needed a drink, and then Remus did too. Harry was worried. What had he done?

"It looks just like me! That can't be a coincidence."

"I know this is creepy," Sirius said.

"We need to know more about them," Remus announced.

"Thank God for the invisibility cloak," they all said at the same time and laughed.

"You all right, Prongs?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Let's go back to class."

James, Remus, and Sirius walked back in and sat down. Richard cleared his throat and said,

"Well, now that we're all here again, we can continue. What Harry just produced was an excellent Patronus. Everyone's Patronus is different; it forms the shape of the thing that causes its conjurer the most happiness since dementors feed on happiness; sometimes it forms the shape of the thing the conjurer trusts the most-" James glanced uneasily at Harry "And sometimes it's the thing that will cause the conjurer the most happiness and the thing they trust most. Now, usually the Patronus takes the form of some sort of animal, in fact, I've never heard of another type. As we all saw Harry's Patronus takes the form of a stag. Would anyone else like to try?" Several hands were raised. "Ms. Evans?" she smiled and stood up. Once she took her place at the front of the room Richard said. "In order to do this successfully you need to think happy thoughts. Think of the happiest memory you have, and say Expecto Patronum."

"Ok." Lily thought about the day she found out she was a witch. "Expecto Patronum!" Out of her wand came a wisp of air.

"Try again," Sam said calmly. Everyone was watching Lily excitedly, waiting to see if she would do it. She tried again, but the same thing happened. The professors had her try three more times. By her fifth try she was getting frustrated. She knew nobody expected her to do it right away, but it was still making her mad. She was so upset that she ended up screaming.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" A silver light came out of her wand, and vanished in two seconds. The professors clapped.

"Good job! Ten points to Gryffindor!" Richard exclaimed happily. Lily smiled and sat down.

"How about Mr. Potter now?" Sam said gesturing to the front of the room. James stood uncertainly, and walked over.

"Remember, think of a happy memory," Richard said.

'Most likely going to be a stag. I love transforming and it can always get me out of somewhere. Ah well,' James thought then searched his mind for a happy memory. He settled on the first time he managed to successfully transform and pointed his wand.

"Expecto Patronum!" a blast of air came out. He tried again, "Expecto Patronum!" A thin wisp of silver came out and held in the air for three seconds.

"Very good," Richard said. "Ten more points to Gryffindor."

'Is it just me or does he look sad?' James looked at the other professor and he looked the same. Their eyes held a sad, yet happy look. As if they had found something they had really wanted for a long time but they weren't allowed to keep it. He gave them a puzzled look, and went back to his seat.

The rest of the day was uneventful, but James was trying his hardest to avoid Harry, who was, apparently, trying his best to get close to James. The Marauders skipped dinner altogether, getting ready to spy on Ron, Harry, and Hermione. Nothing interesting happened that night and for the next two days, and they were getting discouraged. Finally on Saturday they decided this was the last day they were going to be spies if nothing happened. They covered themselves with the Invisibility Cloak and hid behind a bush near the big oak tree the other three were sitting next to.

"Well," Harry was saying, "We know Carlson was right; I have had a rough week so far with the Marauders avoiding me. But it hasn't been dangerous, and today's the last day of this week. Even though there's always next week. I hate the future." Ron chuckled.

"Harry, don't worry. We won't let anything happen to you," Hermione reassured him.

"Yeah, we'll make sure you stay safe and sound," Ron said. Harry grinned.

"Thanks guys. I don't know what I'd do without you." They continued talking about classes and teachers. Then Harry stood up and began walking on the shoreline. "Do you think-" he began but suddenly something wrapped around his ankle and pulled him in the water. Hermione and Ron stood up and began running to the water when Harry reappeared in the middle of the lake panting.

"Harry? Are you ok?" Hermione asked frantically.

"I'm fine. What was that? Why did it pull me in?"

"I don't know," Ron said in a worried tone. "Are you sure you're all right?"

"I'm fine, Ron."

"Harry, come out of there and I'll dry you off," Hermione said.

"Ok." Harry began to swim to the shore but suddenly went under. After a second he reappeared and grinned. "That was fun. All right I'm going now." He started to swim again but sank under the water another time. This happened a couple of times and Harry always looked surprised but not worried or scared. But soon he wasn't swimming anymore and he kept going under the water and coming back up each time with a now terrified look on his face. He struggled to swim out but was gone in an instant.

"Harry!" Hermione cried. He didn't reappear for a couple of seconds and Ron ran to the lake and dived in. "Ron!" He soon appeared on the surface looking frantic.

"The thing has him under the water; it's not letting him up!" he shouted. "I'm not going to be able to help him alone, go get someone!" He dived under again. The Marauders got out of the Cloak and ran out of the bushes.

"Don't worry, Hermione, we'll get him," James said and he threw off his glasses and they all rushed to the water. Once they were under the surface they opened their eyes. The water was green and murky but they could still see. At the bottom Ron was struggling with an animal roughly the size of an elephant. It had three tentacles, one of which was holding a struggling Harry to the floor of the lake. It was still shallow at this part so it wasn't completely dark. James never tried using magic in the water so he pulled out his wand and said Stupefy. It didn't work, so he pocketed his wand and quickly swam up to catch his breath because he had swallowed some water. Soon he was back under and swam towards the animal. He could now see it had three eyes; one above each tentacle. Harry was struggling less by now and he looked terrible from lack of oxygen. Ron had gone for more air, Sirius was keeping one of the animal's tentacles occupied, and Remus had the other. James tried to get Harry out from under the third. When Ron came back, he helped them by poking one of the thing's eyes with a stick Hermione tossed him. The tentacles immediately loosened a little, and James grabbed Harry and began to swim up. The other three boys were right behind him. Harry was unconscious by now.

'C'mon Harry, hang in there,' Ron was thinking worriedly. When they broke out of the water they all struggled to catch their breath and keep Harry's head above the water. By that time Hermione had splashed in and put a protective shield around the four, so the thing wouldn't get them again. They rushed to the shore and Hermione ran off to get Madam Pomfrey.

When she came back with the nurse, Harry was put on a stretcher and rushed away at once. Hermione performed a drying spell and they all hurried after Harry. On the way, Remus grabbed the Invisibility Cloak so nobody would find it. When they entered the hospital wing Madam Pomfrey was just reviving Harry.

"Somebody needs to get Hagrid so he can check out what that thing was," Ron said. "He is absolutely in love with dangerous creatures."

"Yes, will you and Ms. Garnly go and get him?" asked Madam Pomfrey. They nodded and left.

"Professor Carlson was right," Hermione said quietly. Ron grunted in agreement. They met Hagrid in the Entrance Hall along with half the school.

"Hagrid!" Ron called, but the giant man didn't hear him. "HAGRID!" he bellowed. Still, over the chattering of the students Hagrid didn't hear. "Oh, this is hopeless," Ron muttered. He pointed his wand at his throat. "Sonorus." He took a deep breath and screamed "HAGRID!" it was one hundred times louder though, so probably the whole castle heard him. Everyone stopped talking immediately and turned to Ron. "Finite Incantatem," he said.

"Hagrid we need your help. There's some sort of creature in the lake; it attacked Harry!" Hermione exclaimed.

"I'm comin'," he said and hurried to them. As they were walking (leaving many whispering students behind) he asked "Wha' did it loo' like?" he asked.

"Three tentacles and three eyes right above each of the tentacles."

"Oh. It's a…well I 'ave no idea wha' it is bu' I've seen one before. Wonder how it go' in the lake; they're really dangerous. Wha' happened?"

"It grabbed Harry's ankle and pulled him in and then it wouldn't let him back up. James, Remus, Sirius, and I all went after it and finally managed to get Harry," Ron explained. They reached the Hospital Wing again, and burst through the door. Dumbledore, Sam, and Richard were already there standing around Harry's bed along with James, Remus, and Sirius.

"Hagrid!" Dumbledore said in a worried tone. "Can you please go look at the creature?"

"Professor, I've seen one before. They're dangerous; really dangerous. I don' know how it go' in but I don' know wha' we can do teh get it out. I'll let you know when I figure it out."

"Of course Hagrid, hurry." Hagrid rushed out of the hospital to the lake.

"Professor, isn't he awake yet?" Hermione asked.

"I'm afraid not. The creature injected a poison into him; it's lucky you got him away in time. He might have been lost if it was any later." Ron swallowed and he ran to the bed with Hermione. "James, Sirius, Remus thank you for all of your help. I need to speak with Ms. Garnly, Mr. Westle, Professor Brown, and Professor Lantir privately." The boys nodded and left.

"Professor, will he be alright?" Sam asked.

"Yes, he'll be fine; Poppy injected something in him that stops the poison. Now, Mr. Westle, I understand Professor Carlson predicted Harry having a rough and dangerous two weeks, due to the Grim?"

"Yes we thought she was just a phony like Trelawney-" Dumbledore looked at him sternly, his blue eyes twinkling. "Oh sorry, we thought she wasn't a true seer until she saw in her crystal ball that we're from the future. She didn't say that to the class though, noticing we didn't want her to, and said Harry was going to have a rough and dangerous two weeks."

"Yes, she is a true seer. Ah he's starting to come around." Sam turned back around, along with the others, to see Harry opening his eyes.

"W-what happened?" he asked. Hermione told him everything and his eyes widened.

"Thanks guys. And can you thank James, Remus, and Sirius?"

"Sure."

"Harry, are you ok?" Sam asked worriedly. "You better be, or that thing is dead." Harry grinned.

"I'm fine Sirius," Richard sighed.

"Don't call us by our real names; we liked to listen in on peoples' conversations a lot when we were younger," he said.

"Sure thing Moony," Harry said grinning.

"Hey! Not those names either!" Richie exclaimed then muttered "Honestly you're so childish." Everyone laughed. Then Madam Pomfrey flew in.

"Mr. Portico, are you all right?"

"I'm fine, can I go?" he asked hopefully.

"Well, try standing up." Harry tried and he shook a little, but was able to walk.

"All right, you can go. But be careful today and if you feel unwell come here."

"Ok." They left the hospital wing and Dumbledore went to find Hagrid. Immediately the Marauders jumped on them.

"Are you ok?"

"What was that thing anyway?"

"Is the poison out of you?" Harry sighed.

"I'm fine, I don't know, and probably since I'm out of there aren't I?"

"I guess so," Sirius said.

"Thanks for helping me by the way. It's good you happened to be there at the time." The Marauders looked at each other guiltily.

"Your welcome," they said quietly and headed off to lunch with Harry, Ron, and Hermione.