Disclaimer: You all know that I don't Harry Potter, so I'm just stating for the sake of stating…I don't Harry Potter or any related things…
Author Notes: Thanks to all who reviewed and have read my story. A few things will be explained in this chapter, so have fun reading! This chapter is written in loving memory of Karen May William Potter and Michael James Potter…I truly feel sorry for killing them…
P.S. Thank my friend Morgan who reminded me about the ending of chapter 10, or you all would've never known. I'm slightly forgetful at times.
Time Slip
Chapter Twenty-One
Giving Thanks
It was the third Wednesday in November and James had disappeared, worrying all his friends. Sirius wanted to skip Transfiguration's to go find him, but Remus told him to stay, making Sirius tell him he didn't understand. Remus glared at him and said he did. He knew what tomorrow was and why they should go find him, but James would show up.
When classes ended, Harry grabbed hold of Sirius' arm and tugged his shirt. "Sirius, what's tomorrow?" he asked.
Sirius looked worried as he kept looking all over the place, scaring a few students out his way. "It's Thanksgiving."
Harry blinked. "Thanksgiving? What's so important about that?"
Sirius turned from his searching and gave him his full attention. "Oh yeah, you don't know."
Harry glared at him. He hated when he brought that up all the time. "I'm sorry if I don't know things…it's kind of hard when you people don't tell me."
The taller man grinned and kissed his forehead. "Sorry." He looked over the heads of the other students as they started to go up the stairs to Gryffindor Tower. "You see, James' mum was American and her favorite holiday is…was Thanksgiving. She loved the whole meaning of it." He turned back to look at Harry. "He always got out of school to go home to celebrate it. Me and the others usually got out too, seeing as we are practically family and all."
Harry bit his lip, his worry for his father doubling now that he knew why they wanted to find him, and fast. They got up to the dorm and dropped off their stuff. Sirius dashed towards James' trunk and told it something, something very colorful. The trunk opened and Sirius dug through it, producing a piece of parchment and grinning happily. He jumped on the bed, Harry crawling next to him, Remus getting on one side and Peter on the other…Frank had gone down to met Alice. Sirius tapped the parchment and said, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." The map started to change, producing a sketch of the school and it occupants. Soon enough, they found James in Dumbledore's office.
"Wonder what he's doing in there." Peter said.
"Probably asking Dumbledore if he could still celebrate Thanksgiving." Remus replied.
Suddenly, Sirius' stomach growled and he smiled, "Well, now that we know where he is, why don't we go eat lunch, shall we?" Without waiting for a reply, he tapped it again and said, "Mischief managed." The map disappeared and turned into a seemingly ordinary piece of parchment.
They all headed downstairs and ate lunch. Towards the end of the lunch period, James came running in, a wide grin on his face. He slid in between Harry and Lily. He turned; kissed Lily on the cheek, making her blush, and then turning he kissed Harry on the cheek. Everyone looked at him like he was someone they didn't know and was wondering why he was there. "James, mate, are you alright?" Sirius asked, eyeing James like he was certifiable.
James smiled. "Yes! Dumbledore said that we can go home tomorrow and return the next morning!" He took a piece of ham, shoved it in his mouth and practically swallowed it without chewing. "We get to celebrate Thanksgiving!"
This greatly cheered the others. Now they knew James wasn't going to go insane or get depressed about his mum's favorite holiday…he was going to live happily through it in memory of her and his dad.
For the rest of the day the group was happy. They found out from James that they would go to his house tomorrow morning, cook for the day, eat dinner, stay the night and return early the next morning. After dinner they went to their dorms and went to bed early.
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Harry was having a nightmare. It was really dark and he could hear screaming. He ran and ran, trying to find whoever was screaming. There were random flashes of green, but when he ran in the direction, there would be no one there. Suddenly someone grabbed him from behind and started shaking him. He tried to fight off the person but suddenly he felt something warm on his lips and it started to melt the darkness away, slowly, but soon it was all gone and he woke up with a jolt.
Harry was covered in sweat and shaking. He felt hands on his arms and looked up to the scared face of Sirius. Harry tried to smile, but it didn't come out as that. Sirius looked relieved. "Damn Harry, you scared me! You wouldn't bloody wake up!"
The other young man shook his head. "I'm sorry." He looked down and then back up. "How did you get in?"
Sirius narrowed his eyes at him. "It was bloody hard, let me tell you that! What kind of charms do you put on your bloody curtains?"
"Nothing really…how did you know?"
"Know what?"
"That I was having a nightmare. The silencing charms are pretty strong. "
Sirius wasn't glaring anymore, but Harry could still see that he was still scared. "I don't really know…I kind of just felt like something was wrong."
Harry smiled and kissed him. "How'd you wake me?"
"True loves kiss." he replied with a small smile. "Do you want me to stay here?" he asked.
Harry lifted his blanket. "Be my guest." Sirius smiled and curled up in his bed.
Sirius turned and kissed Harry on the lips. "Night Harry."
"Night Sirius." He replied and closed the curtains.
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Harry woke again later that night. Somehow he managed to roll over Sirius and was now the one closest to the curtain. He tugged at the blankets, trying to get more, but apparently Sirius was a blanket hog and wouldn't give up any. He sighed and pulled open the curtains, deciding that he would go get some water then wrestle with Sirius when he got back.
When his eyes focused, he saw someone sitting on the window seat. Harry grabbed his glasses and put them on, seeing that it was James sitting there, staring out the window. He got up and walked quietly over to him. "James…" he said quietly.
James didn't turn his head as he replied, "Harry. What you doing up?"
"I was getting water. What are you doing up?"
"I couldn't sleep." he replied. "Hey Harry…"
"Yeah…"
"I'm sorry…"
Harry raised his eyebrow and sat next to James on the window seat. "Why?"
He bit his lip. "For dying on you."
Harry was taken aback. "It's not you fault."
"Yes it is." he replied and turned to look at him. Harry could see that he had been crying. "I should've been able to save you and Lily."
Harry bit his lip. He couldn't very well tell him that it wasn't his fault, but Peter's. "Like I said, it isn't you fault. For most of my life I was told that you had died in a car crash." James looks shocked and indignant at this. "I have to admit that sometimes I would feel mad at you and Lily for dying in a car crash and leaving me with them, but when I found out the truth, that you guys really died from defending me from Voldemort, I was proud. I couldn't very well be mad at you for saving my life." He turned from looking out the window and into James' eyes. "And I don't want to sound morbid or anything, but if you didn't die, I would've never met all of you, or my grandparents, and I would've never known that Severus could be…nice." Harry paused, taking a breath to calm his heart. "I'm not happy you died and that I didn't met anyone till I was thirteen, but I'm happy that I got to met you all now. So don't beat yourself up for it, it wasn't your fault."
Harry stopped and he really couldn't figure out what James was thinking. Suddenly James smiled and hugged Harry. "Thanks Harry." James said and leaned back against the wall. He turned his gaze to Harry's bed and the opened bed curtains. He raised an eyebrow and Harry blushed.
"I had a nightmare." he said embarrassedly. Not from the fact that Sirius was in his bed, but from the fact that he had a nightmare.
James smiled and patted the other boys head. "That's alright…it happens to the best of us. I always had to crawl into Sirius' bed when we were younger and wake him up from his…I got some pretty nasty bruises from that."
"He had nightmares?" Harry knew he had probably nightmares and he probably knew from what, but it was still kind of shocking.
"Yeah, about his family. He told me about them in second year and he started to have them less and less with each passing year but sometimes he still has pretty bad ones." He paused and turned to Remus' bed. "Remus had them to and me and Sirius got some nasty bruises from him, but we didn't know what his nightmares were about until like the middle of third year." He turned to look between Peter's and Frank's beds. "They never really had nightmares and the rare times that they did, we didn't have to do much of anything but throw a pillow at them. So you see, we know about nightmares."
Harry looked at all the beds and turned to look at James. "Did you ever have nightmares?"
"Of course I did, I'm human, but they never were like Remus' or Sirius' or for that matter, probably nothing like yours either." He paused and looked at Sirius' sleeping form. "You should probably go back to bed." He stood up and stretched. He ruffled Harry's already messy hair and smiled. "And if Sirius is hogging all the blankets, just rub his stomach and he gives them right up." Harry raised his eyebrow at his father as he also stood up. James grinned. "You don't want to know how I figured that out, but he isn't a mutt for nothing." He turned and headed for his bed. "Night Harry."
Harry climbed into his bed next to Sirius. "Night Dad."
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Everyone woke up pretty early the next morning and ate breakfast quickly. Everyone, Lily and Alice plus all the seventh year male Gryffindors, headed towards Dumbledore's office. There they met Dumbledore (sorry to point out the obvious) and he informed them that they would be flooing from his office fireplace to the Potter's living room. All brought a bag with a few necessary items. Before they all went, he also told them that they may floo from the living room fireplace between 8:00 and 8:30a.m tomorrow.
Soon enough they had all agreed and gone through the fireplace to appear in the Potter's living room. When everyone was there, they stood silently for a moment. All of them hadn't been there in a while and it was sad to be there and know that Karen and Michael weren't going to be there.
Suddenly James smiled and shouted, "Come on, we have tons to do before we can eat dinner!" He practically ran towards the kitchen. The others soon followed, with Sirius whining about how he was supposed to cook without getting hungry. As they entered the kitchen, they saw that James was already in an apron, a red and gold one, and had already set about getting ingredients and what-not. James looked up at them. "There you guys are! Time to get a cooking!"
The other Gryffindors grinned at one another and set about putting on aprons and asking James what they should do. The girls got to set the table and decorate, Sirius got the potatoes and the yams, Frank got the stuffing and rolls, Harry got the random vegetables and salad needed for tonight, Remus made the pies, which were pumpkin, apple, and raspberry, and James was with the turkey.
About an hour into it, the girls had come back and they were all laughing and joking. Another two hours and Sirius was complaining about being hungry.
"We're almost done." James said for about the thousandth time.
"But I'm hungry!" Sirius whined.
Remus turned to him and held out a whisk menacingly. "If you don't shut up, I'm going to turn you into blackberry pie. Maybe that'll shut you up."
Sirius looked taken aback. "Cranky aren't we?" Suddenly there was an evil glint in his eyes. "Or maybe it's something else…you haven't had a girl in awhile, have you?" Remus' eyes went wide and he flung the whisk at the other boys head. Sirius ducked in time and stood back up. "Yupe, I'm right!" Once again something, a wooden spoon, was thrown at his head. After Sirius gracefully ducked and stood back up, he was glaring. "Hey, that was rude!" Sirius threw his masher thing at Remus' head, which he ducked. Just as he was standing up, something warm and mushy landed with a plop on his face. Sirius smiled triumphantly. "HA HA! I win!" Everyone was laughing at the whole charade till Remus started coughing. They stopped laughing.
"Remus?" Lily asked. He just kept coughing. In a blink of an eye, Lily was behind him and performing the Heimlich. Soon enough mash potatoes came spewing forth from his mouth. He was coughing more, but at least now he could breathe.
"Oh my God! I'm so sorry Remus!" Sirius shouted, running to his friend. "I forgot all about how mash potatoes were out to get you!" Remus had stopped coughing and glared at Sirius. The whole trying to produce a killing stare failed miserably with mash potatoes still all over his face.
Soon enough, Remus gave up trying to murder Sirius with his glare. "It's alright…I was wondering when those bloody potatoes would come at me…I just didn't suspect that my friend would take part in their evil schemes." Remus said while wiping his face off with a towel that he was handed. He turned to Lily. "Thanks."
Lily blushed. "You're welcomed."
"I said I was sorry! I didn't remember!" Sirius said, looking defeated.
Remus sighed and chucked the towel at Sirius, which he caught. "I said it's alright. Let's just get on with cooking, shall we?" When everybody was sure that he was alright, they got back to cooking.
It was about 2:00p.m when all foods were cooked and ready to be eaten. The girls insisted on setting up the room with the food, so that the boys could be surprised. Five minutes later, Alice and Lily came into the kitchen and informed them that they could come in now. They were in awe by the room. It was decorated with red, gold, orange and brown streamers and pilgrim and Indian things all around. Apparently they had found the Thanksgiving decorations. The table was covered with two blue table clothes at the ends and a white one in the middle. All the food was set up in the middle with their dinning spots on the sides of the table.
"Wow…" James said and turned to Lily. "It's wonderful."
"Thanks Potter." Lily said, in a kind voice, and went to sit down.
"You did beautifully." Frank whispered and kissed Alice on the head.
Alice smiled. "Thank you very much." Frank then took her hand and escorted her to a seat. Soon enough everyone was sitting down. On the right closes to the door were Remus, Harry, Sirius and James. On the left to the door were Peter, Frank, Alice and Lily. Sirius was looking at the food as if he hadn't eaten in years.
"Whoa, hold it there Mr. Black." James said, grabbing Sirius by the back of his shirt collar. "We have to say grace."
"Grace. There, I said it." Sirius said. James shook his head.
Remus leaned over and whispered into Harry's ear, "We go through this every year…"
Harry snickered and Sirius turned to look at them two. "What are you telling him Remus? I hope it's nothing against my wonderful character."
"No, nothing of the sort. I'm just informing him that you need a flea bath on a regular basis." Remus replied seriously which made the rest of the group laugh.
"Fine, fine, be rude…can't we say the grace now?" Sirius asked in a pouty voice.
James nodded. "And don't forget, we have to say something were grateful for afterwards…"
"May I say it?" Sirius asked. They all looked at him surprised.
"You want to do grace?" Remus asked.
"You never want to do grace!" Peter added.
"You always want to skip grace." Added James.
"Okay, fine, if you all don't want me to bloody do it, and then tell me, because I will sit here and wait for one of you to do it." Sirius replied, glaring at them.
James patted him on the back. "No, no, you can do it if you want."
"Thank you." Sirius smiled. He coughed and got a serious face on. He bowed his head and all the others followed suit. "Our Merlin, who art in Camelot, hallowed be thy name…"
"Sirius…" came a warning voice.
"Alright, alright, I'll stop fooling…" There was a pause. "Thank you for this wonderful meal, which I really want to eat, and the people who made it, my amazing friends. Thank you for James who's always there for me and sticks by me, even if we wind up in detention. Thank you for Remus who's always there to bring me down a peg or two and who'll cheer me up when I'm down. Thanks for Peter who's always willing to do whatever it takes to get whatever done. Thank you for Frank who somehow always knows the right thing to say. Thanks for Alice who always knows how to make you smile and manages to pawn her happiness off onto you. Thanks for Lily who may threaten you with bodily harm but will heal you if you even slightly complain about a stomach ache. And thank you for Harry, who brightens up any room he walks into and will do practically anything to make you happy. So basically, thanks for everyone, I don't know what I'd do without them. Bless them all, and their families. Blessed be." Sirius raised his head as did everyone else. Everyone looked at him.
"That was beautiful Sirius." Lily said.
Alice smiled. "Yes, that was really sweet."
"Wow I didn't know you had that in you." James said and patted his friend on the back. The others agreed.
"Thank you, thank you." Sirius said smiling. "Well, I grateful for all of you." He turned to James. "And what are you thankful for Jamie?"
"I'm thankful to have this special Thanksgiving dinner even if…even if my mum and dad aren't here." James said, looking to Lily.
Lily smiled and looked thoughtful. "I'm grateful that I finally got to know you all better and that you guys aren't as bad as I thought you would be."
"Thanks Lily, that was really sweet." Sirius said, in a serious voice. Lily glared at him.
"Hey, I'm thankful for being here with all of you and that we have gotten over our differences and became really good friends." Alice said who then turned to Frank.
"I'm grateful for having Alice who loves me and puts up with me." After that, Frank turned and kissed Alice on the forehead.
Peter smiled. "I'm thankful for being here with all of you and that you all will be with me no matter what."
"I'm grateful that even though that we are in seventh year and will be parting soon, I know we will always be friends and that no matter what, we'll be there for each other." Remus smiled and turned to Harry, who looked like he was thinking really hard. After a few moments, Remus poked him on the shoulder. "Harry?"
"I'm thankful for…I'm thankful that I got to come here and met you all and if or when I go back home, at least I got know you all and that I got to feel what true love was." Harry said.
Most everyone at the table knew what he was talking about, but even though some didn't know exactly what he meant, they got the meaning. Sirius smiled and put his arms around Harry's shoulders. "I love you." He kissed him on the cheek.
"Love you too Siri, so that's why I'm going to tell you that the others are already eating." Harry replied with a smile.
Sirius' eyes went wide and he turned to see that the others were eating. "HEY! You can't start without me!" He practically tackled the mashed potatoes.
Everyone started to laugh and had a magnificent dinner…
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After dinner was finished and the dishes cleaned, they played games till very late in the evening. So around ten o'clock, they decided that they would head to bed. Everybody had their own rooms and the girls borrowed clothes for the night.
"Okay, everyone should stay in their separate rooms for the night." James announced as they all were in the hall, saying goodnight to each other.
"Oh, and I was so hoping you were going to keep your door unlock for the night." Lily said in a less then serious tone. "Night everyone."
James' eyes went wide and watched Lily head into her room. He looked like a fish seeking air. Sirius snickered and patted him on the back. "Jamie boy, I think she was just kidding."
"No she wasn't, she wanted to sleep with me and I ruined it!" James looked about ready to commit suicide.
"I was kidding!" they heard Lily shout through the door.
James pouted and glared at the others, who were trying but failing to control their laughter. "Shut up and go to sleep you conniving twits." James then stalked into his room and shut the door most of the way. But before it was totally closed, James turned around, "Goodnight everyone."
"Nighty night James." The others said and headed towards their own doors and said their pleasantries before closing their own doors.
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They all woke up on time the next day and flooed into Dumbledore's office on the agreed time. The rest of the day was like any other day they had at school, but during potions, Harry was asked if he could come by after dinner, so after Harry ate dinner and convinced his friends that they had no need to wait for him, he went to see the professor. Professor Slughorn just wanted to talk to him about one of his essays or something like that. Soon enough, he was set free and headed towardsthe tower and that's where he ran into someone he hadn't seen in awhile.
"Hey Severus!" Harry said with a wide grin. "I haven't seen you in a while."
Snape produced a small smile. "No you haven't. What have you been up to, except hanging around with those Gryffindors?"
"Oh, like you're any better." Said a voice from behind Severus. Snape turned around to look and Harry's eyes went wide. The boy walking from the shadows was Sirius, maybe a bit younger and shorter hair, but he looked exactly like Sirius. Harry figured out who it was easily.
"Shut up Black. I could be saying the same for you, playing a fantasy figure for your brother so you won't get into trouble with your family." Snape replied, glaring at the younger boy.
"You're not supposed to talk about that." Black said through gritted teeth.
Harry looked at them odd. Snape sighed. "He's not going to tell anyone."
"How do you know?"
"Because I do."
"You're Santa?" Harry asked in a shocked voice. He just figured it out. "Regulus Black is Santa Claus?"
"See! Why the bloody hell did you even give him a hint?" Regulus asked.
Severus rolled his eyes. "Because you never stop talking about him or Sirius, so just talk to him now and get it over with so I don't have to listen to it anymore." Snape then turned to Harry. "Talk to him. If he doesn't, tell me." With that said, he walked away, leaving a pissed off Regulus Black and a slightly confused Harry Potter.
Harry turned to Regulus. "Are you going to talk to me?" When Regulus just glared, he shrugged. "Fine, whatever. I got to go." So Harry started walking down the hall.
"Wait!"
Harry turned around to see Regulus looking sheepish. "I'm not going to tell anyone." Harry said quietly.
"I saw you." He said.
Harry was confused. "Saw me?"
"Yeah, I saw you."
'Oh Merlin, does he mean when I came through the closet?' "When?" Harry asked.
"In the alley."
He knit his eyebrows together in confusion. "You saw me…in the alley?"
"Yeah, with Sirius."
"You saw me in the alley with Sirius?" Suddenly it came back to him…when he chased Sirius out of the candystore and cornered him. He smiled as he also remembered his conversation with him about rides. "You were there?"
"Yes…"
"Is that all you wanted to tell me? I'm not mad or anything that you saw."
Regulus sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. "No, that's not all I wanted to say." He paused, seeming like he needed to collect his thoughts so Harry let him. Soon enough, he started talking again. "I never saw him so happy and I'm glad that he found someone who does make him happy. He was really never happy at home. I know you're good for him and that he loves you and I just want him to be happy, so just keep on doing what you're doing so he'll be happy."
Harry's eyes went wide. "You really love your brother, don't you?" Regulus nodded. "That's why you pretend to be Santa…"
"Yeah, because he's disowned I'm not aloud to associate with him, but…he's still my big brother who would distract mum and dad so I could run…I just wanted to give him something back."
Harry smiled. He never knew Regulus was like this. "I love him too."
Regulus looked up at him. "Good." He started to walk away. When he was about half way down the hall, he turned. "Take good care of him."
"I promise." Harry shouted back and he knew he would.