A/N: I don't know quite how to say this…but I'm quitting. This fic isn't going anywhere. I was only able to write two more chapters before I broke down with a lot of flaws. I have NO idea what to do for the other horcruxes and my imagination has failed me on how to get the six to do everything I want. It turns to other things instead…

I've considered, for a long time now, writing my own stories. I'd like to try to use my writing abilities to put a novel or something out in the world. That alone takes up much of my time these days. I can't keep up with the fic!

Then there are my friends, who demand just as much of my time and swimming lessons every afternoon. Oh! There's much, much more. But I will not bore you with my monologueing.

I guess what I'm trying to do is…say good-bye. I'm sorry to disappoint all my readers. But fans, I hope you've liked this tale as far as I've gotten it! We've had lots of cool times together.

Anyone who's willing to try can take up the story-line thread where I've left off and attempt to finish the story. Just make sure you mention me and my fic in the disclaimer along with J.K. Rowling.

Ramen Goddess (aka- Mysterious Mistress Kura). Thank you so very much for all your support and diligent reviews! I'm sorry I won't be seeing more of them. Stay happy! And keep smiling.

Shntiz. We've been through a lot together, being Betas and reading each other's works. I hope that those memories will last a long, long time.

I extend my most sincere apologies to each of you two special people. You've been with me from start…and now to the finish. I'm going to make an end. It's nothing special, I'll leave the story hanging. It won't be a big, fantastic cliffie or a smashing conclusion! But maybe the whole thing will spark all of your imaginations and you can take up the mantle to finish the story on your own! I hope you all aren't too hurt.

Two more chapters. That's all you've got. I'm sooo, so sorry.

-E.S.E.

Disclaimer: The story belongs to me. The epic, belongs to J.K. Rowling. I could do nothing more than copy her brilliant world for my starting boost.

A/N: Now that I have the boost from my first writing work, I can go on to writing stories of my own. I've been grateful to all of you for your encouragement! Again, I apologize for stopping it. And I'll shut-up now and get back to the story one last time.

With that, enjoy these last two chapters!

-E.S.E.


Chapter 11: "What Now?"

Crash. Bang. Roar! Lupin in his werewolf form was blundering up the stairs, towards the human voices it had heard. He came crashing into the room where six teenage humans were grouped around a piece of paper. With a roar it plunged towards them, jaw open wide.

Ginny, Hermione, and Luna all screamed while the boys all yelled as the werewolf came at them. They separated just in time and Harry stuffed the Marauder's Map in his pocket.

The werewolf that was Lupin whirled around and came at Luna, ready to have a meal.

"Impedimenta!" Hermione shrieked. The werewolf was thrown against the wall, but that didn't stop it. It was right back up and came at them again.

"RUN!" Harry bellowed, raising his wand to attack the oncoming animal.

The others did as he said obediently, pelting as fast as they could towards the door, Ginny in the lead. Harry sent a stunning spell at the werewolf, but missed. Then he turned on his heal and fled after the others.

They ran down the passageway and to the stairs. A nail that was sticking out of the floor boards tripped Ginny on the topmost stair, and she fell, screaming down the staircase. Ron, who had been going very fast, tripped over his sister and accidentally kicked Hermione who in turn tripped up the others. They were a set of dominos again, falling down the stairs in a tangle of arms and legs.

Harry's head hit something hard and little stars popped out of no where. He felt dazed as he landed on the first floor, his right leg under Luna and his other was trapped under Hermione. Ron was on top of him trying to get out of the pile of people. The werewolf was still close behind them; Harry could hear it at the top of the stairs, roaring in triumph.

Ron was finally off him, Harry leapt up, forgetting that his legs were still trapped and fell over backwards. Scrambling around in an unorganized fashion, they all somehow got loose and streaked towards the passageway, closely pursued by the werewolf.

They had reached the passageway when Ron, who was looking back at the werewolf rammed his head into a doorframe. He fell backwards, yelling as he went.

Harry turned around and raised his wand to attack. Before he could utter a spell however, something jumped clean over him and charged the werewolf. It was a white stag, closely followed by a humongous black dog.

Harry knew who they were, James Potter and Sirius Black. The dog locked onto the werewolf's neck and pulled it backwards. Harry ran to where Ron was lying and yanked him to his feet. Together they sprinted for the passageway, not looking back.

When they were safely inside, he counted heads. He suddenly realized Neville wasn't there.

"NEVILLE?" he yelled, looking for his companion.

"There!" Luna said, pointing to the top of the stairs, it seemed Neville had not known where to go and now couldn't find them.

As Luna said "There!" the werewolf threw off Sirius and he hit the wall, whimpering. Lupin then dodged the white stag that blocked his way and scaled the staircase. Neville, who hadn't seen the animal coming, found himself knocked off his feet.

Luna ran up the passageway as fast as her legs could take her, Ginny and Harry close behind her. Harry was just about to come out into the open when something collided with his shoulder. Harry didn't get to see what had hit him because he was spun right into Ginny.

"Oof!" They crashed to the floor again. As they untangled and rushed up the corridor, but they had lost momentum and wouldn't be there in time.

Luna felt something whisk past her as she ran up the secret passageway under the Whomping Willow to save Neville. She heard a thud behind her, but didn't stop to look around.

She was mounting the stairs now, taking them three at a time. The werewolf was on top of Neville, about to bite.

"Impedimenta!" Luna cried, aiming at the werewolf's chest. The werewolf was thrown backwards and into the age rotten banisters. The banisters cracked and broke as the werewolf hit it, sending it tumbling to the ground below.

Luna pulled Neville to his feet and they ran to the passageway, the sound of a dog, werewolf, and stag fighting below.

They reached the bottom of the stairs and nearly collided with Harry and Ginny.

"Let's get out of here!" Harry panted, running back towards Ron and Hermione.

They met Ron and Hermione halfway up the hall. The six of them darted the rest of the way out.

As they got into the open air Ron, clutching a stitch in his side shouted, "Hurry! Up to the castle!"

Hermione grabbed his arm.

"Are you mad?" she cried.

"We can't be seen!" she and Harry said at the same time.

"We can't stay here, are you mad?" Ron said indignantly.

They all stopped and turned to the dark forest.

"Well," Hermione said nervously, staring between the trees, "It's not like we haven't been in there before… we practically know it by heart by now!"

Ginny, Neville, Ron, and Luna all looked at them as though they were mad.

"Don't we get a vote?" Ron asked, looking apprehensively at the trees.

There came the noise of fighting behind them, half-way up the passage.

"Go!" Harry said urgently, setting off towards the trees at a run.

The others looked at each other and followed, though somewhat reluctantly. They tromped through the thick underbrush, nettles clinging to their clothes.

They didn't stop until they were sure they were far enough away from the Shack. Surprisingly, they met nothing, not one bird or other living creature, least of all a dangerous one. This was very peculiar for the Forest, anytime Harry had been in it he had experienced things he would rather not experience again.

He had met Voldemort his first trip into the forest, drinking unicorn's blood through his servant Quarrel, whom he was possessing at the time. The second time he had gone in he and Ron had met a giant spider by the name of Aragog; they had narrowly missed being his descendants' meal. In his third and fourth year, he had only gone into the edge of the forest and had met trouble. He and Hermione had almost met Lupin in his wolfish form. In his fourth year, Harry had been talking with Viktor Krum about Hermione when Barty Crouch Sr. had turned up, asking, in a strange frame of mind, to see Dumbledore.

Two years previous, they had gone into the forest and met a giant by the name of Grawp, who's favorite past time was ripping up sixteen foot pines. Grawp had become much more of a gentleman since then, but that first encounter had been terrifying all the same. Then, later that year, they had met mad centaurs who were ready to kill them and had encountered Grawp yet again.

And so, all of Harry's experiences weren't worth reliving really, not if you wanted to risk your neck that is.

The six friends found a secluded spot, not far into the forest and collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath.

"What is going on?" Neville said between gasps for breath, "This is Hogwarts obviously, but where did the werewolf come from? I'm sure that one wouldn't come alone, considering there's supposed to be a whole lot of them."

Harry and Hermione looked at each other; time to tell their suspicions.

"Well…" Hermione started, biting her lip, "It would seem as though… as though we are in the past."

The others were silent, staring at her as though she had lost her mind.

"What proof is there of that?" Ron asked incredulously.

Harry sighed and told them about what he and Hermione had seen on the Marauder's Map and what they had deduced.

Silence again.

"But…" Ron stammered, "But… that would mean…"

No one had any idea of what he was talking about, neither did Ron it seemed, he was just babbling out of shock.

Ron gulped and said, "Now what'll we do?"

"Wait till dawn," Harry replied, "Until Lupin is back to normal it isn't safe."

"I mean about this time situation," Ron said hotly, "What do we do about that?"

He looked around at everyone else, they seemed to be inclined to ask the same question. Except Hermione, as usual.

"We'll have to get a time-turner of course!" she said at once, looking at them as though they should have thought of the idea too.

"No!" Harry said so aggressively that everyone stared at him, "We can't go to the Ministry of Magic! We'll get back to our time and they'll force us to tell them how we got into the past. That would mean exposing the quest!"

Hermione's face turned pale. That wouldn't be good… not at all. If they Ministry found out…

"But we can't stay here!" Ginny said, looking around the forest clearing.

"No, no," Neville said, agreeing with her.

They all looked at Luna, she hadn't said a word since they had arrived in the clearing. She was just sitting there, watching the conversation as though it were an interesting program on television.

When she saw them looking at her like that she said, as though it were the obvious thing to do, "We go to Dumbledore of course."

"But—" Hermione started.

"He's alive here in the past, we just have to talk to him. He'll know what to do." Luna said with such finality that Hermione stared at her open-mouthed.

"But we can't! We can't be seen in the past! It's one of the rules of time travel. If he found out about the future things could go disastrously wrong. The future could be altered to who knows what end!"

"I'm telling you, we have to talk to Dumbledore!"

"Oh yeah," Harry said sarcastically, he was getting impatient and didn't like the bickering. "no offense Luna but I can really see that conversation.

" 'Hello, we're from the future, where you've been murdered and we've gone on a quest to find Voldemort's horcruxes… we can't give people knowledge of the future! Not even Dumbledore."

"We just tell him select things, we don't have to tell the whole story," argued Luna.

"Even a little bit of future knowledge could drastically change the future!" Hermione practically screamed, she was at a breaking point now.

She turned on Ron.

"Help me!" she said, looking at him furiously.

Ron looked as though he would rather do anything else; he just wanted to keep out of the argument.

But Hermione wouldn't have it. He sighed and said to Luna, "Well, I'm sure they're right. After all, Hermione and Harry have time traveled before."

Luna crossed her arms over her chest.

"What do you propose we do then?" she asked, glaring at them.

They tried and tried to figure out some other plan. But finally, after an hour of bickering, they adopted Luna's plan.

"Good," she said, smiling, "now, how do we go about this?"

"I don't see any way to get to Dumbledore without being seen," Harry said, "The invisibility cloak won't fit all of us, and we certainly can't go wandering around the packed corridors, and they are bound to be packed, disillusioned, what if we run into someone?"

"We'll just have to take that risk," Luna said.

Harry sighed. He didn't like this, not one bit… but it was their only option.

"We should get some sleep," he said, "I'll take the first watch."

And so they slept, or at least tried to; relieving one another of watch duty every hour.

Dawn came and everyone got up, though none of them felt very rested. Harry offered the cloak to Ginny, she was smaller and could probably fit under it with Luna.

Ginny shook her head, declining his offer.

"If we're caught," she said shortly before Harry insisted that she take it, "you, above all of us will look the most suspicious. I mean, this is the past and you look almost exactly like your father from all that we've ever heard. If we're caught we could say that we're just students pulling a prank."

"But we're seventh and sixth years! People who have gone to Hogwarts for six or seven years are going to be recognized by teachers, and when they realize we aren't one of those people what do we say?"

Hermione pushed forward, cutting in on the argument.

"We pretend we're exchange students from another school and want to talk to Professor Dumbledore," she said, putting that genius mind of hers to work.

"There's only one flaw," Harry said, musing, "We don't have accents!"

Hermione thought about this one for a while, it took her quite a long time to come up with a solution.

"We say we haven't been in one school long enough to obtain one," she said finally, "We grew up mainly in London and were sent to a foreign school; it wasn't for us so we changed schools. We have been doing this for years and are now going to try Hogwarts."

"Very thorough," Harry said, thinking the plan over in his head, "but there's still a hitch, I look too much like my dad!"

"Well, we won't have to pretend any of this until we're caught, if we're caught. If we can make it to Dumbledore's office without being discovered we'll have the first part of our problems remedied."

And so it was decided, if they were caught by anyone, especially a teacher, that was their cover story.

So, the six time travelers set off towards the castle doors, hoping against hope that this would work.


"This can't be as hard as the night we broke into Hogwarts," said Ron as they crossed the grounds.

It was now about eight o'clock in the morning; they had taken so long in the forest, formulating a plan that classes had already started. Now their most feared obstacle was present: the students.

"No," Harry whispered from under the cloak, "It's going to be harder."

They had now reached the steps and were about to enter the castle. Harry paused with his hand on the door.

"Are you guys sure about this?" he asked quietly.

The others whispered their consent and prepared to dodge through crowds of milling students. They had hesitated too long.

The great oak doors swung open and a whole class of third year Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors spilled out onto the lawn, heading towards the greenhouses.

Harry and his friends pressed themselves against the wall behind the oak doors, trying not to make contact with the students before them.

Luckily, the third-years stayed oblivious to their presence and continued on their way to Herbology.

Harry heard Hermione give a small sigh of relief and led the rest of the group into the entrance hall.

Students were streaming out of the great hall in every direction, chatting about their classes and gossiping about the latest news.

Hermione gasped and flattened herself against the wall as a burly Slytherin boy brushed past them.

"Let's get out of this hallway," Harry heard Ron whisper.

They hurried up the staircase and into a less crowded corridor, but there were still students to dodge.

"That was quite an encounter last night wasn't it Padfoot?" whispered a voice close by. Harry had to clap his hand over his mouth to keep from shouting in surprise. There, standing a few feet from him was his father.

He looked almost exactly like Harry did now. He was about as tall as Harry was; had messy, jet black hair that stuck up in the back, just like Harry; and their faces almost looked identical; except for the fact that Harry had his famous scar on his forehead and his mother's almond shaped, emerald eyes. Harry estimated that they must be around the same age too.

Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew were all walking beside him, huddled in a small group as they made their way to Charms. Obviously they were talking about the encounter they had had with Harry and his friends last night.

Sirius… Lupin… Harry felt tears well up in his eyes and he quickly wiped them away.

Harry could tell that the others had stopped too. He came to his senses and nudged Hermione in the small of her back, signaling her to keep going.

He heard Hermione's sharp intake of breath and saw her disillusioned form start down the passageway, a little slower than before.

The others followed her example and tiptoed past the Marauders.

"Who do you think they were?" Peter asked interestedly.

"Dunno," James said, "I haven't seen any of them in my life, and they looked about our age so they couldn't be Hogwarts students…" his voice trailed off wonderingly.

"We may never know," Lupin said with a shrug of his shoulders. Last night's ordeal seemed to have taken it's toll on him; let's just say he didn't look in tip-top form.

Harry wanted to hear more, but he and his friends had business to attend to. Before he was tempted to listen in, he ran up the corridor after the others.

Of course, Harry thought, furious at himself for not anticipating this, I should have expected this, we are in the past after all.

When he had reached the end of the corridor, his father's voice fading away, he looked around for the others.

"Guys," he whispered as quietly as he could without any of the other students in the hall hearing him.

"Here," Hermione's voice said just as quietly from his left.

Harry rushed over to the wall and flattened himself against it, looking at the others' disillusioned bodies.

"Oi," Ron said in hushed tones, "I wasn't expecting that. Did you see them? They're a rag tag group those four."

Harry heard Hermione give an exasperated sniff.

"Of course we saw them Ron," she said hotly, "And of course they're a 'rag tag' group; they've become animaguses together for Pete's sake!"

"I—" Ron started to argue, but Harry cut him off.

"Not now," he whispered urgently, looking around at the students before them, "later. We have to get to Dumbledore's office!"

Hermione bit her lip. She had forgotten the circumstances under which they were traveling.

"Right," she said quietly, "Lets go."

So they set off again, navigating through the many hallways and passageways of Hogwarts.

Harry let out a sigh of relief. They had made it; they had gotten to Dumbledore's office without incident, that was a relief. Usually something would have happened, but thankfully, nothing had happened today.

They started trying every strange password they could think of, whispering them of course because students passed them at different intervals.

"Cockroach Cluster!" said Ron.

"Lemon drop!" Hermione said.

"Chocolate frog?" Neville asked quietly.

The list went on and on, Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Drooble's Chewing Gum…none of them worked.

"Lollipops!" Hermione cried out of desperation.

The stone gargoyle sprang from the wall, revealing the winding staircase behind it.

"Lollipops?" Harry asked, taken aback.

Hermione's disillusioned shoulders went up in a shrug. They all took a deep breath and went up the stairs before another student came along and noticed the headmaster's staircase was open and decided to investigate.

They came to the door leading into Dumbledore's office and knocked with the Griffin knocker. Then they opened door and stepped into the brightly lit office, closing the door behind them very quickly.

There he was, Albus Dumbledore, the greatest wizard of all time. He looked slightly younger than when Harry had known him, but still had the same beard and same, knowing expression in his eyes.

He was stroking Fawkes, his phoenix, who was on his perch, and looking at the door with a mildly surprised expression.

Harry realized that he knew they were disillusioned and invisible, so he threw off the cloak and un-disillusioned the others.

Dumbledore took one look at Harry and his eyebrows raised even higher than they had been before. He stopped stroking the phoenix and stared at him intently, his deep blue eyes calculating.

"Er—" Harry said, shifting under the pressure of Dumbledore's gaze, "sir? Could we—er—talk to you?"

Dumbledore stared at him a little longer, and then swept over to the chair behind his desk. He took out his wand and conjured six chairs for them to sit in. They took the chairs nervously, Hermione was beginning to regret coming here. What if everything fell apart because they had come?

There was silence as Dumbledore contemplated his guests, his eyes traveling from Luna's dreamy face, to Hermione's anxious features.

Then he spoke.

"I am guessing you are in the wrong place in the wrong time?" he said, putting special emphasis on the word.

Hermione bit her lip and nodded slightly, then turned her gaze towards Harry. The others did the same, waiting for their leader to present their formulated conversation.

Harry averted his eyes from Dumbledore's face, which he had been staring at the whole time, and looked at the floor.

He took a deep breath and said, "Well, you see sir," he looked at the others and said, "We're in the wrong time, and we don't exactly know how we got here or how to get back."

Then he told Dumbledore, vaguely about what had happened, following the formulated story to the letter. It was dull, but hardly any useful information about the future could be gleaned from it.

Dumbledore looked them all in the eye and said,

"You keep information of future events to yourselves. Very good. But why don't you tell the Ministry your story?"

Harry had been expecting that question. He turned to Hermione, it was her turn.

"Well…" she said, "You see sir, we were…sort of in a place where we weren't allowed to be. We'll get expelled in the middle of our last year if we're caught…or worse than expelled…" she ended lamely.

"Yes," Ginny said, hurrying to take up the story, "And you see… in our time, it wouldn't be good for us… for any of us to not have our whole education."

Dumbledore nodded, still studying them.

"I see," he said. He had his elbows on his desk and his hands were brought together at the tips. He leaned back in his chair, his fingertips still together, "Are there any more complications that I should know about?"

"Yes," Harry said, looking nervously around the room at the portraits of previous headmasters, "My…my dad and mum are in this time, and…" his voice trailed off and he gave a hopeless shrug.

Dumbledore sighed, "I thought as much. You look exactly like James Potter, except for your eyes, and unless I am mistaken they are Lily Evan's eyes."

Harry didn't say anything, it would not do to have Dumbledore know who his mother was. It was obvious that James was his father, but he would not reveal anything else if he could help it, that was vital information.

"You all had a plan of action if you were caught by one of my teachers I presume?" Dumbledore asked.

Hermione nodded and said, "We were going to say we were exchange students and wanted to see you, sir."

Dumbledore stared at the ceiling, thinking. He stayed in that position for over ten minutes while his future students sat in silence.

Finally, Dumbledore came out of his reverie.

"I suppose there is nothing for it but to get you a time-turner," he said.

"Oh but—" Hermione started, looking fearfully at the other five as though she knew something they didn't. But a mysterious look from Dumbledore silenced her. She sat back in her chair, watching Dumbledore strangely. Harry got the feeling that he was missing something.

"While I get a time-turner, you will all have to pose as exchange students," Dumbledore went on calmly.

"But sir!" Hermione said, jumping up and looking at him as though he were something terribly frightening, "The affect that could have on the future! We can't…we—" She looked around desperately at her companions, who were all staring at Dumbledore.

"I will work it out," Dumbledore said mysteriously, "There is a certain time-turner for this job." Here he gave Hermione a significant look.

Hermione's eyes widened, and her mouth dropped open to its full extent. She looked like she was about to speak, but seemed to decide against it and closed her mouth. She sank back into her chair, staring at Dumbledore and thinking.

"Excuse me," Dumbledore said, walking towards the door, "But I must talk to my staff. They will know less details than I; that you are simply exchange students. You meanwhile, must fine tune your cover story."

With that he closed the door and left them in silence. The portraits were all staring at the future-lings in thoughtful silence.

"What does he mean 'fine-tune'?" asked Ron, breaking the silence. He was staring after Dumbledore. He too felt like he had missed something.

Hermione snapped out of her trance and glared at him.

"Well there are flaws obviously!" she barked irritably.

Harry thought about it. There weren't any flaws that he could see. Hermione saw that they were getting no where and sighed exasperatedly. As she opened her mouth to explain it hit Harry.

"Of course!" he cried, "Names!"

"What about them?" Neville asked, while Luna looked up in confusion.

"Our names," Harry said cryptically, sitting down and staring at the floor.

"What's wrong with them?" Ron asked, not knowing where this subject was going.

"We need to change them," Hermione growled. How could he be so thick?

"Wha—?" Ron started.

Harry smiled grimly and said, "Well I can't go around calling myself Harry Potter now can I? What if my parents heard it? I already look too much like my dad, but to have the same last name?" Harry shook his head, it wouldn't do.

"And what if someone recognizes your last name Ron?" asked Hermione, pushing the point further.

"We need new names then," Ginny said decidedly, "But mine has to be the same as Ron's. Any fool could tell that we're siblings."

Harry nodded.

"But we can't have wizard last names," he said, "Especially the last names of wizards we know, or someone's going to think we're related. We'll have to pick them carefully."

The others nodded their agreement and all stared around the room, thinking.

"Harry," Hermione said thinking hard, "Why don't you be…Colbey! We only need to change last names because first names don't pose a problem."

"Why Colbey?" asked Luna.

"Because Colbey is a muggle name!" Hermione said angrily.

"Harry Colbey," Harry said, trying out his new name, "Yeah, I like it, Harry Colbey."

"Well," Hermione said, "That's one down, just a few more to go."

Neville had been thinking throughout the whole conversation for a good last name.

"How about, Neville Horton?" he asked, looking around at the others.

"Yeah!" Ron said enthusiastically, "Okay, so it's Harry Colbey and Neville Horton. Why don't I be Ron Thomas?"

"I don't know…" Hermione said, "Dean's last name is Thomas…"

"Well neither of Dean's parents are wizards!" Ron said in his defense, "We won't have a problem."

"Oh," Hermione said, "Alright, unless Ginny doesn't like the name," she turned to Ginny, who had been watching the conversation from a little way off.

Ginny shrugged, the name was fine with her.

"I'll be Luna Snorkack!" said Luna brightly.

Hermione looked like she was about to argue, but Luna beat her to a sentence.

"There is no other last name 'Snorkack' so I'm fine," she said decisively.

Hermione was weighing arguing and making her point. She sighed and then said, "Okay, Harry Colbey, Neville Horton, Ron Thomas, Ginny Thomas, and Luna Snorkack."

The others waited. When Hermione didn't say anything Harry said, "And you?"

Hermione looked surprised at this question.

"Me?" she said, surprised. Then she smiled comically, "Why I'll be Miss Hermione Granger, because no one knows my parents."

Everyone laughed. And then Hermione was all business again.

"Right," she said, looking around at them all, "so this is the story if we're asked who we are. We say we are exchange students from another school. If they ask about our absent accents we tell them that we grew up most of our childhood in London and were sent to many different schools all over the world. We never stayed in one school long enough to obtain an accent. And now we want to try Hogwarts. Our names are Harry Colbey, Neville Horton, Ron and Ginny Thomas, Luna Snorkack," she frowned slightly at this, but went on, "and Hermione Granger. Got that everyone?"

The others nodded. But Harry frowned. Ginny noticed his mood.

"What's wrong Harry?" she asked, bringing his emotions to the attention of the others.

Harry looked up at them, still frowning.

"There's still a hitch," he said, "I look too much like my dad."

They were all silent, now they had come to the real problem. How to fix it?

"Ah!" Hermione said, snapping her fingers together, "Allow me to remedy this problem."

She took out her wand and pointed it at Harry, who's reaction was to flinch a little. Hermione waved her wand once in a complicated way and Harry's hair became blond.

Everyone stared at him.

"What?" he asked, looking at himself and not finding any difference.

The others all laughed.

"What is it?" Harry said, whirling around and trying to find what Hermione had done to him.

He caught sight of his reflection in one of Dumbledore's strange silver instruments. He rubbed his eyes and held out a strand of his hair from his head, making sure it was actually there.

It was. His hair was as blond as blond can be. He still looked like his father, but the blond hair made a big difference. He couldn't change his other features, but Hermione's hair color changing spell was impressive; immensely impressive.

"I know you've heard this many times before Hermione," Harry said, looking at his reflection in the silver object, "But you are brilliant!"

Hermione blushed, one never got tired of hearing it really.

"Well," Ginny said, staring at Harry and frowning a little. She wasn't used to the blond hair; quite frankly, she had liked it just the way it was, but it couldn't be helped. "I suppose that's the best we can do. Nothing else is very changeable and with a little luck we can do it."

The others nodded, still staring at Harry; his new look needed some getting used to. Just then the door to the office opened. Everyone whirled around, ready for a fight. Their trained reflexes were getting the better of them.

Dumbledore came into the room, looking thoughtful. When he saw Harry, he smiled.

"Ah," he said, looking Harry up and down, "good, very good. Now," he turned to the rest of the group, "I will escort you to the Great Hall for lunch, there the students will be given the announcement that you are exchange students that are going to try out Hogwarts. The story is that you have arrived late because of difficulties at home. You have already been sorted into your Houses and will be taking classes with the sixth and seventh years. What Houses are you in might I ask?"

They told him and he thought a little more. Then he said, "You have everything else covered I expect?"

The six of them nodded.

"Good," Dumbledore said, he turned and opened the door wide, "The Great Hall awaits. Oh," he said, looking them over critically, "I think we should change into robes before the classes are let out."

Harry only just noticed the state of his clothes. His muggle shirt was torn where the reptilian creature had slashed him. The rest of his clothes were filthy and torn as well. The others looked no better; Hermione's hair was full of twigs from the dark forest and Luna's cheek was turning black and blue around the cut she had received. Everyone else was in like-wise condition.

No wonder the portraits had been staring at them the whole time. Not only were they from the future, but they were a group of ragged travelers too.

Dumbledore snapped his fingers and a house elf appeared. Dumbledore told him to go to the laundry and bring the guests some school robes. The house elf bowed and scurried away.

"The robes will be replaced as soon as possible so no one will expect that you came suddenly," he said after the house elf had left.

The friends nodded and waited for the house elf to return. Harry was furious with himself again, why hadn't he thought about it? To turn up in the Great Hall as exchange students that were late was a suspicious enough, but to turn up in this state?

You would have to be stupid, one part of his brain told himself.

No, said another side, you aren't stupid, you're just tired. All of us are you know.

Harry looked around at the others, they too looked like they were realizing what would happen if they had turned up like they were.

The house elf came back with robes that fitted everyone perfectly. Luna looked at hers and frowned.

"Sir," she said, looking at her robes confused, "These are Gryffindor robes."

"Ah yes," Dumbledore said, "I am sorry, but I thought it best if you all were in the same house to keep an eye on each other. I regret that I had to make a decision at your expense."

He bowed slightly to Luna, who was thinking it over. Then she sighed and proceeded to put her new school robes on over her muggle ones.

With robes to cover their clothes they looked slightly better, but their faces were covered with dust and grime. Everyone had scratches everywhere on their arms and faces and twigs in their hair. Luna looked the worst; first of all she had the nasty cut on the cheek, and on top of that she had leaves and twigs in her hair and her eyes protruded out of her face more than usual.

Dumbledore noticed this, and with a wave of his wand the leaves and twigs vanished and their cuts and bruises healed. The filth that had been building up on them disappeared too, but everyone still felt quite dirty.

"That will have to do for now," Dumbledore said, "You will attend the afternoon classes and then you may take baths. Now I think we must go down to the Hall."

Harry felt like butterflies were fluttering around in his stomach. If they messed this up…

Harry shook himself, this was no time to think about that, they had to act according to the plan.

Class was not out yet, so they met no one in the corridors on their way to the Great Hall. They went down several staircases and came to the entrance of the familiar Great Hall. It looked as magnificent as ever; the high ceiling the size of a Cathedral, the long House tables and the staff table at the end of the room.

Harry looked up at the ceiling, seeing what the weather was like today. The sky was bright blue with a few thunder clouds.

"Sir?" Harry asked, a sudden thought accruing to him that was necessary to the plan. "What is the date today?"

Hermione gave a small gasp, how could they forget something that important?

"The fourteenth of September," was Dumbledore's reply, "And I advise you to watch your fellow students, that way there is less confusion."

The six of them nodded again for about the fifth time that day.

"Now," Dumbledore said, stopping at a door behind the staff table. He opened it and indicated for them to step into the room, "You will stay here until I call you. Then I will introduce you to the school and you will take seats at the Gryffindor table."

They nodded again, completely silent. Dumbledore smiled down at them.

"Good luck," he said and closed the door.

Harry looked around the room, remembering the night he had been picked by the Goblet of Fire for the Triwizard Tournament. It had been in this very room that he had properly met Fleur and Viktor Krum. It was here where the really bad times began.

The first sounds of students coming to lunch snapped him back to the present.

Keep your mind here, he chided himself, you need to focus on the here and now.

Hermione, who couldn't sit still much longer, started pacing about in anticipation. Neville started wringing his hands, shooting nervous glances at the door. Ron was staring at the ground, fidgeting uneasily. Ginny was staring at the wall opposite her, mouthing something. Harry suspected that she was going over the plan in her mind, trying to find any more flaws. Harry too was doing a last minute check. Luna was sitting in the corner, showing no signs of nervousness. She was staring off into space again as usual.

Well at least one of us is calm, Harry thought.

The noise in the Hall was suddenly silenced. Dumbledore was now giving the announcement that a few exchange students had arrived.

Harry clenched his fists and readied himself for what was coming. A few tense moments passed and then…

The door opened a crack and Dumbledore stepped inside.

"We are ready for you now," he said calmly, opening the door wide.

Harry got up and walked towards the door, the others following in his wake. As he stepped out into the hall he suddenly became more aware of himself for some reason. Harry felt like he had when he had gotten Sorted by the Sorting Hat. He was aware of all the eyes that were on him and he couldn't help but feel uneasy. It wasn't the staring that made him edgy, he was used to that, it was the people staring at him.

All the faces he saw were those of his parents and their generation. He saw Sirius near the middle of the table. As Harry watched, his godfather's younger self gave signs of recognition. His eyes widened in surprise and his mouth dropped open; then he quickly nudged James and whispered in his ear.

Uh oh, Harry thought. That isn't good.


James Potter was waiting to enjoy a good lunch. He continued to talk in an undertone with Sirius about the full moon's exciting events.

He and the rest of the Hall fell silent when Dumbledore got to his feet. This in itself was unusual, Dumbledore interrupting lunch for an announcement. Even more unusual was the message he had for the school.

"I have an announcement I wish to make," said the Headmaster, "A few exchange students I have been expecting have arrived to learn at Hogwarts."

There was an outbreak of murmuring at this, exchange students? No one could ever remember there being any exchange students at Hogwarts. These were the first ones heard of.

"I wonder what nationalities they are?" Remus whispered, leaning over the table to speak with James and Sirius.

"Who cares?" Sirius said indifferently, "As long as they speak our language well enough I'll be happy."

"Shh," came a voice along the table.

Dumbledore was waiting patiently for the whispering to subside. When he had everyone's attention again he said, "You are to treat these new students as you would any other student. They really are no different from you and deserve as much respect as any of you. Now, I will go and fetch them."

James watched as Dumbledore left the staff table and opened a door behind him. He said a few words into the room and opened the door wide.

Out came a small group of teenagers about James' age. There were six of them, and they all looked quite tired, evidently from their trip. They walked nervously to the front of the staff table, and stood scanning the crowd before them. They all looked vaguely familiar, especially the blond boy in the front, but James couldn't place where he had seen them before.

Beside him, Sirius' mouth dropped open and he nudged James.

"What?" James whispered, leaning close so Sirius could whisper in his ear.

"It's them," said Sirius, not taking his eyes off the newcomers, "The ones who were in the Shack."

James blinked, trying to understand what his best friend had just said to him. It took only a moment for him to decipher the message and then he too was staring at the six new students.

Of course, he thought, That's where I've seen them before. But how come the blond one looks more familiar than the rest?

Then James noticed something else, none of the newcomers looked very foreign. James saw Remus frown as he too studied the exchange students.

"These are your new classmates," said Dumbledore, gesturing to the small group of foreigners. "They have arrived a bit late, due to issues around their homes, but are glad to be here at last. Let us give them a warm welcome."

And so the Hall did, except for the Slytherins of course. James looked across the tables at Snape. He was studying the new students as though they were a fairly intriguing book. Then he seemed to lose interest and stared at the ceiling instead.

Don't worry, James thought venomously, They won't be hanging around you.

James made a mental note to get on the newcomers' good side before Snape did; these guys looked pretty descent and he didn't want them getting along with the wrong kind of group.

"This," Dumbledore said. James attention snapped back to him in an instant, "Is Harry Colbey." He gestured to the blond boy who had led the group in, "Hermione Granger," he indicated to a bushy haired girl who was looking around her a little apprehensively, "Ron Thomas," a tall, lanky, red haired boy was pointed out next, "Ginny Thomas," A fiery red-head who looked like she was Ron's younger sister, "Neville Horton," a short, stocky boy who resembled Peter, "and Luna Snorkack."

The name was strange, but the person was stranger. She was a blond girl who wore a necklace of butterbeer corks and a dreamy expression. Her orb-like eyes were protuberant and she had very faint eyebrows. Quite a curious character.

"They have already been sorted into Gryffindor," Dumbledore continued, "And will be taking classes with the sixth and seventh years."

He motioned for the exchange students to take a seat at the Gryffindor table. Another round of applause greeted the small group as Harry Colbey piloted them to the Gryffindor table.

James raised his hand to them, indicating to come and sit by them. His friends looked at him surprised, but said nothing.

Colbey faltered slightly, and looked around at his fellow exchange students. They all nodded slightly and Ginny Thomas gave him a little encouraging push.

James saw Colbey take a deep breath and make his way towards them, wounding his way between the seats of the tables.


Harry felt like a rabbit in headlights as he made his way to the front of the staff table. This was beyond weird, he was being stared at by his father who was about the same age as he was. It was odd to say the least.

After Sirius had nudged his father, Harry saw James turn and stare at them with new interest.

Harry knew that Sirius must have recognized them from the experience in the Shrieking Shack the night before. Harry hoped nothing bad would come of it all.

Dumbledore introduced them each by their fake name and indicated for them to take their seats at the Gryffindor table. Harry started down to the table and was greeted by a polite applause.
A hand came up out of the sea of people, motioning for him and his friends to come and sit by the waver.

Harry's heart gave a jolt as he saw who it was. Waving to him across the hall, asking him to come sit by him, was his father.

Harry stopped short and looked around at the others. They were a little uneasy as well, but nodded. Ginny even gave him a little push for encouragement. Harry took a deep breath and stumbled across the many seats to his future father.

The Marauders all greeted them with beaming smiles as they took their seats beside them.

"Hello," the seventeen year old Lupin said, "I'm Remus Lupin," he held out his hand, smiling broadly at Harry.

"Nice to meet you," said Harry, taking Lupin's hand, "I'm Harry, Harry P—Colbey."

Remus frowned a little, but otherwise seemed overlooked Harry's near slip. Fortunately, James and the rest of the Marauders hadn't seemed to notice.

Smooth move Harry, Harry scolded himself, You almost blew it.

The others shook hands with Lupin too, but without any more mishaps. James, Sirius, and Peter introduced themselves as well.

Harry and his friends exchange warm greetings with them, and then settled down to have lunch.

Food magically appeared on the table, loading it down with sandwiches and shepherd's pie.

Ron's face lit up with appreciation. Harry smiled. He knew how his friend felt. They had not had a proper meal in a long time, sure Hermione was a good cook and all but she couldn't compete with house elves.

Ginny saw his expression and laughed, reaching across him to load her plate with a couple of ham sandwiches.

Hermione on the other hand was still looking around the hall, that anxious expression never left her face. She absentmindedly poured herself some pumpkin juice and stirred it with her fork. When she came to her senses and realized what she was doing, she blushed uncontrollably and set the fork down.

She'll be alright, Harry told himself, We just need to get used to this that's all.

"So Harry," James said. Harry jumped slightly at being addressed and riveted his attention on his father, "What's your favorite class?"

Harry swallowed a cheese sandwich and answered, "Defense Against the Dark Arts."

James' eyebrows rose slightly. Then he said, "Well, you're in luck it's our next class. But you better not get paired up with me," he grinned a little, "I'm liable to jinx you."

Harry chuckled a little. He knew only too well what his father would do, but he would have to out draw Harry first.

"Ron Thomas?" Pettigrew said interestedly, leaning across the table to face Ron, "You wouldn't happen to be related to Sean Thomas?"

"Who?" Ron said, taking a sip of pumpkin juice.

"Sean Thomas," Pettigrew squeaked, pointing out a dark-haired Gryffindor.

Ron choked and spat out his pumpkin juice, staring at the stranger in surprise. He looked almost exactly like Dean!

Hermione saw too and hurriedly kicked Ron under the table. Ron faked a coughing fit and said, "Sorry—juice went down my air tube—"

Pettigrew fell for it and gave him a pitying look. Sirius however was not totally convinced.

"Well are you?" he asked a little aggressively, subtleness was not his high point but he suspected Ron was hiding something.

"No," Ron said quickly, "But he does look kind of familiar."

"Hmm…" said Sirius, looking Ron over.

"So what is your favorite subject?" Harry asked as though it didn't matter. But really he was desperate to steer the subject from dangerous waters.

"I don't know," Sirius said, turning to Harry, "Transfiguration I suppose."

Harry grinned a little, no surprise there. He quickly hid the grin and continued to make conversation with the Marauders.

"What's after Defense?" he asked, this time to Lupin, "I don't have a schedule."

"Nothing," said Lupin, "For us anyway, I don't know about you guys."

Harry frowned, he and the others had told Dumbledore what classes they had been taking at Hogwarts in their time, but had yet to get a schedule.

"Don't worry," Hermione said to him, reading his mind, "Today will be confusing, but I'm sure they'll get us schedules by the end of the day."

James looked at his watch.

"Well," he said, getting up, "I'm off to Defense, I suppose you'll be coming with us?"

He looked at Harry and his friends questioningly.

"I think we are," said Hermione uncertainly, "Let me go ask Professor Dumbledore."

She got up and sped off to the staff table. Harry watched as she leaned over the table and spoke to Dumbledore. Dumbledore smiled and nodded.

Harry saw Hermione smile too and make her way back towards them.

"He says we can go to any class we want for the rest of the day," she said, relaying the information, "We'll receive our schedules at dinner tonight."

Ron grinned, "Okay, Dark Arts for me then."

Everyone else agreed except for Hermione who was torn between Arithmacy and Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"We should stick together for now," Harry whispered to her.

"Well…" Hermione said, "Oh, alright."

And they started up the staircase, Harry in the lead.

"Hey Harry?" James asked, walking behind him, "How do you know the way to the class room?"

Harry stopped dead, cursing himself for his carelessness and trying to formulate a lie.

"I—uh," he said, stumbling over his words, "Dumbledore—er—," then he had it, "Dumbledore gave us a small tour of the school earlier this summer," he fibbed.

Harry could tell that Hermione almost sighed with relief.

"Oh," said James, overlooking Harry's first jumbled sentence.

Harry turned down a wrong corridor on purpose after that to make it look like he had forgotten the way.

"Where are you going?" Sirius asked, "The class room is down here," he pointed to the left.

"Oh," Harry said, trying to look confused, "sorry, I forgot the way. Perhaps you should lead?" He stepped aside and made way for Sirius to take the front.

Sirius shrugged and stepped in front of him, guiding them through the next few corridors. Harry looked back and saw Lupin watching him suspiciously. Harry quickly turned back to the front and continued up the corridor.

They came to the Defense Against the Dark Arts class room door and Harry suddenly wondered, who's the Dark Arts teacher?

Dumbledore had said that after he had denied the post to Voldemort they hadn't been able to keep a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher for more than a year. Harry suspected that this was just after the fact because it was right before the war.

As he stepped into the room he noticed at once the stranger who seemed to be a teacher. He was tall and thin with an elongated face. He had curly, dark brown hair that matched the color of his warm, chocolate eyes. There was something about the eyes though, they were warm, but sharp and stern at the same time. He seemed friendly enough, he smiled at Harry as he stepped through the door and came over to introduce himself.

"Good day Mr. Colbey," he said, extending his hand which Harry took, "I'm Professor Smithywick, and I will be your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

Ron entered the class room after Harry and was likewise greeted, as were Neville and Hermione. Ginny and Luna had gone to Charms with the other people who were supposedly their age.

The four friends took seats at the back of the class, being careful not to direct attention to themselves. Hermione sat down uncertainly at a desk beside Ron, she still thought this wasn't a good idea; but they couldn't stop now.


James felt quite cocky, as he took a desk near the back of the class next to the exchange students. He, unlike them, knew what they were doing in class today; and he was one of the best in the class.

"Now," said Professor Smithywick, taking his place in front of the class, "For those of you who don't know," he smiled warmly at the exchange students, who were looking a little nervous, especially Hermione, "we have been dueling with spells for the past week or so. You may participate if you like, or you may just watch."

James glanced at the group out of the corner of his eye and noticed that they were all had surprised expressions on their faces.

James grinned to himself, they would be even more surprised when they saw what he could do.

"I will ask you all to move your desks to the side so we have a nice big space in the middle of the room," instructed the Professor.

There was an instant scraping of chairs as the class did as they were told. James smiled broadly at Harry and pushed his desk to the wall behind him. Harry grinned back, with a look in his eye that James couldn't quite place.

James blinked, unnerved. He had just realized what the look was, it was a knowing look. James shook himself, he must be hallucinating.

Professor Smithywick went around breaking them into pairs. Harry and the rest of the exchange students joined the class instead of sitting aside.

James, watched them with interest. They seemed eager to jump in, but they hadn't met the jinxing master James Potter yet.

James watched as the class was paired. Hermione was paired with Lily, and Neville was paired with Alice. Ron got Snape and James couldn't help but feel sorry for him. Snape was almost as good as James was, but better Thomas than Lily.

Remus, and Peter were paired up as well, and James was left with Harry. But Sirius stood on the sidelines, partner less.

James smiled coyly at his partner.

"Didn't I tell you not to get paired up with me?" he asked arrogantly, watching Harry's reaction.

He was surprised to see Harry smile, that annoying look on his face.

"Oh well," Harry said, fixing James with an amused gaze.

James smiled back, not letting that look get to him. Harry was just trying to scare him, well, it wasn't working.

"Wands at the ready!" Professor Smithywick said.

James whipped out his wand, ready for action, Harry did the same.

James grinned at his partner.

"Good luck," he said to Harry.

"You too," was the reply.

"One…" said Professor Smithywick, starting the countdown, "Two…three!"

James swung his hand around, attempting to send a spell at his dueling partner, only to realize that his wand had flown out of his hand.

But James didn't let that get to him. He saw his wand land to his left and dove for it. But before he could get it the wand rose into the air and sped towards Harry, who caught it with a deft movement of his hands.

James stared at his opponent, amazed. He had never seen reflexes like that, Harry had drawn his wand in a manner of milliseconds and disarmed him. He looked around, over to Sirius.

His friend was staring at Colbey in awe, as though he couldn't believe what he had just seen.

James felt, a little let down. The blow to his pride had been immense, someone, a new kid, had bested him in a duel in front of the whole class.

James looked around at the other pairs, more for something to get his mind off his thoughts than in concern. To his dismay he saw Lily on the floor in a full body bind. Alice was no better, and was sprawled on the floor stunned.

Remus had been victorious over his adversary, who was leaning on a desk, trying to make his legs move. Peter on the other hand was getting up from the floor, sporting a black and blue eye. It seemed the Slytherin he had been fighting had forgotten all magic and punched him.

But, to James' delight, Snape was on the floor, unconscious, a triumphant Ron standing over him.

James noticed Harry standing over him, grinning sheepishly and holding out his hand. James took it grudgingly, but then smiled.

"So you got me eh?" he said, grinning at Harry with new significance.

Harry shrugged.

"I suppose," he said, grinning back.

Now we must switch to Sirius' point of view, because it gives a more detailed account of the duels at hand.


When Sirius saw that Harry Colbey had been paired up with James, he felt a little regret. Harry would have no warning of James' talents and would likely end up on the floor with a squid for a face.

Sirius had to admit, he was very proud of his friend's jinxing ability. James could take out any person who stood in his way, definitely.

He looked around the room at the other pairs. Ron Thomas was paired up with Snape…too bad, Snape would make short work with him. But as Ron was paired up with Snape, Sirius thought he saw Ron shoot a mischievous glance at Harry. Sirius remotely saw Harry return the look with a nod.

"One…" Professor Smithywick said slowly. Sirius focused his attention on the duels that were about to being around the room, "Two…" Sirius got ready, watching in excitement, "Three!"

It happened so fast that Sirius only just saw it. Harry Colbey whipped his wand around with such reflexes that his hand was a blur.

James, to Sirius' disappointment, had not realized he had been disarmed until about a second later. James dove for his wand that had gone to the floor, but Colbey was too quick for him; he performed a summoning charm and James' wand zoomed into his hand.

Sirius' mouth dropped open. No one, no one had ever disarmed James Potter.

As Sirius got over his shock he noticed that Harry was not the only newcomer to be triumphant. Hermione Granger, Neville Horton, and Ron Thomas were all standing triumphantly over their opponents.

Lily had been put into a full body bind, and Alice was on the floor, stunned. The only happy sight was Snape on the floor unconscious.

Sirius tore his gaze from the pair and looked around for Remus and Peter, wondering if they had noticed the happenings.

Remus was waiting patiently while his adversary lifted the curse Remus had put on him. Peter on the other hand was pushing himself off the floor while his rival rolled around the floor, laughing with mirth.

Sirius frowned and was about to jinx the big gorilla when Professor Smithywick started clapping.

The Gryffindors in the class joined in politely, all were watching the new comers.

"Well done," Professor Smithywick said, "Well done! Well folks, I think our newcomers have proven their skill. Who would like to see a duel between a few of them?"

The class roared its approval.

Sirius saw Harry give Hermione, Ron and Neville a fleeting glance and they got into a tight circle, planning.

Sirius heard someone say, "Yes you are," and then there was whispering.


Harry felt strange again. He had disarmed his father, who was sitting on the floor staring past him to Sirius. Harry looked around the room, feeling slightly disappointed. It had been too easy to disarm James, no challenge what so ever.

It was quite boring, watching the other pairs fight. Ron disposed of Snape easily, while Neville wore a very guilty look on his face, standing over his future mother.

Harry grinned, at least he hadn't had to fight his mother, Hermione had been chosen to do that.

Harry looked around for Hermione, expecting to see her standing. Sure enough, there she was, standing over Lily, who was in a full body bind.

Harry sighed and looked back around at his father. James was staring around the room too, his gaze fell on Lily and his eyes widened a fraction. Harry chuckled to himself and bent down to help James up.

Harry knew his father's feelings for his mother. Sometime this year they were supposed to get together, but Harry didn't know when.

James' head turned and he saw Harry's hand. He bit his lip and took it, though a little grudgingly.

Harry didn't blame him. He was sure no one had ever beaten his father in a duel before, the blow to his pride must hurt.

James stared at the floor for a moment and then looked at Harry, grinning.

"So you got me eh?" he said, a twinkle of…wait a minute…was that—respect in his father's eyes?

"Yeah," said Harry, feeling a little taken aback, "I suppose."

Then Harry heard clapping, he turned to see Professor Smithywick bringing his hands together in the praising gesture.

The class followed his example and started applauding the winners of the duels; though, only the Gryffindors did it.

"Well done," said Smithywick, "Well done! Well folks, I think our newcomers have proven their skill. Who would like to see a duel between a few of them?"

The Gryffindors, all cried "Yes!" or else "Yeah!". Harry glanced at the others; they were all looking at him expectantly.

He motioned them to come over to him. They did and formed a small circle.

"Who wants to go?" Ron asked as soon as they were all huddled together.

"We should have Hermione and Harry," said Neville, "They're the best."

Harry felt his face go slightly red.

"No we're—" he started but Ron cut him off.

"Yes you are," he said, looking a little annoyed, "Stop being so modest."

Harry sighed and looked at Hermione.

"Ready?" he asked.

For an answer, Hermione grinned and took out her wand. Then she paused, looking at him uncertainly.

"I don't think we should show them all we can do," she said, nodding towards the class clustered against the wall.

Harry nodded.

"Right," he said, "Better to have an advantage." Ron and Neville agreed and then stepped back, joining the class by the wall.

Ron leaned over a desk, getting in a good position to watch. Neville did the same, with a critical expression on his face; it looked like he was going to learn anything he could from their duel. The Marauders all leaned forward, intrigued looks on their faces. They too seemed interested in how this duel was going to turn out.

Harry bit back a laugh and drew his wand, looking at Hermione for the starting signal.

Hermione took a deep breath—then nodded.

Harry immediately moved from the spot where he was standing and sent a stunning spell at her.

Hermione deflected the spell and sent one of her own. Harry summoned one of the books from the shelves and made it block for him.

But Hermione wasn't done there; she flourished her wand and sent another spell at him in a flash.

Harry ducked and an orb on a shelf behind him smashed. Following his instinct, Harry ran a few steps to the right and jumped behind the teacher's desk.

Hermione crept forward, wand raised, searching for him. Harry stooped and stealthily went around the other side of the desk, getting in position.

When he was directly behind her he thought.

Expelliarmus!

A jet of red light flew at Hermione from behind. She whirled around instantly and deflected it.

Harry jumped back as Hermione sent her own disarming spell at him and pointed his wand under the desk, thinking the incantation for the Jelly-Legs Jinx.

Finally, someone had gotten the other; his hex hit Hermione below the waist and her legs started to wobble.

Harry leapt out from behind the desk, aiming another disarming charm at her. But she had already performed the counter curse for the Jelly-Legs Jinx and had sent a stunning spell at him.

The two spells met in mid-air and made a small explosion.

BOOM!

The sound reverberated through the room, and the impact of the spells threw both competitors against opposite sides of the walls. Hermione slid over a desk and onto the floor, gasping,

"Expelliarmus!"

Harry's wand flew out of his hand. Knowing that Hermione would summon it as soon as she could, he jumped up and made a grab for it, being narrowly missed by a stunning spell.

Harry caught his wand and pointed it at Hermione with lightning fast movements.

"Stupefy!" he cried. Hermione had not expected him to catch his wand, and was taken off guard. The spell hit her in the chest and she slid to the floor, an astonished look on her face.

Harry quickly ran over to her and pointed his wand at her again.

"Ennervate," he muttered.

Hermione woke up immediately, staring up at Harry, looking a little dazed.

"Nice one," she said softly, making to get up.

Harry grinned and took her arm, helping her up. The rest of the class was looking at them as if they had been stunned as well. And then…

Thunderous applause rang through the room, canceling out every other sound. Hermione smiled sheepishly and looked at Harry, who smiled too, laughed.

The rest of the hour was spent watching duels of the other students, but none of them were up to Harry and Hermione's standard.

When the bell rang, everyone rushed to their desks and collected their books; all except Neville, Ron, Harry, and Hermione, who didn't have any supplies yet.

"Well done!" Professor Smithywick declared as they all left the room, "For homework, practice incantations but do not duel in the Hogwarts grounds."

The class filed out of the room, talking about the exhilarating fight between two of the talented new students.

Ron and Neville caught up with them outside the class room, wide grins on their faces.

"You're a hit!" Ron said, watching a few girls go past, "Mind you, that was a pretty good show."

Neville nodded his agreement.

"You two did great," he said, "And that was only with simple spells. Think about what we could do with more advanced and complex spells!"

Suddenly Hermione got that look in her eye; the look that had started S.P.E.W. and the D.A.

"That was amazing!" Pettigrew cried hurrying up to them, James, Sirius, and Lupin close behind.

"Yeah," James said, grinning, "Splendid spell work there you two."

Hermione, who had been off in space (a habit worthy of Luna, but not often used by Hermione), came out of her thoughts and smiled at James.

"Right," she said, still a little distracted. Then she came back down to earth and was her normal self.

"What's the next class?" she asked eagerly, trying to look at the schedule Lupin held.

Lupin looked up and saw her attempts to see his timetable, he quickly handed it to her saying, "Double Transfiguration. If you want to go with us that is; Professor Dumbledore said you could go to whatever class you wanted."

Hermione looked thoughtful and then said glanced at the other three for confirmation. They seemed to like the idea so she said, "Right, Transfiguration it is."

She knew that they, like she, were ready to see if McGonagall was any different from this time to the next generation.

They soon found out however, that Minerva McGonagall, though slightly younger, was as stern as ever. She was the same teacher as she always was in any time: stern, fair and down to business.

At the beginning of class she swept down the rows of desks to Harry and the rest and gave them their schedules. Then, nodding to them, she started the class.

It was as difficult as ever, maybe even more so because they were learning the complicated art of conjuring.

Out of all the time-travelers, only Hermione was able to successfully conjure up her needle.

James and Sirius were just as brilliant at Transfiguration as Harry had ever been told. Only Hermione had conjured her needle up before them.

Harry soon became frustrated with how the class was going, but kept his emotions in check for once. He looked around and noticed that the rest of the class, aside from Hermione, James and Sirius, was having about as much luck as he was.

By the end of the double period, no one except James, Sirius, and Hermione had been able to do their appointed task. As a result, almost everyone was given conjuring practice as homework.

The next hour was vacant of classes, so they took what was supposedly the foursomes' second tour to 'refresh their memories'. During this time Harry got to know his father and his friends more thoroughly. They were everything he had been told about and more. Despite the fact that he had been told almost all his wizarding life that his father and Sirius had been hilarious troublemakers, it never felt quite real enough until he experienced it. He was told about countless schemes and practical jokes the Marauders had played on fellow students. They truly were the forerunners to the Weasley twins; though, Harry didn't think they could pull off an instant Swamp or a crate of exploding fireworks that exploded when you stunned them or multiplied by ten every time you tried to vanish them.

After the tour, they all started off to the Great Hall for dinner and met Ginny and Luna on the second floor.

"So how were your classes?" Harry asked them casually, wondering if the other teachers' personalities were at all different.

Ginny giggled a little.

"Same as ever," she said quietly so the James and his friends couldn't hear them, "Slughorn and Sprout are both little younger, but haven't changed in a few twenty-some years. Like in the future, Slughorn does have his favorites and Sprout loves her plants."

Harry rolled his eyes a little, not at Sprout but at Slughorn. The Professor was bent on capturing popular students and having them join his club, The Slug Club. Harry just hoped that in this time he wouldn't be singled out.

Luna stuck her head between them and said, "He is strange isn't he? Slughorn?"

Harry choked back a laugh, making a sound between a snort and a sneeze. Calling Slughorn weird when you had Luna Lovegood to compare with was a little too much.

James heard the noise Harry had made and looked around to see where it had come from. When he saw the three of them with their heads bent together, walking down the corridor he said, "What's the secret?"

"No secret," Harry said, and then motioned to Ginny and Luna, "These two were just telling me how their afternoon went."

"Oh," said James and turned to start a conversation with Sirius. Harry looked back and saw Lupin looking at him in that strange way again.

Harry swallowed. Had he heard? No, surely not, he would have said something. But he was getting a little suspicious all the same.

Harry shook himself. It would be alright, it was just the first day, after that all the suspicions would wash away…right?


What really was going on in Remus Lupin's mind was this. Remus had noticed that though it was supposedly only their second time in the castle, the six exchange students didn't seem at all impressed by the castle. If it had been him, Remus would have been in awe of the marvelous school; but these new students seemed almost…bored. Maybe he was imagining it, or maybe he wasn't; but Remus knew there was something strange about these individuals. They were always speaking in whispers as well and what about that incident with Sean Thomas? Ron Thomas had acted most peculiarly, why had he been so surprised about a person he had never known? Harry Colbey seemed to be the group's leader. What had he done to earn their trust and loyalty? Then there was the fact that they could duel so well. And there was another question that hadn't been answered too: why had they been in the Shrieking Shack on a full moon?

So many questions were popping in and out of Remus' head that he almost couldn't stand them.

"Remus?" came James' voice from far away. Remus snapped to attention and focused himself on James.

"Coming?" asked James, looking back at him.

"Yeah," said Remus, still a little disconcerted, "yeah, I'm coming." He hurried to join his friends, half his mind still on Harry Colbey and his friends. They certainly were an odd crowd.

All throughout dinner Remus seemed to be distracted and James couldn't figure out why. Whenever questioned, he only said, "I'll talk to you later," and then glance quickly at Harry Colbey and his friends, who were immersed in a whispered conversation.

James was puzzled by his friend's odd behavior, but thought nothing of it after the first batch of food appeared on the table. As for Harry Colbey and his friends, James simply thought they were just talking about their wonderful first day at Hogwarts.

After a delicious dinner, all of them made their way up the many flights of stairs and through many corridors to the Gryffindor Tower, all the exchange students were yawning the whole way.

James didn't feel like doing homework and led the boys up to their dormitory. Hermione, Luna, and Ginny made for the girl's staircase, following Lily and Alice to their dormitory.

As he entered the seventh years' room, James noticed that three more beds had been set up, each had a trunk with necessary supplies, but no personal belongings, strange. But James, being James, overlooked this matter and showed Harry, Neville, and Ron to their beds.

"This is where you'll sleep," he said, waving his hand over the four-posters. Then he walked across the room to his own bed while the newcomers got settled.

He turned away from them and began to dig something out of his trunk.

"Anyone want to play some chess?" he asked to the room at large, turning back to the new students, only to find that all were asleep, fully clothed in their beds.

James grinned to himself.

They're probably tired after traveling, classes, and that explosive tour of mine.

He didn't know how right he was. After a few life threatening experiences, hardly any sleep, a few classes and a tour of a place as big as Hogwarts, anyone would be tired.

A/N: And now…for the final chapter. After that, it's farewell, I'm afraid!

-EveningSongEnchantment