A/N: Wow…so, over three years since I've written anything on this. Probably means that anyone who was interested in this fic will probably have to re-read some chapters. But you know, I actually can finish it. I was planning on doing something in this fic and then realized that there was something I wanted to expand upon and I kind of had to let this whole thing sit for a while. But it was DEFINITELY longer than expected. However, I know what I'm doing now and all I can say is that I hope whoever was reading is still reading and that some new people maybe like it! Who knows? Anyway, I assure you, I can finish this one, but I'll let you get on to the chapter! Thank you to EVERYONE who reviewed on the previous chapters, you inspired me to kick this back into motion!
"Youngest Quidditch Seeker in a century!" James crowed. "A century!" He danced around his two companions as they walked back and Lily groaned, rubbing her head.
"I wish you had never told him that," she grumbled to Harry, who genuinely smiled at the interplay.
"Evans! Whaddya bet that he'll go pro?! Play at the Quidditch World Cup! Blimey, he's probably a prodigy!"
Harry's face got hot. "Well, I don't think I'm—"
"Harry can do whatever he wants when he grows up," Lily said adamantly.
James scoffed. "Ask him, I bet he'd love to go pro! Look, I'm just saying… that's no small feat, being a first-year Seeker. I'm so proud." And he really did look it. But then, Harry saw him look over at Lily and his face changed. "Alright, Evans?"
She had stopped moving, hand over her eyes and grimacing. "Yeah…just dizzy…" She finally looked up and Harry's heart leapt into his throat.
"Your nose…"
"You're bleeding, Evans!"
She put a gentle hand to her nostril and pulled it away red. "I am. Why?" She took another step, stumbled and then Harry and James both exclaimed in alarm as her body folded in on itself and she twisted to the ground.
"Hey, Evans!" James called as he dropped to his knees and caught her with reflexes that Harry had yet to possess. She didn't respond and he shook her gently. "Lily!"
"Should I get help?" Harry swallowed. He didn't understand…she was fine a minute ago. James looked up as if he had forgotten Harry was there and then shook his head.
"I've got her. She needs to go to the hospital wing." He swiftly transferred Lily's weight so she was comfortably in his arms and then took off running. Harry ran too, probably only able to keep up because James was carrying her weight.
Madam Pomfrey was switching off lights when they skidded into the wing, looking out of breath. "Oh, my!" She gestured to an empty bed. "Here, put her down here, Potter! What happened?!"
James deposited her onto the bed gently and looked up. "We need Professor Dumbledore here. Now!"
Pomfrey glared at him, hands on her hips. "If you don't tell me what happened, I can't perform a thorough examination, Potter! And what in Merlin's name does the Headmaster have to do with this?"
"I don't know what happened! We were walking and she stopped and said she was dizzy. Her nose was bleeding and then she passed out! It came out of nowhere!" James said in a rush. "But it may have something to do with… well, I think Dumbledore needs to know about this. He'll be mad if we don't alert him. We're doing a job for him." He pointed a frantic hand at the girl on the bed. "But you need to make her better! Don't just stand there!"
"Mr. Potter! If you don't start speaking with some respect, I will eject you from this room!"
"We'll go get Professor Dumbledore, Madam Pomfrey," Harry cut in, decided that James probably wasn't going to be useful at all while the woman conducted her examination. He yanked at his future father's sleeve. "We'll tell him what happened."
James looked down and sent Harry a fierce glare. "We're not leaving Evans to—"
"We'll be back!" Harry said, putting all his strength into pulling James away from the bed and down the wing. James, for his part, seemed to get a hold of himself and realize that making an obnoxious fuss wasn't going to help Lily and ambled down the hall with Harry without a word of apology.
Dimly, Harry heard Madam Pomfrey say (probably to herself) "Now, who was that boy?"
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Dumbledore did follow them to the hospital wing without a lot of necessary explanation. Lily was already sitting up in the bed, very much awake, when they got there. "How do you feel, Miss Evans?"
She shrugged, but Harry could see the edge of unease. "I feel fine, sir. I'm not sure why I…" she trailed off, looking uncertainly at James and Harry. "It happened all of the sudden."
Dumbledore looked to Madam Pomfrey. "Poppy, were you able to diagnose Miss Evans?"
"A basic checkup revealed nothing out of sorts…I was about to perform an imaging spell. You can never be careful enough with the head, especially when there is no obvious source."
"I'm fine now!" Lily protested, looking to James and Harry for backup. However, her face paled and her mouth dropped as she looked at them. "James…"
Harry looked up in horror to see blood dripping from his teenage father's nose.
"What?"
Dumbledore was now frowning in earnest. "Poppy, I would like you to scan both Mr. Potter and Miss Evans and tell me if you sense any abnormalities, especially in their brains."
"Of course, Professor." Madam Pomfrey pulled out a chair and patted it. "Sit down, Potter. I need you to relax."
James hurriedly wiped the blood from his nose. "Oh, come off it, Miss! It's nothing. I didn't collapse like Evans here."
Lily crossed her arms and wisely didn't rise to the comment. "Do what she says James. At worst, she'll find out that there's nothing more wrong with you than usual."
Well, she almost didn't rise to the comment…
"Please, Mr. Potter," Dumbledore said, his voice brooking no room for argument. With a sigh, James dropped into the chair and rested his hands on his knees.
"What do I do?"
"First, I will do Evans. Could you please turn off the lights, young man?"
There was a pause and then Harry jumped to attention, finally realizing that the woman meant him. He did as told and James chuckled in the dark, but Harry didn't know at what.
A blue glow shortly invaded the room from the tip of Pomfrey's wand. "Try not to move, Miss Evans." There was a very low whine emitting from the tip of it and Harry could see the nurse's face in the glow, narrowed in concentration. She went over Lily's head from a couple of minutes, hovering in one place longest and then moved in on James. "Your turn, Potter."
James sighed, but didn't protest as she repeated the move on him. Again, Harry watched carefully and saw that at one point her wand was very still. Then she said, "You may turn on the lights."
This time, Dumbledore moved before Harry could. And when he spoke, his voice was more sober than Harry had ever heard from the Headmaster. "Was there anything strange in your observation?"
Madam Pomfrey actually looked baffled. "Yes, in fact. For both of them, a very recent activity occurring in the hippocampus and cerebral cortex…but I don't know how to diagnose it and I don't know what it means. I'm afraid to say that I'm not familiar with the specifics of irregular brain activity, but at this point, Professor, I would suggest sending both students to St. Mungo's and having them examined."
"You can't be serious!" James exclaimed, shaking his head.
Lily also sat up in bed. "That's ridiculous, I'm perfectly fine now!"
Harry actually agreed with Madam Pomfrey. He didn't know what was happening to his parents, but if they died now, that would change too much of the future. And he had already caused enough change that he was nervous for them. Who knew what else he had upset in all of this?
Dumbledore raised a hand. "I will take that under advisement. But right now, I need a word with these students. Please go to bed, Poppy. There is nothing further you can do tonight and as long as you think they are in no immediate danger, I will take them out of your most capable hands."
Madam Pomfrey blinked twice in surprise. "Well, n-no, they aren't in any immediate—"
"Thank you." He dropped a warm hand on Harry's shoulder. "Then I'll ask you all to please come with me, if you don't mind."
Lily and James darted from their positions eagerly and followed after Dumbledore and Harry. There was a solemn sort of silence that hung in the air as they walked, and even Dumbledore, who seemed to have an answer for everything all of the time, was allowing the mood to sit as it did.
It continued until Dumbledore rounded his desk and steepled his hands on the surface, staring intently but kindly at Harry.
Harry felt uncomfortable, but didn't break under the gaze. Beside him, Lily coughed lightly and shifted, brushing her hand with his. "You know that Harry says he isn't from our time." The boy with the scar on his head startled before he looked at his young mother, not quite realizing that she was doing him a kindness, but feeling it all the same. She was sparing him a confession to the Headmaster.
Dumbledore inclined his head gently. "And do you believe that to be true, Miss Evans?"
Harry looked up at her, wondering if she was going to tell Dumbledore what she told him, wondering if she was going to admit that she believed him even if it made no sense.
"We believe him," James said firmly. "We both do."
Harry half-expected Lily to interject and tell James not to speak for her, but surprisingly, she said nothing to contradict him.
"But…it's doing something to us, isn't it?" Lily said. "I've been dizzy…getting headaches…all day. And I thought it was nothing. And then I thought that the stress of not knowing what was going on was the problem. But that's not it, because now we know."
"Harry says Lily and I are going to end up dead," James said, and there was an unwavering strength in his voice that filled Harry with warmth, even as he talked about the darkest reality of his life. "Maybe…maybe that's the problem. Maybe if we change it, we can…fix everything."
Dumbledore listened to them quietly, his eyes grave and soft at the same time. "It couldn't be easy, hearing such a tale. And because I know very little about the function of the Mirror of Erised, I'm taking the word of those with more experience with pure objects. I'm inclined to believe Harry. But this is still a severe complication and there is little way to navigate a path to fix this with confidence."
"Why not?" James demanded. "Harry already told us what happened. We can change this! We can!" He turned to Lily and promise was shining in his eyes. "We don't want him to grow up without parents, alone. And now that we know, maybe we can do something about it." Harry saw his fist clench as he lifted it, giving Lily a rueful smile. "Who wants to live in a world where Lily Evans doesn't have a long and happy life?"
"James…"
Harry watched as he searched Lily's face and his eyes dimmed just the littlest bit. As had happened a few times that day, and in the oddest of ways, the room suddenly narrowed to the two of them. "No. I know what you think about it, Lily. And maybe I'm totally mad, but you know what? You can't tell me that knowing what you know now, that you wouldn't change it. Not for your sake or mine, but for Harry's."
Lily was shaking her head, and she looked more sorry about this than anything else that day, disagreeing with James Potter. Her hands rested on his chest in a plea and his hands curled around her wrists holding them there. "It's not that simple, James. Can't you see that? We don't know all of how we died, where we were, what had led us to that point… Knowing that we're dead just isn't enough! Of course I'd want to change it! But what if it's not right for us to change it? What if something else terrible comes of us changing the course?"
James turned away from her, reluctance on his face, and as he stepped away, she dropped her hands to her sides. "You said it yourself, James! Something is happening to us. We were both completely healthy before, and now Madam Pomfrey is recommending we be shipped off to St. Mungo's?! It's all wrong, what's going on… and I know you see that too."
James' back was facing them, tense and unmoving. Then, he jerked his head to the side to Dumbledore. "I'm supposing you agree with her, sir?" The bitterness was not lost on anyone in the room.
Dumbledore separated his hands and spread them on the desk. "Yes, I do, James."
"Well that's easy for you to say," James said, very calmly. "According to Harry, you survive and live to see him come to Hogwarts. Pretty convenient."
"And yet, Miss Evans, as she understands it, will not live to see her son come to Hogwarts," Dumbledore said simply. "Her logic is sound, however. These symptoms you are both suffering seem to be a consequence of Harry's presence here. The fabric of your life is being re-threaded and changed every moment Harry is here. Perhaps there is a price to pay.
"You were never meant to know this boy. And you are forging something in the span of your life that was never meant to be forged. And unfortunately, I foresee that taking you to St. Mungo's for observation will likely be as ineffective as Madam Pomfrey's understanding of the situation."
"Then what was the point of all of this?!" James yelled, causing Harry to take a step back and Lily to say "James!" in surprise. "Harry comes here, he gives Lily and I some bloody noses and then he sods off back to the future? How does that make any sense?! What does that accomplish?!"
"As you observe, it might not accomplish anything for you or Miss Evans," Dumbledore said. "But it may accomplish something for young Harry here. The Mirror sent him to you. Not the other way around."
"We're focusing on the wrong thing," Lily murmured. Harry could see the light of understanding in her eyes, especially when she looked at him. "We don't know how the mirror will behave when we finally see it. Perhaps…perhaps when we get Harry back to his own time, perhaps we won't even remember any of this. We don't know."
"If Harry is the mirror's focus," Dumbledore said, "it's perfectly possible that none of us will. It may well just be his gift."
Some gift, Harry thought. He was suddenly feeling very low again. He knew that he shouldn't want the future to be disturbed because of his mistakes, but he couldn't say that it felt any better to know a little bit more about what his parents were like and be ripped from that back to a life without them. He couldn't be grateful for it. He couldn't think of it as a gift.
He belatedly realized when he was pulled out of his thoughts that the other three occupants of the room were staring at him. Dumbledore leaned forward and smiled gently at him. "Harry, do you wish to tell us anything? You have been very quiet thus far."
Harry took in Dumbledore's pensive curiosity, Lily's heart-breaking acceptance, and James' ferocious denial.
"No sir," he said. "Nothing."
A/N: To be continued soon! Please, please review and tell me what you think! I'll keep moving on this one if anyone is still interested in it. Let me know you're still around and tell me the good, the bad, and the ugly! It's all very much appreciated!
