A/N: Still writing this! And thanks to EVERYONE who reviewed. Don't worry, we will get to the end. I was going to make this chapter longer, but I decided just to put this out and break it up! Enjoy Sirius' reaction... well, at least some of Sirius' reaction!
Lily, James, and Harry watched as Sirius bent his head back and howled with laughter, deep and unrestrained.
"Well, I think he's okay," Lily grumbled under the deafening laughter. "Oy, Black…quiet down!"
Sirius wiped tears from his eyes as he soothed his laughter enough to be capable of speech. "It's not so much the bit about the time travel. But you and Prongs…Evans, you have a kid with him… after all that!" Sirius collapsed into laughter again.
James frowned. "Well, it's not that unbelievable."
Harry nodded in agreement. Sure, his parents fought a lot…but he didn't think it was something to laugh this much about!
Sirius seemed to make an attempt to regain his composure after he saw that no one was laughing with him. "You're completely serious about this, aren't you?" He stared at the three of them ranged in front of him for a long moment and then smiled again. "You're not…this isn't—"
"It's true," Lily said. "I believe it." Sirius blinked, not sure what to say. James had fancied Lily for a long time, and Sirius didn't know the little bloke that apparently fell from the sky, but Evans…she wouldn't joke about this, wouldn't even want to believe it. Her insistence carried more weight that Prongs' did, in this case. "Dumbledore believes it too."
Sirius shook his head. "Bloody hell. He doesn't."
"He does," Harry said. He was feeling a little bolder, suddenly. He didn't know the reason for why he felt different…but he had told Sirius the truth about him and nobody had decided that for him. It was a little bit freeing. Then Sirius fixed dark, penetrating eyes on him and he squelching the urge to lean back a little.
"I'd wager you can't prove a thing you're saying, firstie?"
"Of course he can't!" James glared. "If you were in the same spot, you wouldn't be able to prove it either!"
Sirius raised his eyebrows. "First Evans, now you, Prongs? You know even if in some future time you are his dad, that you aren't his dad yet, right? This show of paternal protection is making me feel all warm and fuzzy!"
"Shut it," James muttered, his cheeks pink. But he felt better when Lily caught his eye and smiled, clearly a little pleased over his outburst. And for once, Sirius didn't comment on their interplay, but watched Harry with a rare shrewdness.
"No matter how much you protest, it's a fair question."
"Of course I can't prove it," Harry said, a trace of exasperation leading his voice to a whine. "No one would be able to prove it!"
"Why don't you just look at him," James suggested, a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "It's been joked about enough…"
Sirius did really approach Harry, who was faintly reminded of being sniffed by a curious neighborhood dog as Sirius looked him over. The other three were silent as Sirius stared a long time into Harry's eyes, and apparently found no objection to what evidence Harry's appearance provided.
"You'll probably grow up to be as hopelessly ugly as Prongs, I'll give you that," Sirius conceded. He smirked when Lily huffed indignantly at his words. "But say I actually believe this bollocks…why did you show up? What brought you here? And why? And how did you get here?" He looked at James and Lily. "And why is he here? Did Dumbledore come up with any brilliant ideas while he was accepting this time travel story from an eleven year old?"
The mood of the room darkened considerably as James and Lily exchanged glances, recalling Dumbledore's meeting with them.
"He said that Harry was sent here for himself," Lily finally began tentatively. "I mean, he's not even sure we'll remember what happened once we get him back to his own time."
Sirius stared at her, obviously still waiting for her to tell him that this was all some joke. When she didn't, he sighed, deciding to momentarily play along. "Alright," he smirked, catching Harry's eye. "So then what am I like in the future, little bloke? Tell me I married the hottest bird in school."
"And who would that be?" Lily asked wryly as Harry furrowed his brow.
"I've never actually met you before."
"WHAT?!" Sirius was completely aghast. His fierce gaze went accusingly to James, who was looking down at Harry.
"You've never met Sirius before either?"
"Either? Who's 'either'?" Sirius asked. Then he turned to Lily and said very seriously, "you know, this is very likely your fault. I'd bet you forced Prongs to dump me once he put a ring on your finger, right?"
"No," Harry said, ignoring Sirius' comments to Lily. "I never met any wizards until right before school."
"How is that possible?" Sirius shook his head. "Are you daft, little bloke? Or do you not consider your supposed future parents 'wizards'?"
"He's never met us either…" Lily answered him, a stilted quiet to her voice. James glanced quickly at her before turning to look at Sirius as well, not contributing any further explanation. And the most obvious singular possibility dawn slowly on Sirius as he looked between them, Harry watched the burgeoning horror behind his eyes. And he thought of the word 'Mudblood' again. Maybe now he understood a little more…with the way things were in this time.
"What happened to you?" Sirius said to them. He looked at Harry. "What does he say happened to you?"
"You'll like this," James said, but he didn't mean it at all. He pushed his glasses up his nose and for a moment, no one could see his expression. "Lily and I will apparently have the great honor of being murdered by Lord Voldemort someday."
Harry heard the tremor in James' voice. And Sirius must have heard it too, because his voice flattened some more. "Come off it."
"I'm not on anything," James said, that bitterness he had with Dumbledore rising to the surface. "Harry never knew us…Lily and I. Because we died when he was a baby."
"And why would you believe this?" Sirius said incredulously, finding his characteristic passion once again.
"Are we supposed to not believe it because it's an unhappy ending?" Lily asked, again displaying a deplorable amount of calm for discussing the possibility of her death. "Are we only supposed to believe happy things?"
"Are you only supposed to believe things that are completely mad?" Sirius shot back. "Honestly Evans, I didn't take you for somebody who would believe something like this."
"I didn't, at first," Lily said. "But Harry… there's no other explanation that—"
"Other than he fell from the sky and is your orphaned son from the future?!"
"Will you shut it, Black?!" Lily snapped. "I get it, you think we're mad! Instead of being an interrupting prat, why don't you just listen and maybe you'll change your mind?"
James and Harry clamped their mouths shut in surprised unison and Sirius was silent for a few moments. Then, he swept his arm out as if to say 'fine, go on then…' Lily took a breath and then sat halfway on a desk.
"We don't have proof, alright? And we are not even asking you to believe it, because you don't have to. We do. Because we will be Harry's parents and whatever is happening, whatever we need to do to get him back to his time…it's something that we have to do. You aren't a part of this. You are the one that wanted to know in the first place."
Sirius shifted in place, clearly realizing that Lily made a point that he couldn't well answer. She had essentially issued him a challenge—believe the story, or walk away. Sirius was incapable of walking away from anything. He rested his eyes on James, no levity in his eyes.
"You really do believe this, don't you."
It wasn't a question, but James answered anyway. "Yeah, I do. I mean, I'm the one that had to convince Evans…"
Sirius nodded slowly, but Harry could see the disbelief resting in his eyes. It was only because his best mate believed it that he was willing to accept it as a premise. "So then, you're the little bloke's parents. And then Voldemort kills you."
Their silence was enough of an answer. And Sirius crossed his arms. "Then change it. Change it from happening."
Lily sighed in exasperation and looked away, and James' eyes snapped to her movement, glaring at her.
"What?" Sirius asked, watching the tense exchange.
"We can't," Lily answered.
"WHY CAN'T YOU?!" Sirius burst out. "Of all the stupid—"
"Dumbledore agrees with Lily," James said sullenly, still watching the redhead as she worked to meet neither of their eyes. But Harry felt her hand rest on his shoulder. "He says that it could be dangerous to change the outcome of the future. And that Harry is probably only hear for himself, not for our lives to be saved."
"Dumbledore got it wrong this time," Sirius said firmly, his hair falling into his eyes. Harry wondered at how one person could be so sure of himself. It was like Sirius thought he could pull a star down from the sky if he had the mind to do it. "You change it! You take everything your kid knows about your deaths and you use it to not mess up and die this time."
"Mess up?" Lily said disgustedly.
"Yeah, Evans, if Voldemort killed you then you're damn right you messed up," Sirius growled unapologetically. "Look, can you really know something like that and not change it? You'll just lie down and die and leave Harry here an orphan? C'mon."
"When Harry goes back we might not even remember!" Lily said, sounding quite finished with having to go over this again. "We don't know the rules."
"But if you do remember…if I remember…" Sirius looked at James, "you think I'm going to just let you get murdered by that mad tosser? You'd have to kill me first!" His gaze transferred to Harry. "I am alive, aren't I?"
Harry shrugged, distinctly uncomfortable over the fact that no one had ever mentioned Sirius since Harry came to Hogwarts, though he'd heard about his parents so many times. "I don't know, I've never met you before!"
"And…nobody's mentioned me?"
"No, I'm sorry."
"Well, then you must be dead," Lily said plainly, voicing what everyone was privately thinking, but trying for a bit of humor. "I doubt anything else would keep you away from your grand love 'Prongs'."
"Then we really need to fix things."
"You're not getting this," Lily glared at the handsome boy. "We didn't 'mess up' and there's nothing to 'fix'. Don't you get it? If we're dead, that's just what's going to happen. You can't just wave your wand and change the world, Black. And even if we should change it, we don't know when or where or how any of it happens!"
Sirius pointed a furious finger at Harry. "And he doesn't?!"
"He was a baby!"
"But he has to know something. What, was he raised Muggle? It's not like he could go a whole eleven years without knowing a few details of your death!"
"I was raised like a Muggle," Harry said. "My aunt and uncle told me that my mum and dad died in a car crash. I only just found out the truth."
"Bloody hell…" Sirius said.
"It doesn't matter," Lily said pitilessly, not wanting to go back over those details. She squeezed Harry's shoulder. "We already know what we have to do. Dumbledore arranged everything, we just need to follow his instructions."
Sirius seemed to think he was getting nowhere with Harry's teenage mother, so he turned to his father. "You can't mean to go along with this, James. I know you better."
James hesitated, and Harry thought it was because he didn't want to get Lily mad. But even the hesitation was enough to get up her ire. She turned her bright green eyes on him, flashing.
"We talked about this, James."
"Yeah, we did," James conceded, his own hazel eyes intent behind his glasses as he looked at her. "But Sirius is right. He's right about me and he's right about the whole thing." Harry was almost startled when James suddenly focused on him. "Harry…you haven't said much about it. About...any of this, really. But you have to understand that I just want to do right by you. I promise you...you know...that maybe your life wouldn't have to be so painful…"
"You're being unfair," Lily said lowly, and there were tears in her eyes.
"How am I being unfair?!" James rounded on her and Harry wasn't sure if he wasn't getting emotional as well, his eyes still glistening.
"You can't keep him prisoner to this—this….fantasy! You can't, James. What if we tell him we are going to change his life and find out later that we can't and he's going to stay alone? Do you want him to carry that around?!"
"Of course not!" James bellowed and the room fell quite silent. Sirius watched them with uncharacteristic solemnity. Until Lily took another breath and said, "we can just go 'round and around about this. But it's not going to change what we need to do right now, which is take Harry to that stupid mirror and get him back to where he needs to be! Alright?"
With that, Lily fled the room altogether. Both anger and sadness swept out of the room with her, but none of the other occupants followed right away. Harry didn't know what his father or his father's best friend were thinking…but Harry knew what he thought.
He thought of Lily trying to comfort him—her hand on his shoulder. He thought of James promising him that he could do right by him, that he would take away the horrible time he lived on Privet Drive like it never even happened.
And Harry knew what he felt, even though nobody had really asked him. And if Dumbledore was right and they couldn't change it…he never wanted to go back there at all.
A/N: I know, I know it's a short one. But I felt I had to end Harry's POV there. It was a very interesting thing to write Sirius as a virtual stranger to Harry, considering what happens in the books. Year One Harry is a very different animal from Year Three/Four/Five Harry. Reviews are great! Let me know what you think!
