A/N:

Woo-hoo! A completely new chapter! For the first time in months!

WARNING: Massive time skip this chapter. Some of you may be disappointed with that. \_( '_' )/

Enjoy :)

Clarification: They're living in an apartment, because, sure, while they could have lived in Potter Manor, I imagine like many teenagers/young adults, they want to establish themselves as independent people, not be dependent on their parents/guardians.

Previously:

"Save me!" the grown man wailed. "She's too scary!"

"Shut up, you old mutt," groused Arcturus.

"Thanks, Grandfather," said old mutt threw back.

Arcturus simply rolled his eyes.

Chapter 6: Home

Six Years Later — July 1981

In an apartment deep in Diagon Alley, two married couples resided, splitting the fairly expensive rent. One of these couples was recently married, the other having married almost directly out of school. The newlywed couple was Harry and Hermione Potter, the couple that married years ago being James and Lily Potter.

In their sixth year of Hogwarts, James and Lily had finally gotten together, to the surprise of absolutely no one. James proposed in the middle of graduation. Literally, right on the stage. Lily smacked him before saying yes. Harry and Hermione got engaged much later, as both had been satisfied with their dynamic. Originally, they had planned to marry after getting home. As time stretched on with no way back, they began to reconsider their decision.

In the middle of August in 1979, Harry proposed to his girlfriend of nearly four years. They married the next year, in July.

Twenty-one year old Harry Potter flipped open The Herald, and sighed, reading the large and bold title on the front page. MYSTERIOUS FORCES STRIKE AGAIN. There had been yet another attack. He was starting to wonder if Voldemort had somehow also fallen through the Veil. Ever since the attack on the Black ancestral home, there would be a report of an attack every few months.

However, in the past few weeks alone, there had been three separate attacks. The Auror Department was no closer to finding the perpetrators then they had been nearly six years ago.

There was a tapping on the window. Harry stood from the squishy armchair he had been sitting in and made his way to the window. It was an owl.

Harry grumbled. "What is it this time?"

He untied the letter from its leg, absently feeding it a few owl treats he had fetched from the bowl nearby.

Mr. and Mrs. Potter:

Please come to the Department of
Mysteries at your earliest convenience.
The project is complete.

Regards,

Unspeakable Moon

"Hermione!" Harry hollered, all traces of fatigue vanishing.

"Yes, Harry?" came the equally loud response from right behind him.

"Agh!" Harry jumped, startled.

She gave him the look. "Shouldn't have yelled then, Harry."

Harry chuckled, shaking his head. "Please read this," he requested, handing her the letter.

Snatching it from his grip, she pulled it taut and read it, eyes quickly scanning the paper. "We're going home," she whispered, her eyes glistening.

"We're going home," Harry repeated, smiling at her.

Hermione put the letter down on the table, and hugged him tightly without warning, overcome with emotions. "I'll get to see them again," she whispered.

"And Ron too," Harry reminded her.

"Oh, don't remind me," she said with a watery giggle. As quickly as her expression relaxed, it tensed again. "What will he think of us when he sees us like this, Harry? We're six years older than him now, adults, and he's only a kid."

"He'll be proud of us," Harry said, unsure.

"Proud?" she asked incredulously, eyebrows scrunching cutely.

"Maybe proud isn't the right word," Harry allowed. "In truth, I think he may be sad, but not mad. This wasn't really our fault, was it?"

"Well..."

"Okay, it was our fault, but we didn't intend for what happened to happen."

Hermione sighed, shoulders slumping even more. "It's been six years since we've seen him, Harry. I don't think we can properly predict his reactions anymore."

Harry sighed as well, flicking out his wand. "I'm going to send out a Patronus. Is that okay, or would you like to wait for a little?"

"No, no," Hermione said. "Go ahead. I know intellectually that it will be alright, it's just that some of these doubts are surfacing, and I feel unsure."

Harry nodded. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"No, I'm sorry, Harry. I... There are still a few doubts, but I've already dealt with the bulk of them in the past. These last few, though, the only way I think there is to get rid of them is to face them back home."

Harry nodded understandingly. "Expecto Patronum."

A massive blue stag burst from his wand and flew through the wall, galloping towards its destination.

Harry guided them over to the armchair and sat, allowing Hermione to sit on his lap. He wrapped his arms around her. "It's going to be okay."

She nodded. "I know, I just—"

"Shh," Harry whispered. "It's going to be okay."

Several pops of apparition could be heard outside the apartment in addition to James and Lily, who apparated inside. The door flew open and Sirius rushed inside followed by Remus, Snape, Jess, and Peter. Harry looked up calmly at the assembled crowd.

"We can go home," he said softly.

Sirius whooped. He knew how much his friends wanted this. "I'm still coming with you, though, right?"

Hermione nodded. "Why would that change?"

Sirius's eyes flickered over to Jess.

"Oh," Hermione said.

Jess looked at Sirius. "You think I'm being left behind? No, I'm in, bitches!"

James snorted. "We're all coming, right?"

Snape frowned. "I don't believe I'm going to come."

Several people all spoke at the same time, "What?"

He shook his head. "I love teaching at Hogwarts, and... and I'm not the best duelist. I'm a Rune Master. You said there's a war back in your world. I'm not suited to that."

While Harry looked disappointed, Hermione looked resigned. Lily had tears in her eyes. "Sev? Are you sure?"

He nodded sadly, unable to move his eyes from the ground.

Peter spoke up hesitantly. "Uh, guys, probably me too. You know I'm pathetic at dueling, none of Dumbledore's lessons made much of a difference. Also, I got accepted into the fast-track magical law school! I really want to go there..."

Everyone wore the same expressions they did when Snape had announced the same.

"We'll find a way to visit," Harry said firmly. "If whatever the Unspeakables made doesn't work for repeat trips, then I'll wait longer."

Despite her burning desire to see home, Hermione did not hesitate to agree. Though it wasn't their home, this world was still wonderful.

Harry lifted his wand. "Pack."

Everything in the flat, large and small, soared towards Hermione's bottomless bag. As they got to the opening, Hermione shrunk each large item.

She stood and slung the bag over her shoulder. "We're going home."

The older Sirius hugged Harry as tightly as he could.

"We'll visit," Harry said emotionally, clutching his godfather.

"I should hope so," the man said, ruffling Harry's hair. As they had arrived at the Department of Mysteries, they had been taken to an office where the Unspeakable who sent Harry the letter explained the situation.

The devices that would take them home were rings. As long as one concentrated on the destination while stepping into the Veil, the Veil would take you there, guided by the ring. When Harry questioned why there were more than three rings, given that there were only three displaced magicals, Harry could practically see the scoff in their voice when they said that if Harry thought they were going to be given the only three devices capable of interdimensional travel, then he was barmy.

As a result, there were more than enough rings for the group to all go through. Each person slid the ring onto their right ring finger and lined up in order of fighting prowess, from Harry, who was the first, to Jess, who was the last.

The older Sirius, Charlus, Dorea, Snape, and Peter all stood to the side, watching the group with sadness, though it wasn't quite as emotional as it would have been if they wouldn't be able to come back.

Harry firmed his resolve and took the leap.

A strange sense of cold assaulted him, and he felt extremely disoriented. As cold and twisting as it was, it only lasted a few seconds.

The disorientation vanished as he stepped out of the veil.

"H-Harry?" came a desperate-sounding voice to his left.

Harry turned, and there he was, just as he had looked when Harry had left: Remus Lupin.

"Hello Remus," came Hermione's voice from behind Harry.

Several small cracking noises sounded in the room as people stepped out of the Veil. With each new person, Remus's eyes grew wider.

"No!" came the shriek of anger from Bellatrix Lestrange. She flicked her wand viciously, and a long whip of fire emerged, lashing out towards Harry, who simply flicked his wand upwards, simultaneously disarming and stunning Bellatrix and creating an invisible shield that the fire whip struck with a loud gong.

Harry reached out and plucked the wand that was soaring towards him out of the air. He tossed it to Hermione, who pocketed it.

Dumbledore, who had been watching the fight thus far, took a step forward. "State your name and intentions here!" he commanded, his not inconsiderable magical power flaring out around him in an aura.

Harry glared at the man who had blocked his magic. "I am Harry James Potter, and I'm here to help in the war against Voldemort."

Dumbledore's eyes narrowed. "Harry Potter is fifteen years old. You are not fifteen years old."

Harry shrugged. "I spent some time away."

Hermione moved so she stood next to him. "Who is this?" Dumbledore asked, peering at her.

She smiled a deceptively innocent smile. "Why, surely you remember me, Professor?"

Dumbledore's eyes showed a flicker of recognition, but he said nothing.

James stepped up. "Headmaster, there is an assault on the Ministry. This is no time to be squabbling."

Dumbledore had the grace to look somewhat abashed. "Go, then. Join the fight, if that is what you so desire. I imagine the bulk of it to be happening in the Atrium."

Harry locked eyes with Hermione, who nodded. He flicked his wand at Bellatrix's prone body, and a small hole appeared in the center of her forehead. She made a small noise before falling eternally silent.

Ignoring his newly upset stomach, Harry led his friends out of the Death Chamber, also ignoring the stares boring into his back.

As they walked in the direction of the Atrium, Hermione glanced at Harry. "I thought Lestrange was supposed to be dangerous."

Harry nodded. "She was. I reckon I caught her in a moment of surprise."

Nothing more was said on the matter, and the group made their way to the Atrium in silence.

As they entered the spacious hall, Harry's attention was immediately drawn to Voldemort, who was dueling several members of the Order of the Phoenix at the same time. As the group split, Harry looked at Hermione. "Shall we?" he asked playfully. He just got a grin in response.

They dove into the fight.

"Hey, Voldemort!" Harry yelled at the dark wizard.

Said dark wizard sneered. "Who do you think you are to challenge me, little wizard?" he scoffed, sending over thirty conjured knives hurtling towards Harry with only so much as a flick of his wand.

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord..." Harry quoted, creating a redirect ward by tracing a rune in the air with his wand.

Voldemort simply held his wand forward and the knives flowed around him, almost like water before hitting the wall behind with several soft thunks.

With his wand, Harry forced the water from the fountain to flow into a massive sphere above him. As Harry was doing this, Voldemort was peppering a shield Harry had just barely put up with an innumerable number of piercing hexes. Taking advantage of Voldemort's slight distraction, Harry snapped with his hand that wasn't holding the wand, and a small piece of stone broke off from the ceiling above. Voldemort noticed it just in time, hopping back just far enough to be out of the impact zone.

Voldemort banished the ceiling piece at Harry, who was unfortunately preoccupied with the water. The chunk blew through Harry's shield, which was not designed to stop physical objects, and knocked Harry back and to the ground. With Harry's concentration interrupted, the water fell and absolutely soaked both Harry and Voldemort, the latter of whom instantly dried himself with a charm.

Sirius, spotting Harry's predicament, apparated right behind him, casting a shield in front of them, face straining as Voldemort shot spell after spell at it, the spells getting increasingly more powerful proportional to his growing frustration.

Harry used this slight reprieve to scramble to his feet, dry himself off, and heal the few scrapes he got.

Then, Sirius dropped the shield and the two powerful wizards unleashed hell upon Voldemort.

Harry cycled through chains of banishers, explosive hexes, bone breakers, blood boilers, and the occasional lightning, while Sirius summoned all the rubble from everywhere in the room and used his impressive transfiguration skills to good effect.

The rubble formed into one shape and was transfigured into thousands of razor-thin shards of metal.

Sirius banished them all at Voldemort at once.

Unfortunately, Voldemort lived up to his reputation, and thrust his wand out, stopping the metal in midair. It reformed into one long chain of metal shards. While blocking Harry's spells, the Dark Lord sent a jolt of electricity down the rod which jumped off of the end and hit a shocked Sirius in the chest, who flew backward a few yards, landing on his back. The man let out a pain-filled grunt before passing out.

Enraged, Harry doubled his efforts, pushing more power into the spells than before.

Unfortunately, Voldemort redirected one of Harry's lightning strikes right back at him. He couldn't dodge it in time.

The shock knocked him back, and he ended up lying next to Sirius, though he managed to stay awake.

Hermione popped into existence behind Voldemort, slinging banishing charms and explosive hexes towards her foe at lightning speed.

Voldemort turned and created a nearly opaque shield just in time, but it was only covering his front. From his position on the ground, Harry attacked at his back with a bone-breaking hex, and Voldemort screamed as his back shattered.

With a massive CRACK that shattered all of the glass that was still standing, the Dark Lord apparated away.

As they heard their Lord scream, the rest of the Death Eaters apparated out, their earlier confidence sapped by the flight of their master.

Harry staggered to his feet, barely able to stand. Pointing his wand at his chest with clenched teeth, he muttered a myriad of healing charms, which managed to lessen the pain somewhat.

Swishing his wand in Sirius's direction with the intent of waking him up, he turned towards an exhausted-looking Hermione, eyes roving over her to check for injuries. "Are you all right?" he panted.

Hermione nodded breathlessly. "We've slipped, Harry. It's been a long time since we've been this bad."

Harry nodded before gritting his teeth as a spasm rocked through his body.

"Oh, Merlin, Harry! You're hurt!" She rushed to his side, immediately starting to cast diagnostic spells.

"Hit by my own lightning spell," he gritted out. "Sirius got shocked by the fucker too."

Wincing, Hermione started healing him to the best of her ability.

"Yeah," ground out Sirius, who was stumbling over to them. "This idiot thought I would be fine if he just chucked a Rennervate at me and walked away!"

Harry winced. "Sorry, Sirius, wasn't really thinking all that straight."

Hermione sighed. "Men. What am I going to do with the two of you?"

Sirius huffed. "The fall snapped my wand. You could throw a few healing charms my way. Please?"

Hermione quickly complied. A few moments later, James and Lily appeared next to Hermione with a pop.

"Any injuries?" Hermione asked.

Lily shook her head. "Not for us, but Jess has been hurt."

Sirius tried to get up. "What? Jess is hurt? Where—"

"Don't you move, Sirius Black!" Hermione yelled. "I'm healing you here!"

"But—!"

"She's right, mate," James informed him. "Jess is with Remus right now. He'll keep her safe."

"Thank you," muttered Hermione. "At least someone here has sense."

Sounds of protest could be heard coming from Sirius.

"Harry!" Remus hollered from the other side of the Atrium, voice sounding hoarse. "I need some help here!"

"I'm coming with you," Lily said, shooting a look at James that dared him to disagree.

James held up his hands in an 'I surrender' pose. "Don't look at me, get over there!"

"Harry!" Remus hollered again.

"Shit!" Harry swore, putting a hand on Lily's shoulder and apparating them right next to Remus with a much louder than normal CRACK!

Harry fell to his knees. "Aagh!" he grunted, just barely managing to keep in a scream.

"HARRY!" came Hermione's angry scream from across the Atrium. "WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING?"

"Lily," Harry pleaded, wisely choosing not to yell back while Hermione was livid enough to swear.

Lily, looking a bit peeved at Harry herself, hit him with a few pain-relief and healing charms to undo the damage he did to himself with his apparition. Once he could stand, Harry looked at Remus. "What do you need?"

Shaking his head, Remus pointed at Jess. "She got hit with some kind of curse that affected her mind. You're the only Legilimens out of us. I need you to find the problem and fix it. I had to stun her, Harry. She was a gibbering wreck."

"Fuck," he swore before diving into her mind.

Remus Lupin (the older one) stared blankly at the ground in front of him while he was supposed to be listening to Albus, who was currently issuing orders. He didn't know what to think! Sirius, Harry, and Hermione all just went through the Veil! And not a second later, out came an older Harry, what looked like an older Hermione, what looked like James and Lily, a younger Sirius Black, and a younger version of himself! If that wasn't enough, they left a second later to go fight!

Luckily, he tuned in to Albus's directions at just the right time to hear his own instructions. "—Remus, you should find the unconscious Weasleys. If you would bring them up with you when we go, that would be much appreciated. Nymphadora, you should—"

Absurd. However, if it was really James and Lily, Remus didn't know what he would do. It was nearing the fifteen-year mark from when they had died. If they returned suddenly, he didn't know if he would be able to stay in control of his emotions. If they were impostors, however, he would take pride in detaining them.

So lost in his thoughts, was he, that he didn't notice when everyone started filing out of the room. "Remus," Tonks said gently, startling him.

Sighing, Remus walked out of the Death Chamber. Seeing Ron Weasley lying discarded on the ground, Remus growled. Bastards. They just left the kid by himself, clearly badly injured.

Flicking his wand at Ron, the boy floated up. As Remus continued walking forward, he noticed the Weasley girl also lying unconscious. She hadn't been injured as badly, however, just a broken ankle, and he knew how to fix those. Merlin knew Sirius had broken enough bones during their school days for him to have looked up the charm to fix it.

"Brackium Emendo," he incanted, watching as her food snapped back into place. "Rennervate."

Ginny sat up with a gasp. "Professor!"

"Miss Weasley," he greeted.

"Is Harry okay?"

Remus stiffened, and he knew Ginny had noticed. "I'm not sure," Remus admitted.

"No," Ginny whispered, and when Remus looked at her, he couldn't help but feel pity for the expression on her face.

"Please stand, Miss Weasley, and tell me how your foot feels. We need to start moving. Everyone else is ahead."

Remus internally sighed as he watched Ginny visibly repress her emotions and carefully stand, testing her foot.

They walked in silence, Ginny on the left, Remus in the middle, Ron floating on the right. Just a few minutes later, they stepped into the Atrium, looking around at the madness. Suddenly, a loud CRACK made almost everyone jump.

Remus watched as the woman that looked like an older Hermione Granger scream, "HARRY! WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING?"

Then, Remus followed her eyes and saw the man that claimed to be Harry Potter fall to his knees, spasms coursing through his body. Thanks to the charm work of the Lily look-alike, though, he seemed alright to stand a moment later and began talking to the young Remus look-alike.

Remus was forced to look away, however, when Mundungus Fletcher came up to him and pointed to the Harry look-alike, and said, "That man over there took down the Dark Lord 'imself, I tell ya! An' look! Doesn't look much worse for wear, eh?"

Remus looked incredulously at the short man. "Took down Voldemort? Is he dead?"

"'eavens, no! He jus' forced the Dark Lord to flee, that's all. Nailed 'im in the back with a bone-breaker, they say."

A nearby wizard Remus couldn't identify chipped in. "I reckon it's a good thing you weren't here, let me tell ya. That scream sounded just like my old ma! Like it came from the deep end of hell!"

As the two men continued chatting, Remus carefully extracting himself from the conversation, mentally cursing when he saw Ginny running towards the Hermione look-alike.

Sirius sighed in relief. "Ah, thanks, Hermione. That really feels so much better."

Hermione openly glared at him. "Just remember, Sirius Black, that this fix was only temporary. Once we've got a few rooms at the Leaky, I'm conjuring an operating table!"

James shook his head before walking away towards Harry, Lily, and Remus. He did not want to be involved in whatever crap Sirius was no doubt going to pull, even while injured.

Sirius's eyes widened. "No, no, that's not necessary. I promise I'll be careful."

She shot him a doubtful look, to which he pretended to look gravely offended.

As she gathered the medical supplies back into the bottomless bag, Sirius spoke again. "I was thinking—"

"How dangerous," Hermione quipped cutting in.

Sirius scowled.

"I was thinking about which room we're putting Remus in," Sirius said again, this time finishing his sentence.

"With James and Lily," Hermione said without hesitation.

"Why?" Sirius shot back. "Is it because they're not here right now?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "No, it's because you and Harry are injured."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"I know I'm going to need more space to deal with Harry, and you know Jess is going to want to finish healing you as well."

"I am healed!" Sirius protested before subsiding at the flat look she gave him.

Hermione stood, having finished packing her bag.

Sirius began to speak again. "Anyways, we should probably head over to—"

"Hey, is that Ginny?" Hermione said, almost to herself, cutting Sirius off.

It was Sirius's turn to roll his eyes. "I'm going to head over to Jess while you guys have your little girly reunion."

Hermione snapped off a stinging hex in his direction as he was leaving, leading to a yelp, and to his footsteps speeding up.

"Hermione?" came a tentative voice from behind her.

She turned around and nearly melted at the vulnerability on her childhood friend's face.

"Ginny," she said warmly. "Oh, how I've missed you."

Ginny gave Hermione a quick once-over. "Why are you older?"

This time, Hermione had to give a sad smile. "I grew up."

"What does that mean?"

Hermione sighed. "It's a really long story. I'll explain it to you later."

Ginny frowned but accepted it nonetheless. Hermione led Ginny across the Atrium, dodging the occasional Auror as they stormed past. They quickly reached Harry, who was staring into the glassy eyes of Jess.

"What's he doing?" Hermione asked Lily.

Remus answered for her. "He's looking through her mind. She got hit by some sort of mind-altering curse."

"Merlin," Hermione breathed, staring at the woman who was one of her bridesmaids.

"Excuse me," Ginny broke in politely. "Who are you all? I know this is Hermione here, but who are you?"

Lily smiled. "I'm Lily, Ginny. Next to me is my husband, James. Next to James is our friend Remus. On my other side is also our friend Sirius. The unresponsive woman is Jess, and the man leaning over her is Harry."

"Harry?" Ginny asked Hermione, eyes wide with hope.

Hermione laughed. "Yes, it's Harry. What other Harrys would be here with me?"

Ginny chuckled. "So," she said, looking at Lily speculatively. "You're Mrs. Potter?"

Lily smiled mischievously. "I'm one of them," she said, glancing not so subtly at Hermione.

To her credit, Ginny caught on immediately. "Oh. My. God. Hermione, you married Harry Potter? You need to tell me everything!"

They were interrupted when Harry suddenly stood up, looking grim. "Hermione, please floo call St. Mungos, we need a mind healer. I'm not skilled enough for this."

A/N:

I hope I did a decent job with the time skip here. It's pretty big of a jump, I know, but it was time for them to go back home.

Review! It makes all the difference.