Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Synopsis: 'Know Teddy, that whatever I did, I learned from the best - that's you, of course. We may or may not have locked the troll in a room after finding him. But you know our rotten luck, don't you? Love, Harry' Teddy blinked. "A troll! A goddamn troll, Teddy!" shouted James. "And dad was always complaining about me getting in trouble? This is an outrage! What the heck is going on at Hogwarts?"

Warning: un-betaed; loosely based on canons, it's gonna go AU; the Teddy/Victoire ship sunk like the titanic, Jeddy if you open your eyes (if you don't want too, keep them close); Teddy is a man and sometimes a woman 'cause he feels like it.

Thanks to everyone who followed and fav'ed this story!

Lost In Time - Jeddy Style

Chapter Two - Tying Up Loose Ends

"You fucked up." said an unfamiliar deep voice.

"I know man, but listen, I have a plan." answered James.

Harry had just woken up after lying in his bed a few seconds wondering if he was really magic or if this was a joke made by the Dursley, he bravely got up and found himself in a weird room with a large bed.

It was under the gaze of billions of dead elves that he walked toward the basement where was the kitchen. His heart was beating to fast to be healthy and the darkness of the whole house was unpleasant. Harry disliked this place with his whole heart, but this was still better than the Dursleys.

"You? A plan? I know your plans Jamie, and they are never good."

"I grew up! Listen." harshly said James. "I know that you're one of the best goddamn Auror in the world, but this is my area of expertise. Besides, I already went at my workplace."

"What?! When? I got up before you this morning! I even placed a monitoring charm on you."

"Oh, I knew that you cared about me but isn't that too much, darling?" sarcastically answered James.

Harry was feeling lost, James was speaking to someone new, someone who wasn't Teddy, and he knew that the voice wasn't from that weird frightening elf, Kreature-something. He tried to smoothly open the door and spy on James's new friend, but the door (and this house) must have really hated him; the door let out a loud screech and stealthy Harry was so surprised by the sound that he fell on his back.

"Harry! Are you okay?" asked the unknown man.

Harry looked up and found a tall man with a kind face, golden eyes, and wild short blue hair. His ears were pierced but he was dressed in a beige cardigan and maroon slacks. He was going to say yes, but instead…

"Are you Teddy's twin?"

He closed his mouth sharply as James started to laugh a full belly laugh, the new man's eyes were sparkling with mischief too.

"I'm Teddy, Harry." answered not unkindly the man.

"But you're not a girl!" shouted Harry as he had forgotten one tiny part of their conversation from yesterday - magic could do that when one discovered its existence.

James gave him a wide grin and ruffled Harry's already messy locks.

"You're right Harry. Teddy, here, is a metamorphmagus."

"Bless you." said Harry as he waited for James to explain, making the man snorted.

"A metamorphmagus, Harry, is a born wizard or witch who has the ability to change their physical appearance at will." James had a big grin on his face. "One day he could look like an elephant and the next day, dear Teddy, can change his form to a tiger."

Harry's wide eyes focused on Teddy who changed back on his woman form.

"Yesterday, I felt like a girl, so I decided to take that form." He changed again, this time he was reducing his size and looked exactly like Harry. "I can even be your twin, see?" This time he returned to his morning form, a tall man with messy hair dyed a shocking electric blue.

"Wicked." whispered Harry.

"Now, let's eat breakfast, I made a chocolate cake." said the blue-haired man, as he took Harry in his arms and brought him on his sit.

"Teddy can only make chocolate-based food. I swear he's doing that to prank us all, but the man always manages to burn every simple meal he tries to cook." complained James as he sat down.

Teddy's mischievous eyes sparkled and he smirked but didn't say anything else to defend himself.

"I can cook if you want." proposed Harry, but James shrugged his shoulders.

"Don't worry about that d-Harry, we'll just buy a book and try our hands at cooking. Do you want some juice? We've got some oranges?"

Harry nodded as James flicked his stick, well, his wand, and the orange started to move as it juiced itself? Magic is cool, thought Harry as he ate the delicious chocolate cake made by Teddy.

"Er, what were you speaking about this morning?" asked Harry.

Teddy angrily scowled at James.

"Dear Teddy is mad that I went to my workplace yesterday before buying our food." easily answered James.

"Your workplace?" inquired Harry.

"Yeah, you could say that I work in a specific branch of R&D at the ministry. The best job ever!" gushed James, with sparkling eyes.

"I still can't believe they took you in. And, wait, did they believe you? When you told them, that we, huh, aren't from here?" asked Teddy with a squeaky voice.

"Of course man! Jeez, we do have regulations and law you know? We're not all mad scientists who do whatever we want, we have many protocols for every kind of situation!" strongly said James.

"What sort of situations?" asked Harry.

"Er, I can't really tell you what we do. I'm contractually obligated to keep all our project top secret. But for example, we can help people from alternate universes, we're trying to discover the secrets of Magicks, and we also study things like death, rubber, and even love."

At the start of this explanation Harry was really curious about James' weird job, but really, how can someone study death or love? And why would they study rubber? Harry concluded that the man who was rolling on the flowerbed yesterday had really lost his marble.

"You're studying Love?" asked Teddy with big round eyes that were literally popping from his face. Ew.

"Yes and it's really interesting!" defended James with a scowl. "Not everyone likes to work behind a desktop every day."

"Hold on, I thought an Auror's job was to catch bad people? Like the police." asked Harry, who had been really impressed with Teddy's job, yesterday.

"Yes, we do. We're not doing nothing on our desk Jamie-boy, we're like detectives trying to capture every evil being on earth!" said Teddy with a big grin, making Harry's eyes sparkle at the magical policeman/detective, how cool can someone be?

"Eurgh! You're already corrupting Harry! I'll have you know that we also create spells, and invent things that change the world!"

"Really? I thought you studied Love, Jamie." said Teddy in a simpering voice, making Harry giggle.

"Oh, yeah, laugh it out you two. But I'll have you know, that at least I'm getting some whenever I want, and orgy parties are a legal thing in my department, unlike your stuck-up department."

"What's an orgy party ?" innocently asked Harry, freezing the whole conversation.

James's face paled rapidly as he stuttered and Teddy, well Teddy had only one thing to say.

"Goddamnit James!"

It was kind of their new family motto at this point.

Teddy's POV

Opening his eyes to find James's pale face and his worried eyes nearly frightened Teddy. However, the lad was used to James' drama, that's why he only groaned and turned back to his soft bedsheets and fluffy pillows.

"Teddy! Come one, man! It's important!" loudly said James.

"Is Harry in danger?" mumbled Teddy.

"Er, no?"

Teddy closed back his eyes, but the annoying bespectacled child-man shook him up.

"What the heck James?" shouted Teddy, his amber eyes glowing in anger.

"It's Phineas!"

"For the last time Jamie boy, Phineas and Ferb has not been created - not yet at least!"

Since their time-traveling circumstances, James was always complaining about the lack of everything - from restaurants, foods, songs, and most importantly cartoons.

"Can you get up for god's sake?! I'm not talking about Phineas and Ferb, though I miss them all! I'm talking about your ancestor's portrait." hissed the man as he pulled Teddy out of the bed.

At that statement, Teddy felt his blood freeze.

"Holy heck! Did he alert Dumbledore?" asked the metamorphmagus as he tried to come up with some kind of plan.

"No, he didn't see us. Magic bless my dad, if he hadn't talked to me about the empty portrait near the room, I would have never investigated."

"Empty portrait? How come you know it was Old Phi?" asked Teddy.

The withering look given by James made him blush at his forgetful mind. Right, James had practically lived in Mcgonagall's office during his Hogwart years. Even if Harry's son behaved like an idiot, James was quite the genius when it mattered - something he must have picked from his godmother, Hermione Granger-Weasley.

"Looks like I still have a more reliable memory than you, pal. Whatever, I wanted to tell you that I froze him and obscured his eyesight. However, you need to go to Gringotts. Well, we need to go to Gringotts, but I don't want to leave Harry alone - not with Kreacher." started James as he put his hands on his hair. "Also, I checked up the tapestry, and Teddy, there are many loose ends we need to take care of. There are many Blacks still alive, and I'm not talking about your gran, your mom, and Sirius… I'm talking about Lord Black here, Arcturus."

Teddy's face lost all its color, literally.

"Shit."

"Yep." uselessly added James, as he looked at Teddy with wide eyes - waiting for him to find a solution, as always.

The metamorphmagus felt the appearance of a headache, as he tried to come up with something. Should they leave Grimmauld? But where would they go? Harry's aunt wasn't that welcoming, and James already hated her not unlike Teddy. A small longing voice whispered in his mind, telling him to go see his grandma, his alive grandfather, and his p-

No.

He breathed heavily. He couldn't go there. The Tonks wouldn't believe him, and what would they say when they learn that he was the son of his mother and a man thirteen years older than her? And wait. How old was his mom actually?

"James. What's the year?" asked Teddy.

James snorted.

"Can't believe you don't know, jeez, was nepotism the reasons why you managed to become an Auror?"

"Oy! I'll have you know that I'm one of the best Auror they have."

"Sweetie, you're jobless for now."

Teddy quickly tackled James and gave him a noogie.

"Ouch, stop it Edward!" and of course, because it was James, he decided the best way to escape the blue-haired' firm grip was to bit on his arm.

Of course, Teddy let James go.

"You cannibal!"

James did the mature thing and blew a raspberry. Teddy rolled his eyes and sighed heavily, this boy always managed to wear him down.

"What do we do Teddy?" whispered James, his light-brown eyes glowing under the morning sun, an auburn halo fluttering on the ends of his messy dark locks.

"We can't go to my grandparents' place. I don't know how old is my mom. I don't want to frighten her." whispered Teddy.

"Okay." easily said James, his eyes unwavering.

A heavy pressure left Teddy, of course, James was the most accepting person. Sure, he had his moments and could easily hurt a fragile person, but if you told him that the joke hurt, he would stop and apologize. James was good, so good, he rarely judged and his capacity to accept everything always made everyone around him breathe easily.

"I don't know if I can have access to the Black Funds. But Jamie, we don't have money to buy a house. Staying at Grimmauld is better for us financially, that I'm sure of, but mentally I don't know." continued Teddy.

"Okay Teddy, let's come up with a plan." said James as he crossed his arms and put on his funny thinking face.

Teddy conjured papers and an inked quill.

"Right, I'm taking notes as we go."

"Goodman Teddy, you're a genius!" brightly said James.

"So, one we have to find a way to have money. Without it, we won't be able to raise Harry." started Teddy. As he wrote, the young metamorphmagus found his confidence back, he felt that they could do it. "We've got three options, go to Gringotts and claim a lordship - you could claim the Potter vault - and you've got your job back. I could ask for a meeting at Gringotts and explain the situation, or I could ask Old man Archie for help… Though I really don't want to. Of course, I will have to join the Auror, though I really don't want to go back to the Academy, if I don't have the choice, I'll go back - at least I'll get my job back, eventually."

"Yeah, but you're sure that Gringott will help us? Can I really claim the Potter Vaults? I mean, dad is not even in Hogwarts."

"Yes, Victoire told me." whispered Teddy in a cracked voice.

He felt guilty at James's wince. Wasn't she the reason for this hell? No, he had to stop feeling sorry for himself, Teddy had to acknowledge the truth. Their situation was not Victoire's fault, and it wasn't James's fault.

"Right." answered an ill-at-ease James.

They both avoided looking at each other, the situation still fresh in mind. Teddy was lost in his memories, warm visions of strawberry blonde hair, forget-me-not blues, and children's laughter echoing at the Burrow. Those times had been sweet, there had been no pressure, only love, giggles, and the smell of wildflowers.

But of course, they all had to grow. They all had to learn the truth.

"Listen Teddy. I'm sorry for the time-travel accident. I just wanted you to be happy, again." solemnly confessed James.

"James. The divorce was not your fault." said Teddy in his most severe tone.

"But, if I hadn't-"

"Stop. The truth was that not everything was going well between us." continued Teddy, as he tried to ignore every spat, every spade, all the hurtful words they had both said before his innocent godbrother entered in their story. "The incident was just the last straw that broke the camel's back."

"But-"

"The only thing you did wrong was to use the time-turner for personal use." Teddy closed his eyes and breathed harshly. "I understand why you did that. And I think - now at least - that if it was you instead of me, I may have done the same thing for you because I love you." intensely said Teddy, trying to apologize without apologizing.

James flushed brightly, his ears were brighter than his face.

"You can't just- dude- you- URG. Hufflepuff!" squeaked James.

His stammers made Teddy laugh heartily. Who cared if they were lost in time, penniless, with a child in their care? With James by his side, it will be one of their funny adventures, as always.

They both shared a big grin as they rushed back on their plans, Teddy gripping less harshly the quill and James making him laugh with asinine ideas.

James's POV

He laughed loudly as he left the room, dear Teddy did need to put on some clothes after all. Not that the sight of Teddy's torso disturbed James, he liked it, a little bit too much one could say. He kept his big false grin as he walked back to his room - even if he was a pure extrovert, he needed some peace, well, he would have loved to fly, but their situation was a little on the bad side of dangerous.

He sighed heavily as he closed the door of his room.

"James Sirius Potter. You're such a fucked up."

As always, whispered in his mind an annoying voice similar to his know-it-all cousin, everything was his damn fault.

This time, he had done it; he sent his godbrother and himself to the past. They were in time with a dark lord, many unknown enemies, shit, he didn't even have any family or friends beside Teddy that is His godmother had been the minister of magic, his father had been Head Auror; James was an extrovert, he could easily open up to anyone, and he had easily managed to keep a big social circle, he knew his world.

Now, he knew no one - except for Teddy, Harry, and the Unspeakables. Sure, his colleagues were interested in his travel, but it wasn't the same, James will have to take time to establish a new social circle. Without it, he will be useless when times will come.

"Mom. Are we doing the right thing?" whispered the messy-haired man.

Teddy and he had shared one glance.

One glance and they both understood - there was no going back to their timeline, they both were men of actions - they will change things. If it had been anyone else - Rose, his parents, his uncles, and even his aunts - they would have never changed anything. But James was a selfish being, he would choose to be erased if it meant that his father lived happily. Whatever everyone said, Harry Potter was James's dad, his protector - he took care of James and Teddy, he gave them both the happiest life he could.

They were saving as many as possible, their uncle Fred, Teddy's parents and even if they could, Sirius Black, Albus Dumbledore, and Severus Snape. James was a powerful wizard, he had knowledge that would make even Voldemort orgasm. And nobody should forget Edward Remus "call me Teddy" Lupin, the best Auror who had been mentored by James' father.

Everything will be alright, they were always fine when it involved Teddy. James just had to believe it.

They asked for an audience with Lord Arcturus Black through Kreacher, they weren't sure how they managed to convince the elf, but James played it well. The truth was that James liked Kreacher at least the one from home, this Kreacher was so different it was shocking. He remembered those times when the elf made James his favorite food and his favorite sweet, besides the elf possessed a sassy personality that James enjoyed a lot. The older Kreacher always had a soft spot for James, because the young boy always laughed when the elf rolled his eyes at his dad and mom.

Besides, James was a fervent member of the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare. James had a passion for magical creatures, he spent many of his holidays helping uncle Charlie take care of Dragons, then he had his godmother, or Aunt Mione, who always spoke about many of the difficulties she encountered when she worked for the Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.

Honestly, if the Unspeakables hadn't recruited James, he would have either worked with magical creatures or become a famous quidditch player, those two passions made his blood rush with adrenaline and excitement. In the end, he had accepted the job at the Department of the Ministry of Magic, though no one in the family had realized what James's job - not at first, of course, his aunt Hermione was the one who had discovered that truth, he remembered it quite well.

Flashback

James looked at Fred and mimicked vomiting, his best friend snorted in his pasta, making the messy-haired boy grin. Rose Granger-Weasley was at it again, she had finished her OWLs and they were all ignoring what happened with dear old Albie and his friend the cute Malfoy - who would have thought that a Malfoy could be cute, not their family at least. - Rose, of course, was being her annoying self, the girl did have brains and all that jazz, but, jeez could she talk! And she only cared about her and her reputation.

James hid a wince, it wasn't true, his cousin could be caring but she was as tactful as James, and even worse sometimes. Honestly, between her and him, James wondered how the heck Albus and Hugo managed. As he grew, the eldest Potter sibling started to realize that his words could really hurt people, and he never realized that he should have tried harder with Albus. For James, his relationship with Albus was quite fine, and they both knew where the other stood, but after all the trouble that found Albus - for James believed that trouble found the Potters, they never searched for it - the elder sibling had taken aside his younger brother to have a Hufflepuff moment, so to say.

"-course, the examiner was quite impressed-"

He never knew Rose could be such an asshole; the thing was that Rose and James had been quite close, even if it had always been team Fred and James, and Albus and Rose. The girl was the same age as Albus and James' god sister and cousin, she also was the firstborn of her family, they both knew the expectation the world had for them. There were many times when James went to seek his godparents and spent the night at his uncle and aunt's house; it was quite normal in their family.

Then Rose followed James in Gryffindor, and though she loved to spout knowledge wherever she went, she also loved Quidditch. Rose wasn't that strong either, she did have her weak moments, sometimes, she too could lack confidence, and she always sought James during those moments to just speak. She disliked pranking but James liked spending time with her; he had never thought that their behavior could hurt others.

"-about you, Albus? OWLs went well?"

The difference between James and Rose was that James never mended in the life of others, he had always known that Albus would go to Slytherin - it was one of the reasons why he teased the boy ruthlessly about his sorting, James was easing everyone else to the idea of Albus in Slytherin, sadly he had failed.

He sighed in his pasta, he needed to stop thinking about all of that.

"What about you, James?" asked Grandpa Arthur.

"Huh?" answered James, quite startled that someone was speaking to him, weren't they supposed to gush over Albus and Rose?

"James passed his NEWTs, dad." answered his mother as she rolled her eyes. "He'll start working for the Ministry starting August."

"You disappoint me, dear nephew, I thought you would join me at the shop." said his Uncle George before falling on his pasta, ignoring Aunt Angelina and Grandma's hiss, and fake-crying.

"I'm so sorry, Uncle Georges, it seems that my will lacked strength, I've joined the Dark Side. Mwahahaha!" exclaimed loudly James as he jumped on his chair.

"My sweet nephew! No, what have they done to you! I should have protested when your parents chose your godmother." continued Uncle George as he clenched his heart.

"Well, I think that my godson is quite mature!" protested Aunt Mione with a withering glare at Uncle Georges.

"Not going for the Auror Academy, James?" asked his godfather Ron.

James winced heavily at that, no way was he becoming an Auror. He respected them, but there were many times when his father had to go to work, sometimes he was absent for a week; secretly, James had disliked the job, it had taken his father and Teddy, who worshipped dad. James was really grateful to have escaped that trap.

"Er, no. Not for me, uncle Ron. Y'know me and violence, meh." quickly answered James.

Albus and Rose snorted loudly at that.

"Sure, say that to my poor shoulder, James. If I could have a sickle for all those times you pushed me around…" sarcastically interrupted Albus.

"Hey! You take too much time in the shower! Going before you is self-preservation at this point." said back James.

"Dude, you take more time than me!" shouted back Albus.

"Oh sure, I do." sweetly continued James. "In Albie-world perhaps, but here on earth, we count time differently old chap."

"And that's why I take my shower in the evening." cut Lily, as she gave an exasperated look at her siblings.

"Shut up, Lily!" shouted both brothers at the same time.

Their father's cough interrupted the three and they all apologized.

"So James, in which department will you work?" asked grandma Molly who seemed appeased that he wasn't chasing after dragons or dark wizards.

If only she knew the truth, thought James.

"Some kind of PA for the magical sports' department" answered James.

"You could've assisted me, James. The pay would be higher in my department, we do work on some new innovative projects, it could interest you." said uncle Percy.

"Oh, and what would that be Percy?" asked in a simpering voice uncle George, his blue eyes twinkling.

"We're planning on making a magical plane and it-" eagerly answered uncle Percy.

"Didn't really want to know, Perce." quickly cut uncle Ron. "Georges was teasing."

"When is he not?" muttered Uncle Bill.

Though they weren't interested in magical planes, not if it was uncle Percy who was doing the speech, grandpa Arthur seemed really interested in the subject. James quickly went back to his discussion with Fred and Louis about the Adding potion, a new product that'll be launched this September, if uncle Georges and Ron managed to succeed in its creation. The potion temporarily added a new body part to the body, James already imagined an Albus with a third eye on his forehead.

"James. Are you sure you submitted all the paperwork?" asked James' dad.

"Sure did, dad." answered James as he looked up at the adults, his aunt Hermione was biting her lips.

"Hermione told me that she hadn't received them." said his dad, his eyes narrowed on James.

Holy heck, James had forgotten that his aunt had to officially sign the acceptance letter for every department in the ministry, except for the department of the mystery. The DoM was a separate body of the Ministry, the Minister of Magic didn't have the right to know who was an Unspeakable, but they knew the Head of the Department and the name of the avatar.

Everyone loved to say that Levi Daniels's identity was compromised, but the truth was that whenever an Unspeakable had to work with another department they took on that name, and it changed every sixty years.

"Er, I may have sent it near the deadline, I guess." muttered James as he shrugged his shoulders.

"James, I've finished those paperwork weeks ago!" hissed his aunt as she tried and failed to keep her temper in check.

James nearly gulped, "You did?", how the heck was his godmother that quick? He knew she didn't have a time turner.

Uncle Ron snorted as Aunt Mione bristled, "Don't underestimate your aunt's organization skill, mate, your aunt color-coded her schedules before Hogwarts. Reckon those skills got upgraded." he and James' father exchanged a secret smirk remembering their past.

"The point is that I haven't seen yours, James. Are you sure you didn't get scammed?" worriedly asked aunt Hermione.

"Scammed?" sharply asked Aunt Angie.

As they all conversed about some new type of scamming down by nefarious people in Knockturn Alley which targeted young wide-eyed graduating students, James tried to think as quickly as he could about what type of excuse he could give his aunt. The thing was that Unspeakables weren't supposed to tell their identity, not even to their family, and no one else - except for James - had that many members of his family working in high positions i.e. the Minister of Magic is his godmother and auntie. What was a man to do?

He cursed internally for his lack of forethought, he should have discussed it with his new boss. Thankfully (or not) for him, his savior came in the form of his cousin/godsister, though her intentions weren't that honest if one was to listen to her words.

"You should tell her the truth, James." loudly exclaimed Rose, her blue eyes teasing him mercilessly, his heart nearly stopped; had his genius cousin figured out the truth? thought the messy-haired boy.

"What do you mean, Rose?" asked Hugo, who wanted his sister to share the secret.

"Well, it's obvious, isn't it?" continued the red-haired, a smirk drawn on her lips, as everyone shut up and turned their attention on her, eyes painted with curiosity, even James. The only one who didn't seem to care what she was saying was Albus, the Slytherin rolled his eyes and took a bite of his pasta instead.

"What's obvious, Rosie?" asked Uncle Ron.

"James is jobless." easily answered Rose.

James' eyes twinkled mischievously as he looked at his bushy-haired cousin, and here she was, teasing him again.

"Hey! James has more capacity than you, Rosie-tosser!" defended loudly Freddie.

"Rose Granger-Weasley!" scolded Hermione.

"James?" softly asked his mother.

The messy-haired boy met his mother's worried light brown-eyes, the same shade as his. James loved both of his parents, equally, Lily was a daddy's girl and Albus tended to speak more to their mom; which was quite weird, Lily looked so much like his mom but she had deep brown eyes and wore glasses, and Albus was a carbon copy of their dad with randoms freckles added on his body.

James, who looked like his dad with a lighter shade of hair and his mom's warm eyes, disliked disappointing his parents. "I really was accepted in the Ministry mom, wouldn't lie in front of grandma, would I?" easily said James with a big grin.

"You sure you weren't scammed?" sharply asked his dad, his intense eyes on James as if he tried to find evidence of abduction or evil on James.

"Sure, dad. Went to a job interview in dress robes, and even visited the workplace. Hell, I even reserved my place in the lounge area before leaving." continued James, remembering the way his future colleagues tried to remain calm despite the Potter's arrogant claims on a seat. James concluded that the majority of them were Ravenclaws, a quarter was Slytherins and the rest were a mix of others - they made it too easy.

"You wore dress robes?" asked Albus.

"You went to an interview?" asked, at the same time, Lily.

"That's my nephew!" shouted uncle George.

"What did you do, James?" That was his dad, his mother, and Uncle Percy.

"I'm so proud of you dear!" shouted grandma Weasley.

"But! If you've been accepted and interviewed, you should've been given a specific Law book?" sharply asked Hermione, except that her voice was drowned by James' mother.

"Mom!" shouted a red-face Ginny.

As his mother and grandma rowed about James' prankster tendency, the messy-haired boy answered his godmother.

"Sure did Aunt Mione" he was the only one allowed to call her that. "Recall that it's a smaller one tied to the big book six."

"Ah, ha!" shouted Rose. "You're not working for the Ministry, but a smaller bureau!"

"Busted cousin, still it's a job as a PA in R&D for Sports - I'm going places." continued James with an arrogant smile.

"Well, as long as you're happy." continued Rose. "But I knew you were hiding something!" shouted Rose, making Roxanne and Freddy snort.

"I'm proud of you, James." said Ginny Potter, the worry leaving her eyes.

"Yes, well done, son." added his father, the firmness leaving his body.

The loud dinner continued as everyone launched themselves at his cousin Louis who had found himself in a triad. But James felt his godmother's eyes on him, he bravely met her sharp brown gaze and winked. He knew she knew that there were no smaller books in department six - the Department of Magical Games and Sports, actually the only Law Book separated into 'smaller' books was the Ministry Law Book, which was divided into Seven Law books, one for each department. However, only one other department had a divided Book - Department seven, the Department of Mystery, that knowledge was known only by the Ministry of Magic and the workers at the DoM.

He knew that his aunt wouldn't tell a soul his secret. He hid a snicker behind a cough, without meaning to his aunt was now on the biggest prank James was pulling on his family - this was brilliant, someone at least will understand his inside jokes!

End of Flashback

He breathed out heavily, those were peaceful days and, though James was a grown-up now, he would have preferred to not grow. Actually, he would give anything to return to those halcyon days when he only thought about pranks, quidditch, and food. Having good parents, siblings, extended family - he always thought that everyone had it.

The reality check had been hard on him, between learning about some serious mess from his former friends and learning about mental health, Albus' anxiety, and so on… But the sight of their father - their protector, the sassy Auror with serious green eyes - dressed in grey rags, his dad who was wired with some muscles and the shy appearance of a loose belly, as a tiny child with only skin and bones working on some flowers with cracked lips and an aura of misery surrounding him? It made him so fucking angry, James had never felt that strongly before.

The days were blurred, James got up, made breakfast, and went to work, then the evening he would play with his dad's younger self to teach him some basic stuff. It was such a normal day, a banal day, although Harry was a kind kid and picked up things quickly, James felt like he was suffocating.

He was twenty-six, he should be out partying with his friends, drinking with colleagues, or just chill with Freddy and Louis. Instead, here he was, sitting in an old house teaching things, that James had never truly seen the need of, to a kid. He wasn't Teddy, who easily managed to play with children - the lad did have many experiences with babysitting - and understand Harry, heck the man even taught Harry history through chocolate! How is that possible?

"Jamie are you okay? You seem pretty off…" trailed Teddy.

James' mouth moved before he even had to think "Should be calling me handsome, I haven't been pretty since I was a baby."

Teddy only rolled his eyes before popping up a cold cola from the fridge and sliding it to James. James thanked him and they both silently drank their beverages without speaking, that is, until Teddy lost his patience.

" Seriously James, is there something wrong? You've been quite…" he seemed to hesitate with the word, or perhaps it was just difficult to describe James. "dementor-like." finished stupidly Lupin.

"Jeez man, I know you're no Shakespeare but at least pick-up a thesaurus, it'd do you good."

"You needn't avoid the conversation." said Teddy before taking a long sip of his cola, and burping.

That caused James to laugh, the situation was ridiculous, heck, Teddy Lupin was the best entertainment that graced Earth, nobody made James feel that good except for Teddy.

"Never change blue-man."

"As long as you keep that grin on your face and we're good." quickly shoot back Teddy with a wink before leaving the kitchen with his cola still in hand.

James' heart nearly skipped a bit, "damn Hufflepuff." whispered the messy-haired man.

If Grimmauld place was a thestral, the Black Castle would be a Pegasus, mused James as he gazed at the big luminous place and with large windows. He whistled in appreciation as the house-elf invited Teddy and him inside the parlor, the blue-haired man gave him a fierce glare reminding him to be more 'Sirius' (he let out a small chuckle at the nice inside joke).

"James." hissed Teddy.

"Alright, alright," loudly said James, "you already got me to wear dress robes though, can't I catch a breath?"

Teddy only sighed because he knew it was the truth, he and James occasionally wore dress robes for official events, however, the looks went out in the early 2000s. James preferred to wear ripped jeans with a shirt and jacket, Teddy was even more badass, sometimes going for crop-tops - only during his days-offs though - and chokers were a must for the blue-haired lad.

James loved to see Teddy wear chokers, he did try it on himself but he didn't look as dangerous or badass as Teddy, too bad. The only uniform that managed to show all of James' sexiness was his quidditch uniform, red and gold looked amazing on him.

"Potter?" exclaimed a strong authoritative voice, James turned his head directly to face the man who recognized him, then his expression faltered as he realized he gave away his identity in one second; the groan coming out Teddy was enough evidence for the old man in front of them.

"Greetings, Lord Black." politely greeted James with his public face, something he learned from both his parents.

"And who are you?" asked the impatient man he sneered at Teddy's blue hair. Of course, they forgot about Teddy's hair, James nearly face-palmed, it was such a natural thing that they hadn't been careful, those uncomfortable dress robes had been too high on their list for they were now useless. First impressions really weren't Teddy's thing it seemed.

"Teddy Duncan." quickly answered Teddy.

"A mudblood?"

Teddy and James exchanged a tired glance, was everyone going to behave like that? This time-traveling business sucked, the culture was so different, people had different dress-codes, used different words. James always thought his parents spoke like old people, but since he's been there his colleagues, the portrait, and everyone spoke archaically.

"Not quite." answered Teddy with a grimace. "We need to talk to you." Old man Arcturus scowled even more, and James was sure that the next thing he was going to say would be nasty. "It's about Black business." finished Teddy before using his powers and changing his hair color through every shade of a rainbow and going back to blue.

Whatever old Arcturus was going to say died on his lips, his face was ashen, he let out a gasp and clutched his heart; James and Teddy rushed toward the man whose knees went weak. "Are you alright? Need some water?" quickly asked Teddy, as he took out his wand.

"No, no, I'm fine." wheezed out Lord Black before getting up on his feet, his posture suddenly as regal as before. However, James would never forget this moment; from all the stories he heard about his dad's godfather's family, he always imagined men in their forties, strong, sneering, and hexing anyone, throwing galleons at the feet of peasants. He never thought that Lord Black would have greyish pale hair instead of black, a wrinkled forehead, a trimmed grey beard, and those, suddenly, tired silver eyes. "Follow me, we'll speak in the living room."

As they walked, the messy-haired man felt something strange, the house may have been airier than Grimmauld, but it was even more silent. This place was so huge, that even the works of the houselves went unheard, everything was clean - too clean; it was clear as a crystal for James, no one except Lord Black lived here. That was quite sad.

"Whose son are you?" asked Arcturus Black in his authoritative voice.

Teddy and James looked at each other, before deciding something that they thought they would never do here.

They told him the truth.

- To be continued