Okay so this chapter is really long, and the next one will probably be long too because it's kind of the beginning of the end of this story (!) so yeah. Enjoy :)

Thanks to HogwartsDreamer113 and Kitamiyu for reviewing!

Disclaimer-I don't own Harry Potter, nor any affiliated characters or plots.

1995

"I feel like this is a little rude," Ginny remarked, in the midst of tying her long orange hair into a ponytail.

His mother both had changed a lot and hadn't since she was fifteen, Albus thought. The Ginny he knew was prone to the same odd remarks that made bad situations seem much better in an instant, but she was also more nervous, worrying after James and Al when they played Quidditch in the backyard with no one to cast a cushioning charm if one of them fell. This Ginny seemed confident and relaxed even in the face of breaking out of a top secret meeting place and breaking into another.

"How?" Al asked, rolling his wand between his forefinger and his thumb, the comforting feel of the carved lines against his skin calming him down. He wondered, absentmindedly, if anyone would notice that his wand was different. His father's had no carvings and the wood was a shade lighter.

"Well, we're sneaking off in the middle of an Order meeting. It's like, a bunch of people who are trying to protect us all failing at once."

"Having second thoughts, Gin?" Albus still had no idea which twin was which, but either Fred or George was now leaning against the doorframe of Al and Ron's bedroom, grinning at them with a twinkle of mischief in his eye.

"'Course not," Ginny replied. "Just saying. Are we ready to go yet?"

"I still think we should take better precautions," Hermione said, as they made their way up to Fred and George's room. "The meeting will only last so long."

"When else are we supposed to go?" Ron reminded her. "We've talked about this. Any other time of day Mum'll be making us dust something that hasn't seen light in centuries." This might have been a slight exaggeration, but privately Albus agreed. There was still a line of black under his fingernails from the day they'd cleaned out the cupboards in the parlor.

Fred and George's room was messy, but there wasn't any time to bother about it. "Everyone grab onto me and George," Fred announced. George, to his left, held out an arm like he was a coatrack.

Albus held onto Fred's forearm, Ginny his hand. He felt a nervous twist in his stomach. They'd practiced apparating from the twins' room to Harry and Ron's and then to Ginny and Hermione's with two people clinging to each licensed apparater, but never long distances. If one of them got splinched, then the whole operation was over.

"You know where you're going, right?" Albus asked, trying to deny that he was stalling. He had already described the grounds of Malfoy Manor as well as he could to Fred and George, hoping that not much had changed from 1995 until the summer before fifth year when he'd visited Scorpius that July. He'd said he read it in an old book, and George had asked if he was really Hermione in disguise.

"Yes, Harry," both twins said at the same time. They raised their wands, and with a loud crack! The world disappeared.

Albus had forgotten how much he hated side-along. With the addition of the nausea and confusion, Ginny's elbows were digging painfully into his ribs.

They landed exactly where they were supposed to be, next to an ivy covered wall. It looked solid, but Albus knew it wasn't. Even though it was the beginning of August, it was rainy and cool in Wiltshire, and they had landed in the mud.

Albus turned around when another crack sounded. George appeared, Ron and Hermione hanging onto his arm. Ron looked a bit green, but otherwise they confirmed their wellbeing.

"Alright, Harry," Ginny said, drawing her wand. The others followed suit. "Where to?"

Albus was very grateful for that miserable trip to the manor with Scorpius-Draco Malfoy had been out, and so had Astoria, so that left the two boys with Lucius, who in his old age had grown bitter and short tempered, especially after Narcissa had died several years before, widely celebrated in the Wizarding World while her husband was viewed with contempt. Scorpius and Al had spent the whole week finding ways to avoid his grandfather, and one of them included sneaking out of the grounds through a false wall.

He said a quick prayer that he had remembered the right place, and pressed his hand to a spot the ivy didn't cover. Up to his wrist, his skinny fingers and pale palm disappeared into the wall as if it wasn't there.

"Woah," Ron said, behind his left shoulder.

Al smiled at them. "Old houses have lots of secrets. So, Ron and I have the cloak, Hermione and Ginny are doing disillusionment charms, and Fred and George are transfiguring, yeah?"

There was a general murmuring of agreement. Albus pulled out the cloak, glad that his dad had left it in his trunk instead of keeping it on his person-it was James's week to have it and otherwise Albus would've had to explain its disappearance.

With a deep breath, he stepped through the wall. The grounds of the manor were as well kept as they would be in almost thirty years-neatly trimmed lawns, flower pots overflowing with plants that couldn't be native to England, and… was that a peacock?

Albus glanced behind him to see four faint outlines behind him instead of two. Fred and George must have put the charms on themselves to get into the house. It was a good idea; Albus felt a little stupid to have not thought of it himself.

He felt an arm touch his through the invisibility cloak, and whirled around to see the outline of a rather bushy ponytail. Hermione was holding onto his elbow to keep from losing Albus and Ron. Al wondered how she'd seen them, and then remembered that it was raining and they were walking on dirt paths. He began to walk toward the side of the house, where he knew there was a servants' door.

Just as Albus and Ron were nearing the steps that lead down to the door-it was in the cellar, it swung open. Ron immediately pulled Al to the grass so they weren't making footprints. There was a tug on Al's elbow as Hermione was jerked along with him. He hoped Ginny, Fred, and George had managed to get out of the way as well.

Snape, looking very angry as his hair began to cling to his face in the rain, turned toward the main gate of the manor with a flourish and the flick of his robes behind him. He paused for a moment and stared right at Albus.

There was absolutely no way he could see them-Hermione was brilliant with disillusionment charms and the invisibility cloak didn't get holes, but Snape's glare made Albus uncomfortable anyway. Finally, with a wrinkle of his nose at the sky, the professor began his trudge to the front of the manor, leaving trails of muddy footsteps that disappeared quickly in the downpour.

Since the wall around the manor was nearly foolproof unless you knew someone who lived inside, they'd figured that security in the gardens would be a little lax, minus the Death Eaters who had to be hanging around.

"Alohomora," Ron whispered, but the lock didn't turn. Albus wanted to hiss at him to do the spell silently, but then he remembered that wasn't taught until sixth year.

Luckily, they'd planned for enchanted locks. Albus and Ron stepped out of the way as the outline of either Fred or George stepped up to the lock. After a few hand movements that were impossible to make out, the lock made a clicking sound and the handle turned. The twin who had picked the lock opened it a small crack and slipped through.

Al and Ron were the last two inside. They were in a cellar that appeared to be stocked with food. It was also blissfully empty and silent.

"Snape must have stayed here late for a meeting," Hermione whispered, impossible to see in the dim lighting. "That means there'll be an army throughout the house."

"It also means that Rose is here," Albus replied, also in a whisper.

He heard a sigh, and then Hermione said, "You sound like you know her. You know, personally."

"Good luck, Hermione," he said, trying to drop a hint. She seemed to have caught it, because she didn't say anything else.

"Everyone know the plan?" Ginny's voice came from near the only exit in the room, a dim hallway.

There was a chorus of quiet agreement. With the knowledge that the manor had five floors, including the cellar, it had been decided that each of the groups would comb two except for Albus and Ron, who would get the first and largest story.

The six teenagers dispersed, and Albus and Ron found themselves in the entrance hall of the large manor.

"Where first?" Ron breathed into Al's ear.

"There's probably a library around here, right?" Al replied. He knew the library was on the first floor, but its exact location had escaped him.

"Yeah," Ron agreed. "Yeah, that's a good idea." They started toward the corridor at the other end of the room, careful to keep in step with each other. Ron was almost tall enough for the cloak to show his ankles.

There was hushed murmuring in the library. The two boys stopped right next to the doorway, trying to press their ears into the wall in an attempt to eavesdrop.

"Something about legitimacy?" Ron guessed, his brow furrowed in concentration.

"Legilimency," Al corrected, louder than he'd intended. No one in the library seemed to have heard, but there was scuffling around the corner of the hall.

"Did you hear that?" one voice said.

"Sounded like kids," said another.

Next to Albus, Ron shifted his weight. "There are two," he hissed. "We can each take one."

"We're both under the cloak."

"Then one of us has to leave. It's the only way-or else it'll be like one person fighting two if both of us have to move together." Ron was frowning and his whispers were beginning to rise in volume.

"Okay, okay," Albus said. "You take the cloak."

"No, Harry. They'll kill you!"

"They'll kill you!" But Ron had already shoved off the cloak, darting across the doorway toward the intersecting hallway. Albus stifled a curse, but moved to follow the taller boy.

Ron hadn't approached his wizard when Albus got to the end of the hallway. Al darted around the corner. His Death Eater was pretty short and stocky, gripping his wand tightly and glaring at the walls as he strode through the house, away from his fellow guard. Perfect.

A quick stunner got rid of him-Al could cast them silently and he had the help of the invisibility cloak. A shout from the other end of the hall told him that Ron was having a harder time. He whirled around and ran back toward the sound of the fighting-bugger the cloak, he had bigger problems, to see Ron pinned to the wall by the wizard he'd been deuling.

"Intruders!" the wizard shouted, his grin and eyes wider than they should've been. Al remembered he was still clutching the cloak and threw it on over his head, raising his wand to help Ron.

He didn't get a chance to. Someone with very bushy red hair caught the Death Eater around the middle and tackled him to the ground, like they were playing American football. Ron slumped to the ground. Al stepped forward and stunned the man, and then pulled off the cloak.

"Rose!" The girl whirled around as he spoke, her hair circling her head like a cloud. She frowned at Albus in confusion, and he remembered that he still looked like his dad.

"How do you my name?" Rose demanded.

"We've come to rescue you," Ron said.

"Well," she said with a hmmpf! "You're a bit late, if you haven't noticed. I've already gotten away."

All three of them froze as they heard laughter coming from near the library. "Did you hear that? She thinks she's gotten away!" someone said.

"Damn." Albus muttered. "We need to-" His wand shot out of his hand and into the air, flipping end over end as it fell. He could see the arc of its fall, exactly where it would end up and how he needed to move to catch it, but suddenly his limbs wouldn't move.

A body-bind. Of course. Ron looked restrained as well, but Rose was watching them with wide eyes, as there must've only been two wizards attacking them. She shook her head, backing up and looking behind Albus with a nervous grimace. "I haven't got my wand. I'm sorry, I really am." Rose turned on her heel and sprinted down the hall, turning the corner just as the curses that had been chasing her hit the wall with a hiss.

All of the sudden, there was a shriek coming from somewhere Al couldn't see, and then two more Death Eaters turned the corner with Rose's forearms clutched in their arms, lifting her up so only the tips of her toes dragged on the carpet. She struggled again, letting out a shout when their grip tightened.

"You idiots." A woman with long, curly black hair strode into the scene from behind Albus and Ron. "Restrain her properly. We'll have fun later." The woman who Al realized must've been Bellatrix Lestrange, put on an unsettling grin and tapped Rose's chin almost tenderly.

"Very well, Bellatrix." Lucius Malfoy, recognizable by his characteristic long blond hair, had entered as well. "We'll have to apparate out-the Dark Lord wants our audience immediately, with the girl and Harry Potter."

Albus thought Ron looked almost offended at the lack of mention of his name, but he pushed it to the back of his mind-it wasn't important right then. Lucius Malfoy lifted his wand and flicked it, presumably disabling the anti-apparition wards. Just then several cracks! sounded around the manor. There was the scuffling of feet and the shouting of spells. Bellatrix grabbed Rose and apparated out of the building.

Malfoy had his hand on Al's shoulder and his wand in the air when he was knocked over by something, sprawled on the ground and tangled in his robes, struggling to get up. Out of the corner of his eye, Albus saw a triumphant Ginny with Hermione rounding the corner behind her.

Hermione muttered the countercurse, and Al picked up his wand to see that she'd freed Ron too.

"The Order is here," Ginny said. She stopped Albus from going back into the entrance hall with a hand on his chest. "Harry, be careful. They're kind of angry."

With a thankful nod in her direction, Albus started down the hallway, Hermione, Ginny, and Ron following him.

1975

It was the weekend before the end of term, and Lily was running out of ways to avoid people. All exams were over, so she couldn't be studying so much anymore, and her roommates seemed to be realizing that she hadn't had a real conversation with them in about two weeks.

It was a rainy day when she used an excuse she figured would work about once: she was writing a letter to her sister. At home, she had very little contact with her Great Aunt Petunia; the last time they'd seen each other it had been at the end of the school year as she and Uncle Dudley were waiting to pick up Penelope from the train. Lily liked Penelope-she was a mild, nice person; a good break from the chaos of the rest of their family.

She had known somewhere in the back of her mind that her grandmother hadn't got on very well with her sister, especially since Petunia seemed to turn up her nose whenever magic entered the conversation. Lily had been nervous bringing it up when Alice suggested they play Wizard's Chess in the common room.

"I thought your sister hated you," Marlene remarked rather bluntly. Mary smacked her on the shoulder and Hestia rolled her eyes.

Lily bit her lip. "She's still my sister. I'd feel bad if I didn't write."

This, apparently, was in character, as the four other girls accepted the response and went back to their game. It didn't take much skill to see that Alice was going to win-in four rounds Marlene had already lost a knight and a rook. As far as Lily had seen, she was more in it to watch the pieces get hacked to, well, pieces whenever they were captured than win the game.

Lily went straight to the library, taking refuge at a secluded table tucked between the section on time travel and the section on inventing potions. A few students that she supposed were N.E.W.T. level were muttering to each other as they stared at the other side of the potions bookshelf, but Lily was sure they couldn't see her.

She took out the next book on her reading list-a compendium of time travel incidents with some Latin title that Lily couldn't pronounce. The first chapter was pretty boring, but she got about halfway through before she was interrupted.

"Hey, Lily." James slid into the seat next to her with the other three Marauders in tow. He rested his arms on the table, Sirius leaned back in his seat and Remus adjusted his glasses. Peter was frowning at Lily in a way that made the hairs on her arms stick up.

"Alice said you were writing a letter," Peter remarked.

"Oh," Lily replied, flustered. In an abrupt motion she shut her book and slid it into her bag, hoping they hadn't seen the title. "I've finished."

"Why didn't you send it?" Lily's gaze flicked over to Sirius in surprise. He raised an eyebrow and put his hands behind his head so he could rest his neck.

"I wanted to read." Remus was biting his lip, which Lily took as a good sign-he seemed reluctant to go through with whatever they were doing. Unfortunately James and Sirius were still looking at her like she was prey. Peter seemed caught somewhere in between.

"Okay," James said. "So, Potter, who were you writing to?"

Shit. Had he just called her Potter? Did he know? No, of course not. It had to be a mistake. Still, Lily felt like there was something off about this entire confrontation. "Erm, sorry, James, but I haven't married you. I dunno why you're calling me Potter." Direct eye contact is essential in telling a convincing lie. James's eyes were hazel with golden flecks in the middle. Lily thought they looked much nicer when he wasn't squinting in distrust.

Sirius shifted again, and Lily traced his movement without moving her head. He pulled out a piece of parchment and began to fiddle very obviously with it, folding it in his fingers and squeezing the creases together in his palms. James broke his gaze from Lily's face to smack Sirius on the arm and nod at the parchment. Sirius fixed him with a glare and then tenderly unfolded it.

What could be so important about a stupid piece of parchment that would make Sirius be so careful? Was it enchanted or something? Oh. Oh no. They'd found her out, then. Was there still a way to get out of this? Maybe if she denied it enough they would give up.

"See something you like, Potter?" Sirius asked in a sultry voice. Lily flicked her eyes away from the parchment to look at him as he wiggled his eyebrows, a smirk spread across his face.

"My name's not Potter. Maybe the real wedding here was to you and that parchment. You look like you're handling your true love there, Black."

"You can deny it all you want, but we have proof," Peter said in a quiet voice. Remus let a loud breath out of his nose, as if he was trying to scoff without making a sound.

"Right," Lily declared. "This is ridiculous. You've already screwed with me enough this year, Potter, don't make it worse." She slung her bag over her shoulder and stood up.

James stood up at the same time, and she cursed the fact that he was the taller one. "Yeah, this is ridiculous. Why don't you tell us why there's an imposter in the place of Lily?"

"An imposter? What the hell?"

"An imposter." Sirius was standing now too, and Peter. Remus looked reluctant to get into the fight, still seated and resting his chin on his palm. "We think you're a time traveler. Why else would the map say Lily Potter? James hasn't got any Lilies in the family." Sirius folded his arms and fixed Lily with a glare.

"Map? What map? Have you gone mad?" Eye contact, eye contact, eye contact. What was she supposed to do when she was lying to more than one person?

James sighed. "The map doesn't lie, Lily."

"Well." All four of them turned to Remus. "I mean, it could have some flaws; we only finished it last year-"

"-Shut up," Sirius interjected, pouting.

"Ignore Remus-" James started, but Lily had already begun to storm away toward the inventing potions section. She whirled around the corner of the bookshelf and slammed right into Severus Snape.

She'd fallen over, but he hadn't, and he glared at her for a moment with wide, angry eyes before breaking into a sprint toward the library exit. Lily stood up, cursing herself for letting the conversation get so loud.

"Was he listening to us?" James demanded, putting a hand on Lily's shoulder.

Oh, Merlin, if Snape knew too… and he was a Death Eater, or soon to be. This was a disaster. "The map," Lily said.

"What?"

"The Marauder's Map! That's what that is, yeah?" Lily was yelling at Sirius now, who stood stock still in the middle of the corridor between the bookshelves, the bloody piece of parchment locked in his fingers. "Open it!" she demanded, and he, still in shock from her display of knowledge, muttered the passcode and tapped his wand on the paper. Lily watched with satisfaction as the familiar lines of ink spread themselves across the parchment.

"Give it," she continued. Sirius, moving like he was walking through Jell-O, handed it over to her.

"How-" James began, but Lily shushed him and focused on the map. Damn it. Snape was already too close to the Slytherin common room to confront.

Lily cursed and shoved the map back into Sirius's hands. She leaned against the bookshelves and groaned. She was so screwed the bloody drill had run out of gas.

"Did Snape hear us?" James's voice cut into her misery.

"Probably," Lily replied. "Why'd you have to do that in a public place, huh? D'you know how stupid that was? Why couldn't you have kidnapped me or something?"

"You would've rather had us kidnap you?" Sirius asked, incredulous.

Lily sighed and slid down the bookshelf to sit on the ground. "No."

"So, you are a time traveler," Peter said, breaking the silence between the five of them. Lily sighed, and figured she couldn't deny it anymore. With a distrustful glare at Peter, she stood up and shook imaginary dust out of her skirt.

"We're not doing this here. Does anyone else live in your dormitory?"

They shook their heads, and Lily turned around to go to Gryffindor Tower.