A/n: If I start claiming to own Harry Potter hit me with a shovel.

(Some of) The rules of Parcheesi- Parcheesi is an east Indian game that is played a lot like the game 'Sorry'. Each player has four game pieces shaped like various Indian animals. The goal is to get all your pieces out of 'start' and all the way around the board to 'home'. Dice are rolled to decide how many spaces a player may move. To exit 'start' one must roll a five. Getting one of your pieces home gives you an extra ten spaces to move. If your piece lands on a space that already has an opponents piece on it the opponent's piece is sent back to start and you gain 20 extra spaces to move. (That's all you need to know to read this fic, but there are more rules than that).

"My name is James Sirius Potter. I was born in the year 2004, and I grew up hearing stories about my grandfather and his friends and their amazing pranks from my dad, Harry James Potter," James said.

Prongs was elated to have a son, and a grandson.

Sirius was washed with concerned for the boy who he was certain would one day be his godson.

Neither of the marauders was able to voice their emotion; Harry beat them to it.

"No, that's not possible," murmured Harry from the floor. "That can't... I can't have a son...".

James pulled Harry into a sitting position and leaned him against the wall of the cell. "Shh... It's okay. It's okay".

"James, i'm dead. I can't have a son. I'm dead," Harry said in a matter-of-fact way that broke James's heart.

"Shush... your scaring the elderly" James whispered into his father's ear. Harry gave him a sad smile and a look of understanding. A silent agreement passed between the two of them to preserve the 'space time continuum' whatever happened.

'The elderly' definitely looked confused, if not down right worried.

"Erm... James? is he okay?" asked Sirius.

Harry rolled his eyes. He was right there.

"He's fine. Well... no he's not but he will be"said James.

Prongs smiled. "Good. No child of mine shall ever suffer," he said with faux-nobility.

Sirius joined in. "So saith the King".

Harry really wished that he could rest in peace. As it was he had to bite his tongue to keep from shouting. He wanted to tell his father a million things. Don't trust Wormtail he wanted to say, What were my grandparents like?, Don't leave me with the Durslys, Which Quidditch team did you support?, and most fitting for the moment Don't make promises you definitely can't keep. Instead he sat quietly and watched the others have a light and cheery conversation that his most decidedly non- light and cheery opinion would ruin.

"The king of what?" asked James.

"Quidditch" the marauders said together reminding Harry of happier times. In Harry's time there was a different 'Quidditch King', Harry's first and best friend.

Harry was surprised when James started whistling the tune to Weasly is our King. He decided to join in, and pay homage to Ron where ever he was. Harry felt guilty for leaving him and Hermione, but he was glad that they would have each other to lean on.

The Marauders applauded when they finished.

"Bravo, Bravo"said Prongs. "Lovely".

James wrinkled his nose. "You have to say that; you're my grandpa".

Grandpa Prongs laughed "So I am... So I am".

"Y'know Prongsy dear, you're missing the point of this whole 'meeting your future progeny' thing" said Sirius quite seriously.

"Oh, I see your point Mr. Padfoot. I see your point," Prongs eyed Harry and James. "So Prongs III who exactly is Prongs Jr's mother?".

James went bug-eyed. He could tell Prongs that!

Harry had it covered. "Oh, er... I always considered you to be my more maternal father".

"Wait what?" Prongs was scandalized.

"You know Prongs... you could have told us you were Gay. We wouldn't have minded. Remus is a bloody werewolf Prongs, and we still talk to him," Said Sirius.

Sirius was laughing his laugh again. Harry made an effort not to look at him, but still he could feel the panic start to creep back in.

James, noticing his discomfort, decided to step in. "Yeah, well Sirius when he told you- or tells you, you do a whole lot more than just talk".

Harry saw where James was going. "James Sirius Potter, I cannot believe that you just made a dirty joke about your Grandparents." He said sternly.

"Sorry Grandfathers I didn't mean to unsettle you," said a very repentant James.

Padfoot and Prongs, who were often inseparable, had scooted away from each other. Neither of them would look at anything other than the floor.

"Prongs?" Sirius said quietly. "Maybe-"

"Sirius stop talking. I'm trying to go to my happy place".

Sirius looked hurt. "Well, I'm sorry I'm not good enough for you. I'm sorry I'm not Lilly. Wait, no i'm not! I'm here for you, guess who's never been there for you: Lilly Flower Evans! Look James, until today I didn't even know that I was gay, but if... since I am there is no one that I would rather be with. Maybe... Maybe we can-" He stopped mid-sentence.

James was cackling, and even Harry was smiling.

"What?!" asked James.

"I think the Prongslets have out pranked us" said Sirius.

Prongs nodded. "Well If someone had to do it i'm glad it was them".

"Just to clear things up: neither of us are actually gay, right?" said Sirius.

"Not that I know of," said Harry.

"My aunt thinks you and Remus Lupin were in a passionate relationship," said James.

Sirius face palmed.

About an hour later Prongs had conjured a magical board game that turned out to be Parcheesi, but with living miniature animals rather then plastic ones. They had sat down to play after some smack talking from the Jameses. Harry's camels made a valiant effort, but Harry's lack of tactical strategy doomed them early on in the game. Sirius was the next to fall. After he realized that he had little chance of winning he started ordering his tigers to attack James's elephants, because if Sirius couldn't win, at least he could help his fellow marauder to.

Prongs did win, but James contested it.

"If Sirius hadn't gone all Kamikaze on me I would have won!" he said angrily.

"As if" Said Prongs. "I was born to play Parcheesi".

"Then I must have gotten my Parcheesi skills from you," said James cheerily.

"Must've skipped a generation," said Harry. "I'm rubbish at it".

"I'm hungry," said Sirius.

As soon as he said it, a kitchen appeared in the corner of the cell.

Harry was glad. He was getting hungry too. "I'll cook dinner, and while I do, you all can play another game".

Harry learned how to cook as soon as he could reach the kitchen counters. By the age of nine he was proficient enough to rival any house marm. What he never told any one was that he actually enjoyed cooking. He loved the intricate nature of the most complex dishes that forced him to concentrate on the food, and only on the food.

A pantry appeared as soon as Harry felt the need of it. Inside was every ingredient Harry could have even imagined needing, which defied So-n-so's law, about not being able to conjure food, but Harry didn't care. He took several chicken breasts and cut them into bite sized pieces. He filled the biggest pot he could find with water and the chicken bits.

Harry moved on to grab celery and onions, and began to chop them up. He began to think on the events of the day. When he died he most certainly hadn't imagined that the after life would be like this. He a had been distressed at first; all he wanted was to rest in peace. This version of the after life definitely wasn't peaceful, but it was... good. Perhaps, he mused, the one who died has to be at peace before they can rest in peace.

Maybe the three other's in the cell were personifications of the things that were troubling him when he died. Sirius was obvious, Harry hadn't gotten over his death, and seeing Sirius like this, pre-azkaban, unspoiled, was definitely doing something to him. Following that chain of thought, Prongs probably represented his dissatisfaction with his childhood, and his longing to know his parents. That left James.

James had puzzled him at first. Scratch that, James still puzzled him. The boy who claimed to be his son. Harry had thought it to be impossible. How could he have a son? When Harry died it was 1998. James claimed to have been born in 2004. It just wasn't possible, but under Harry's new theory it made sense.

James was a representation of all the things Harry's life could have been if Voldemort hadn't made a mess of it. It hurt Harry that his son would never exists. James, on first examination, was exactly like his name sake, arrogant and rambunctious but with a heart of gold, but if you looked again you would see a caring thoughtful boy. Harry suspected that James was trying too hard to be like a romanticized version of Prongs, instead of just being himself.

Harry had to congratulate his dying mind on the poetry of this hallucination. And he had to admit, it was working. He had found himself joking and smiling with the other boys, teaming up with James to come up with crazy stories about his mum/his numerous siblings (Enough to fill two quidditch teams)/Prongs's future in general.

Harry was proud of his dying mind for coming up with such a poetic way to bring his worldly worries and bother, his unfinished business to rest.

He slipped the chopped vegetables in with the cooking chicken, and started making dumplings. He had the recipe memorized. He'd found it when he'd first started cooking for his aunt, and cherished it ever since.

It was an old Evans family recipe passed from mother to daughter for generations and it filled Harry with delight to cook some thing his mother would have eaten as a child, and possibly even cooked herself.

He hoped the other boys would enjoy it as well. Even if they were figments of his imagination,he liked them.

Sirius wasn't holding anything back this time, the gloves were off, the gauntlet had been thrown, and Sirius Orion Black was going to win or die trying. To respond to Sirius's new fighting spirit Prongs and The Prongslet had, for the time being, teamed up to beat him down. Sirius claimed to be wounded by Prongs's betrayal, and, in an act of high dudgeon, sent one of The Prongslet's elephant's back to home base.

Prongs hollered "NOO! NOT MY GRANDBABY!" and took out two of Sirius's tiger's in the subsequent turns.

Sirius naturally began plotting his vengeance. He rolled the dice and hoped for the best. Ah! A five and a six. He could work with this.

"Rajah, use the five to exit start. Tigger I believe that you are six spaces away from home?" he said. 'Rajah' ambled out of start and started to groom herself. 'Tigger' sauntered to home and looked at Sirius with lazy eyes. He considered him self an experienced game piece, and he could tell Sirius was planning something...

Sirius continued. "Now, I think that gives me ten extra moves, so Shere Khan, you know what to do".

'Shere Khan' prowled the ten spaces and growled menacingly at one of Prong's water buffaloes, who was currently occupying the spot. The water buffalo resentfully ambled back to it's start. It didn't want to go back to start, this was it's third time. 'Shere Khan' didn't give a flip about the buffalo's feelings; this was high stakes parcheesi and you had to learn to roll with the punches. He began to settle onto his haunches, but Sirius gave another command.

"Shere Khan don't get comfortable just yet. You just earned me another twenty moves, and I want you to take them".

The tiger did as ordered, taking his time like the king of the jungle he was. He smiled when he realized where he was going to end up.

Sirius smiled too. He'd gotten two of his tigers home and taken out one of Prongs's buffaloes in one turn, and it wasn't even over yet. "Okay, that gives me ten more, so Rajah, you know what to do".

'Rajah' walked the ten spaces and stopped, ending the turn.

"Really?" said James. "You named your game pieces?"

"Tis the secret to my trade, young Prongslet,"Sirius said. "Speaking of things Prongs related... my dear sir, it's your turn".

Prongs, who had been distracted and missed the whole thing said. "Do you guys smell-" he stopped short. "Why is Geoff back at home?!"

Geoff the water buffalo mooed forlornly; he'd let his master down.

"I sent him home," said Sirius.

"You named your's too?!" said James at the same time.

Prongs pouted for a few seconds, James wondered if he should name his elephants and Sirius thought about how to use his next turn.

Prongs realized that he was getting no sympathy and asked his original. "Do you smell that?"

James nodded. "Dad can cook. He's just as good as my grandmum."

Prongs eyed him suspiciously. "Are you referring to my future wife?"

James rolled his eyes. "Me and Dad told you Prongs, Dad doesn't have a mum. You found him in a cabbage patch and decided to keep him".

"You also made me think that Sirius and I become gay lovers, I'm not going to believe another thing out of your mouth, young man".

"It doesn't matter anyway, I was talking about my maternal grandmother," James said.

Sirius normally cared a great deal about food, so normally he cared a great deal about the skill of the cook. Normally. However, his current situation was far from normal, so Sirius found himself wondering about Harry's health and safety not his gastronomical abilities. Prong's and the Progslet's good natured bickering failed to amuse him.

"Do you think he's okay?" asked Sirius. "Prongs Jr. I mean... I think I'm going to talk to him, y'know in a god father-y way. I am his god father? Right?"

James nodded. "Yup. You were also the best man at Grandpa's wedding".

Prongs was offend. "You tell him the truth when he asks you about the future, but when I ask you just make up far fetched lies?".

James rolled his eyes. "Sirius is less likely to create a paradox and prevent my birth than you are. I think that the prevention of my birth would be pretty disastrous for the ladies of the twenty first century."

"Could you two be..." Sirius was going to say 'serious', but that just wouldn't work. His inane friends wouldn't take him seriously if he, Sirius asked them to be serious. Problem was the word serious had no synonyms that teenagers such as himself would use in a casual situation. "Would you both be somber for one moment in your lives?" he asked.

Needless to say his words didn't have the desired affect.

Fortunately Sirius was graced with the ability to preform the Black family glare (A threatening stare evolved by the original Blacks to offset their ridiculous names and passed down to the coming generations) and that worked like a charm.

"Okay, so you're worried about him," said Prongs. "I'm his father, and I'm not worried..."

"You would be if you could take things, Screw it!, seriously! C'mon Prongs he's... he's not okay," Sirius shook his head. "Look Prongs. I know not okay. I've been not okay, and Harry is definitely not okay," he sighed. "look, i'm just going to go talk to him. Dumbledore as good as told me that I would have to help someone come to self realization and-" Prongs interrupted him.

"Dumbledore? What does Dumbledore have to do with this?" asked James.

"He called me into his office yesterday on some geriatric whimsy, offered me candy, and asked me what I would do for your then hypothetical son. He told me about psychology and time travel and gave me this funky potion and long story short I wound up here, and you having a son wasn't hypothetical anymore. I think Dumbledore wanted me to talk to Harry, and that's what i'm going to do".

Prongs nodded. "Well go on then. Take good care of him."

Sirius grinned. "Don't you worry".

James smiled as he watched Sirius go to Harry. Maybe Harry would get some closure.

Harry was starting to add the dumpling to the chicken soup when he heard a voice.

"Hey, Bambi," said Sirius.

"Hey, Fido," said Harry. There was an awkward silence in which Sirius figured out what to say, and Harry finished combining his chicken and his dumplings.

"I die, don't I?" Sirius said.

Harry squirmed. There was no good answer to that question. "Everyone does eventually," he said evasively.

"Look Harry, I'm not stupid. You look at me like i'm the dog from Old Yeller or something. Not to mention the first time you saw me you had a breakdown. Just... I don't know, tell me what's up so I can help you get some kind of closure."

Harry blinked. "Dumbledore put you up to this didn't he?"

"Yup."

"Can't say i'm surprised."

"How do I die?" Sirius asked.

"Protecting me," Harry said.

"Elaborate," Sirius commanded.

"Er... so as to not alter the flow of reality, and or create a paradox i'll have to give you an edited version of the story". Harry paused waiting for Sirius's approval.

"Sure," Sirius said. He was curious, in sort of a morbid way. How often does one get to learn the circumstances of ones death.

"Erm... well. It was my fifth year at Hogwarts and..." Harry shook his head. "Erm... Basically I knew that you were in danger at the department of mysteries and me and several of my friends went to go save you, but you weren't actually there because it was a trap". He took a deep breath. "You came there though, to save me and you died. It's my fault. I shouldn't have rushed off like some freaking knight in shining armor. Hermione told me I have a hero complex and I guess she's right, but i'm not heroic. I just get people killed." He thought about Dumbledore and Dobby and all the others. Sirius and his parents. "I just get people killed,".

Sirius was pretty sure that he wasn't the only person Harry had ever lost. He wondered how Prongs's son came to know such pain, but he knew it wasn't his place to ask. He didn't know what to say.

"Look Sirius, I know that you're trying to help, but... Really? I should be apologizing to you. You die because of my stupidity. But at the same time, you're not my Sirius, not yet at least. So apologizing to you won't help because you aren't the version of you that I knew."

Sirius took Harry by the shoulders. "Look at me Harry Potter. I love your father. He is my brother, we don't have the same parents, but he is my brother. He saved me. He took me in when I had nowhere to go. You want to know why your dad is awesome? Look at his friends. Remus Lupin, the werewolf, except to James he's more than that, he's a friend. Look at Peter Petigrew," Sirius noticed Harry tense up at Peter's name, but he ignore it. "When everyone else looked at Peter they saw a washed up loser, James took him in and we found out that he was a funny and clever prankster".

"And me Harry, I was the worst of them all. I was not a good person and I was never even close to happy. James Potter accepted me and gave me friendship and when my parents abandoned me he took me in. Harry I don't know if you know but my animagus form is a dog. Dogs are known for their loyalty. James Potter has won my loyalty over and over again. I've said again and again that I would die a thousand for him, and I mean it. I would die for him, and by extension I would die for you, or James jr. So don't go beating yourself up. I died for you because I love James Potter, and probably because I love you, so don't blame yourself".

Sirius wrapped Harry in a bear hug. "Don't blame yourself Harry."

Sirius woke up on the floor of Dumbledore's office. He'd had a very strange about someone named Harry.

Wait. Why was he on the floor in Dumbledore's office? It all came rushing back.

Harry! he thought. I hope he's okay.

Sirius briefly wondered if it had all just been a dream. It was far too crazy for it to have been real.

Then he heard a throaty purring sound coming from his robe pocket. He reached his hand in and pulled out a miniaturized tiger.

"Hello, Rajah," said Sirius. "I guess it was real after all".

A/N: Hello all. Sorry about the wait on this chapter, but it is over 3,500 words so hopefully you aren't to mad at me. I have Band practice from 7:30 to 5:30 starting tomorrow and lasting all week, and I go back to school in three weeks so chapters will be slower in coming. I promise that I will make an effort to get them to you. I'm not one of those people that hold chapters hostage for reviews, but reviews definitely motivate me to write more. Hey, let's make it fun. Suggest a funny word in your review and I will include my favorite, or favorites in the next chapter.

Shameless Self Promotion- If you are a fan of Bbc's Merlin, and Bbc's The Musketeers check out my other fic This Crazy Life We Lead.

Merlin sends Lancelot over a thousand years into the future. Lancelot changes his name and becomes a Musketeer under the guidance of his new friend Athos, but when Lancelot falls back into old habits Athos finds himself wishing Merlin was around to knock some sense into him.

Special Thanks to- TheWritingHeart, Kassandra, and MSupernatural for reviewing!