Harry Prewett and the Inadvertent Case of Illegal Time Travel

Chapter Eight: Coming Together

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Author's Note: Hey guys sorry for the long wait. Big thanks to everyone who reviewed alerted and faved, and congrats to my 100th reviewer Miso Muchi! I'm glad you guys like it, and your overwhelming encouragement and kind comments make my days!

I'm feeling a bit blocked on this fic. I have a good idea of where I want to go for the next few chapters its just getting it all down that's hard. So I wrote out this little interlude to tide you guys over until I can hash out the main course, so to speak. Hope you enjoy!

"Harry,"

Harry groaned slightly as his head pounded his return to consciousness not at all welcome as a splitting headache throbbed through him.

"It lives,"

"Kill me now," he moaned.

A cultured husky male voice chuckled.

"Reaction headache, you overdid it a bit boyo,"

"Uncle Charlus?"

"Dorea sent me up with a brew for your head and a bit of pepper up potion,"

Harry reached blindly for the vial and Charlus handed him the first one, watching interestedly as his nephew pulled out the stopper with his teeth and downed the thing like a shot of cheap firewhiskey. He shuddered deeply at the taste and groping blindly set the empty vial on the bedside table with a sharp clink.

After a minute Harry managed to roll over face up and blearily open his eyes.

"That was truly vile, but I feel better, is there more?"

"If it was vile there's always more," Charlus replied handing Harry the second vial.

Harry downed the vial of Pepper-Up Potion in the same careless manner and didn't seem to be bothered by the spicy taste.

"Stupid witch-male!" hissed a familiar female voice.

There was a slight barely perceptible dip in the mattress and then Harry had a chest full of bristling angry cat.

"Hey there, Missy," he said going for charmingly contrite as he stroked behind her ears soothingly.

He got a swat across the face for his trouble, luckily it was with sheathed claws.

"Stupid male, using your magic too much! No more, you will take naps, Harry-mine, and rest!"

"I'm sorry I worried you, but I'm fine," Harry said, with more honest contrition.

"I never thought a familiar of mine would be so foolish, I suppose it is because you are male,"

Harry wisely said nothing but began giving Miss. Disdain a thorough finger scrubbing as she grumbled about the idiocy of males in general and him in particular. He didn't take her creative threats too seriously though and he could feel her low rumbling purr beneath his fingers.

"You feeling up for dinner?" Charlus asked unable to hide his amusement as he watched his nephew get bossed by a cat.

"Sure, what're we having?"

"Well James and Sirius picked up some meat pies from the Gooseberry Pub, but Dorea and Violet are both having dinner in their rooms so it's just us guys,"

"Alright," Harry agreed stretching and deftly transferring Miss. Disdain from his chest to the bedspread as he stood up wobbling slightly before he found his balance.

She twitched her tail at him clearly displeased.

"I have to go eat," he pointed out to her as his stomach growled hollowly.

Miss. Disdain didn't deign to comment but she curled up in a hollow of his rumpled comforter and watched him go with narrowed eyes.

"Interesting. I didn't think that cat liked anybody," Charlus commented as they exited the room.

Harry cracked his neck and rolled the stiffness from his shoulders.

"Apparently I'm only the exception because I belong to her majesty,"

Charlus raised one thin black brow.

"Really, that's odd going from an owl familiar to that tempermental feline,"

"How so?" asked Harry curious.

He'd never actually learned about familiars or what they were to a witch or wizard other than friends and companions.

"Owl familiars are more common, they don't speak, but they are unfalteringly loyal, dead useful and they tend to be less picky about their companions. Cats are, as they are about everything else, notoriously finicky about whom they choose, they like strong personalities and have unusual talents. You can have felines in your house every day for the whole of your life but that doesn't mean one will choose you. A familiar is more than just a pet, though now a days people seem to have forgotten that little tidbit, their a complementary personality that helps, guides, and supports a witch or wizard," Charlus explained.

By this time Charlus had given Harry plenty to think about and they'd reached the dining room. True to his word there were half a dozen steaming meat pies that looked and smelled positively mouth-watering but were quite clearly not of Dorea's making. There was some barely discernable something that was not there and Harry thought it might have been the magic of Dorea's love for her family and smiled slightly at the thought.

"Hey Harry," said James with a casual wave and an easy grin.

"Er...hi," said Harry trying not to blush and make a total cake of himself even as shyness began to set in.

Charlus, seeming to sense his hesitation, gave him a little nudge forward with his hip and Harry was propelled a full step into the dining room and then of course he had to take the other steps and sit down across from James.

"So, Harry, inquiring minds want to know, did your father really get eaten by a nundu?" asked Sirius.

What a prat. Thought Harry raising an eyebrow at Sirius' audacity. Little did he know that Charlus was fixing Sirius with a slightly more refined and disapproving version of the same, you-really-think-you-wanna-go-there look.

"No Sirius, it never happened, it was a lie we made up to protect you and James here from the harsh reality of the situation," said Harry dryly.

James laughed, and Harry reached for a meat pie and poked his fork into the top to let some of the steam out. His stomach burbled letting him know that it didn't care how hot the damn pie was it wanted it right now.

"Don't mind Sirius, he didn't mean anything by it, it's just kind of random, you know? I mean a nundu!"

Sheltered. Lucky.

Harry almost understood what Dumbledore meant by letting him have a childhood and waiting until he was older to expose him to the ugliness of the world. Too bad he'd already sampled plenty of the world's ugliness before his ninth birthday.

"No worries, it's fine," Harry said quirking the corner of his lips in a slight smile and taking a bite out of his pie.

"How's your meal, boys?" asked Charlus.

"Good, but not as good as Nana's," James said loyally.

"Not surprising, no one can cook like your Grandmother," Charlus said smiling proudly, "Though from what I've sampled you could give her a run for her money, Harry, those little omelettes you made this morning were delicious,"

Harry couldn't suppress the giddy little curl in his belly at the pleased note in Charlus' voice anymore than he could tamp down the blush, so he accepted the hair ruffling that accompanied the comment with good grace. In for a penny in for a pound after all.

"Auntie Dee, let you in the kitchen?" said Sirius shocked.

"Aunt Dorea lets you call her that?" countered Harry.

"Not really," James said around a mouthful of meat pie, "But he does it anyway and she stopped hexing his hair into pink and yellow waist-length ringlets because of it about two summers ago,"

Harry grinned.

"Please tell me you have pictures,"

"Plenty, don't you worry,"

"You had to bring it up," grumbled Sirius patting at his hair in what seemed to be a reflexive motion.

"Hey, I wasn't the one who put the Pinkening Potion in your soap, that was totally Remus!"

"Speaking of Remus, how is Lenore doing? Did the potions Dorea sent along help at all?" asked Charlus.

Harry deduced that James and Sirius must have been staying with Remus for a few weeks. Sirius and James exchanged a quick glance and Harry flicked his eyes to the big bay window sure that if he could see the moon it would be full.

"Mrs. Lupin was doing good for a couple of weeks, the healers say that the new treatments are working better but she's still gonna have off days. She wasn't looking that great when we left this afternoon," Sirius said, in a strange subdued voice that didn't suit his young carefree looking countenance.

"She said thank you about a million and one times for the potions though," James added.

"We're only too happy to help, Remus is like a third, well fourth now, grandson to me,"

"Thanks Uncle Chuck!" yipped Sirius bouncing up in his seat all solemnity forgotten or forced away.

Harry smothered a laugh with a bite of meat pie. If Sirius had had a tail in that moment it would have been wagging and thumping non-stop. Then he saw Charlus' grimace at the nickname and laughed outright.

"You laugh now, wait until it's you on the receiving end of one of his pet names," Charlus grumbled ruffling Harry's hair until it stuck up with all the wildness of James'.

"So Harry, what's the deal? Are you going to go to Hogwarts?" asked James curiously.

"Yeah, that's actually why we went out today. I needed all my new supplies and a wand. I'll be joining you in Gryffindor this year,"

Sirius and James exchanged another look this one wide-eyed and slightly panicky. Apparently the boys hadn't considered this snag in their carefully laid plans. Harry shot a glance at Uncle Charlus but he was too involved in his meat pie to have noticed.

"That's great," said James though the sentiment sounded a bit forced, then something occurred to him, "Hey, do you play Quidditch?"

"Yeah, I played on the team at my old school, seeker," Harry said.

"Yeah, you have the build for it," James nodded, looking at him critically, sizing him up, "Well, you wouldn't be my first pick just because you're pretty small and light, but our Keeper graduated and we're in desperate need of a half-decent flyer,"

"Simmer down, Prongs, you'll scare him off and then where will we be?" Sirius stage-whispered.

Harry chewed thoughtfully on his lower lip, considering.

"I've never player keeper before really, not even with my mates, but I guess I could try-out, see how it goes," he shrugged, "People say I'm a good flier, at least,"

"That's great! Don't worry, Siri and I will coach you, give you a fighting chance," said James practically bouncing up and down.

"Alright," agreed Harry with an internal sigh.

He was pretty sure he'd just signed on for Quidditch a la Oliver Wood. Still he couldn't bring himself to mind too much, he was going to get to spend time with James and Sirius get to know them better. Besides he really did want to stay on the Quidditch team if he could manage it. It was good exercise and a break from the stress of schoolwork.

The rest of dinner devolved into a argument over which was the better broom model the Comet 260 or the Cleansweep 500 and Harry was denounced as a complete heathen when he stood up for the Nimbus 1000.

Later that night while everyone was asleep, Harry was reading quietly under Missy's watchful eye, unable to get back to bed after his long nap that afternoon. The words of his potions text blurred before Harry's eyes and so he closed the book and let his mind wander. This was the year that the Marauders had perfected their animagus transformations and started running with Remus on full moon nights. It was going to take time to earn their trust but maybe if he was lucky he would eventually be included. And maybe once he was he could stop James and Sirius from being so reckless.

With that thought in mind Harry got up from bed.

"Where are you going, Harry-mine? It is sleep time for witches, and you are not sleeping!" Miss. Disdain scolded getting to her feet.

"I just want to get another book from the library, you want to come?"

Rather than answering with words Miss. Disdain stretched languidly and jumped off the bed. Taking a moment to wind herself around his legs before preceding him out the door.

Harry didn't bother with his wand, the moon was full, as Harry expected it would be, and the silvery light was more than enough illumination for Harry to follow Missy through the twisting corridors to the family library.

The library had the same hushed feel to it that was characteristic of libraries, but this silence felt welcoming and there were plenty of plush chairs and couches tucked into every nook and cranny and not so much as a speck of dust.

The stacks were easy to navigate clearly labelled and separated first by fiction and non-fiction, then they were alphabetized by genre, title, and author. It took all of ten minutes for Harry to find all the books he was looking for. Texts on how to become an animagus. The tomes had a well-read feel to them not like some of the books in the Hogwarts library which clearly hadn't been touched in years. These books had been used, and used well and recently and sure enough when Harry opened one there were a few notes jotted down in Sirius' neat handwriting. Harry ran his fingers over the words lightly, missing his godfather despite the fact he was sleeping down the hall from him.

Harry took the books back to his room and read until Miss. Disdain insisted rather forcefully that his put down the stupid book and go to sleep.

AN: And there you have it. If any of you has a good idea for a non-magical or underage wizard friendly prank let me know in a review.

Also keep sending me your votes on pairings, I've narrowed it down to Sirius, Severus, Remus or Regulus. For those of you who wanted a more exotic pairing, I apologize for the disappointment but maybe next time!

As always I love to hear what you guys think, so please drop me a review.

Until next time, hope you enjoyed!