Harry Prewett and the Case of Inadvertent Illegal Time-Travel

Chapter Eleven: Bad News Comes in Threes

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Author's Note: Hey party people! Still alive, betcha never would have guessed that! Thanks to everyone who took the time to review or drop me a PM, you guys rule! More thanks to everyone who alerted and faved. Another short one I'm afraid but it is better then the last one if you ask me. Now what are you still doing up here? Go forth and read your long awaited update.

Harry, Sirius and James were jolted out of sound sleep when James' bedroom door burst open and a frantic looking Violet strode in.

"Wha—"

"Boys, get up, we need to go now!"

"Mum? What time is it?" asked James dazedly he and Harry both groping on the floor beside the bed for their glasses.

Harry finally found his and slipped them on rolling off Sirius and out of bed. The clock on James' wall read five thirty and a glance out the window told him that the heavy rain was blocking out the sunrise.

Violet was pale, brow furrowed with worry, still dressed in her pajamas with a sweater thrown over top her hair rivalling her son's for wildness and her eyes darting from side to side. Her hands kept straying to the hem of her night-shirt and she was fingering the wand sticking out of her pocket.

Harry felt as though someone had dropped a chunk of ice into his gut. Something was very wrong.

"Hurry up and get downstairs, don't bother getting dressed, if you take the time we'll have to get the next train," she added sharply before sweeping out.

"Mum, hold on a minute, what's going on? Mum!"

"Come on, we better get moving," Harry said tugging on Sirius' arm, "Get up we've got to go."

"I'm coming. I'm coming. Leave off!"

"What do you lot reckon all the fuss is over?" asked James tugging a sweater over his head, "Here Harry, Siri, just wear one of mine."

Harry caught the pullover James tossed at him and yanked it over his head.

"Something must have happened, something bad," he said grimly.

"Why would you think that?"

"S'just a feeling."

Actually more than a feeling or an instict, though Harry did have that familiar clenching in his gut as well, it was more like Harry had been through enough bad situations that he knew the signs backwards, forwards and upsidedown and Violet was exhibiting all of them, but he wasn't about to say that out loud.

Sirius and James exchanged a glance and followed Harry down the stairs. Harry scooped up Missy on his way down, ignoring her complaints and insistence that she could walk on her own.

Dorea was standing in the foyer her arms crossed tight over her chest, her wand in hand.

"Nana?"

"Are you ready?" Dorea asked sharply.

"Yeah, but please, can someone explain what's going on?" said James running a nervous hand through his bed head.

Dorea shook her head grimly.

"There were a number of attacks last night by those lunatics calling themselves deatheaters. The Roost was burned to the ground with the Featheringtons inside, the Floo Network was infiltrated and a number of important officials snatched from their beds, the Wizarding Wireless headquarters was destroyed as well. There is a good chance that these deatheaters could attack Hogsmeade, Platform 9 ¾ or the Hogwarts Express. The Ministry has re-routed all the trains and they will run all day at different times. Hogsmeade has been warded against unauthorized apparation, floo and portkeys for the foreseeable future. It's a bloody mess, in short."

"Where's Grandpa?" asked James a bit fearfully.

"He's gone to the office," said Dorea, with a sigh, "We're going to raise the rest of Lionsgate's wards tonight and Charlus is petitioning for the right to ward Hollybrook and declare it under Potter domain but since that hasn't been done in over one hundred years it's a bit tricky. The laws are obscure and the Ministry is of course resistant to the idea. He'll end up petitioning on behalf of the other old families too, I've no doubt."

"Are you ready?" interrupted Violet, striding into the foyer her wand tapping nervously against her thigh as she walked.

"Yeah Mum, we're ready."

"Let's go then."

The pajama-clad family quickly pulled on their shoes and did last minute checks on wands and luggage while Harry ushered Missy into her cat carrier and pointedly ignored her complaints.

The walk to the end of the drive was silent and almost furtive and Harry resisted the urge to just jog the rest of the way in order to make the walk end. After what seemed like an inordinately long time they finally came abreast of the lion statues that guarded Lionsgate. The huge stone cats were awake betrayed by their twitching tails and glowing eyes, watching the ward-line attentively.

"Alright, Dorea would you take Harry and Sirius?"

"Of course," she said sliding her wand up her sleeve, "Take my hands boys."

Sirius and Harry each took a hold of one of Dorea's hands and held tightly while James linked an arm through one of his mother's.

There was a sharper than usual crack and Harry felt the now-familiar sensation of being squeezed through a very small tube as the five of them disapparated from Lionsgate and arrived on Platform Nine and Three Quarters.

It was quiet. Far too quiet for anyone's comfort, in fact. Even Missy's complaints tapered off into silence at the oppressiveness of it.

On a normal day the platform should have been crowded with parents and siblings, mingling and chatting, with owls swooping overhead and cats winding their lithe furry bodies through the legs of the unwary.

Today there was a small group of grim looking parents clutching their wands in white-knuckled grips and the train. Not the Hogwarts Express, but a sleek black steam engine that had clearly been diverted from some other route.

"This train will be departing in five minutes, students please be advised that this train will be departing in five minutes," intoned a woman's voice warningly over what passed for an intercom in the wizarding world.

Dorea and Violet were quick to whip out their wands and unshrink their school trunks.

"Quickly now," Violet urged, "Or you'll miss the train."

James was quick to throw his arms around his mother.

"Be careful. I love you," he murmured into the shoulder of her dressing gown.

"That should be my line," said Violet smoothing the wild hair back from her son's forehead with a watery smile, "Try not to get into any more trouble than usual, alright darling?"

"Sure thing Mum."

James then turned to hug Dorea and Harry and Sirius found themselves scooped up by Violet, squashed uncomfortably close as she tried to fit her arms around both of them at once.

"The same goes for you two, stay safe."

"You too."

"We want owls from all three of you, at least once a week!" added Dorea.

"Of course," Harry agreed easily, accepting a hug from Dorea, "I'll need all the help I get on my potions homework, after all."

"I want to hear from Remus too," added Violet with a sharp nod, "Make sure you tell him James. That boy could do with a bit of mothering."

"I will, Mum. I'm sure Remy'll be more diligent than us about writing too."

"Remy's always more diligent than us in everything so that's hardly gonna be a surprise," Sirius added.

"Just as long as you do send letters. We worry you know."

"We'll be fine," said Sirius breezily, "That is if we even get to Hogwarts this year and don't just spend the lot of it hugging. Merlin, Auntie Dee, you're breaking my ribs, here!"

"Alright, alright, get going you unappreciative ingrate. Scat!"

With cheer that was more than a little bit forced the three boys grabbed their trunks and hauled them onto the train just in time for the last call whistle.

The first compartment they stuck their noses in was empty so they quickly ducked inside and waved to Dorea and Violet with exaggerated vigor as the train puffed out of the station and they continued waving until they were around the corner and out of sight of the platform.

As soon as the train was out of sight of the platform they pulled themselves back into the train compartment and slumped into the seats bonelessly, all the manic energy having been drained out of them.

"I know we just got up, but I'm exhausted," sighed James running a hand through his bed head.

"That was stressful," agreed Sirius.

"D'you think anyone we know is even on this train?" asked James.

Sirius shrugged, "Who cares. I'm taking a nap."

"But what if Remus and Peter are on the train?"

Harry stiffened at the mention of Pettigrew and bent to let Missy out of her cat carrier so that James and Sirius wouldn't see the half-formed snarl that twitched to life on his lips whenever the rat was mentioned, trying to remind himself that as of right now Peter Pettigrew probably wasn't that bad of a guy. A little pathetic but not a traitorous coward who deserved to have his tongue eaten out of his head by fire-ants.

"If Remy's here he'll be looking for us. So we should stay put and take a nap."

"What if Lily's on this train?" said James chewing his lip thoughtfully.

"Oh no," said Sirius warningly, sitting up faster than Harry would have given him credit for given his somnolent state, "You are not going into Evans Obsession mode before we've even made it Hogwarts. What if she's not on this train? What then? I'll tell you what then. Then you'll have frantically searched the entire bloody train twice and asked everyone on board if they've seen her, pissed off any number of people, animals and inanimate objects and worried yourself into a near heart-attack!"

"But-"

"No buts. We're taking a nap. Harry back me up here!"

"Erm, what Sirius said?"

"Don't take his side just because he asked first," pouted james.

"It's not that it's more like I don't know who your talking about and I don't feel like moving," Harry lied picking up Missy and settling into the seat across from Sirius with her on his stomach.

"Two against three! Park it!"

James sighed giving the door to their compartment a longing look.

"Budge up then, I'm not sleeping with Harry's demon cat."

The sound of James and Sirius' snoring quickly filled the compartment but Harry couldn't sleep so he just lay there, stroking Missy rhythmically and turning the events of the morning over in his mind, feeling frustrated and powerless, perhaps even moreso then he'd felt at Headquarters. Voldemort had struck again and here in this time he wasn't even expected to be curious or want to get involved in the burgeoning war but how could he go to classes and pretend to be an average person when he knew just who was running around out there threatening the people he knew and loved?

AN: So, yeah, it's been awhile...my dog ate my laptop? Heheh...sorry I don't have anything even vaguely resembling a valid excuse. This chapter is dedicated to my profs at uni because I wrote this while procrastinating on doing my end of term assignments.

Next, a plea for assistance! I've just realized that i have no idea where this fic is even going anymore, if I ever did, and that is probably the reason for these sporadic pathetically short updates, so with that said anyone with suggestions please PM me or drop me a review!

Still haven't decided the pairing...maybe I should make it a foursome...

Okay, enough of me, hope you guys enjoyed! Please leave a tip *coughreviewcough* on your way back to reality!