Chapter Three:

Harry was nearly speechless as he stared into the faces of his parents. "You…you…you're…" He couldn't even muster one full sentence. This was the most alive that he's ever seen them, at least that he could remember. He must've seen them when he was a baby, of course, but he couldn't remember that. All he had were pictures, and dreams.

"Don't take another step!" Sirius threatened Harry with his wand. There was anguish and fright written all over his face, but the animosity overshadowed it completely. He had been hurt, and there was no ignoring that. He had Harry backed into the wall after standing up, and his wand was at his throat now.

Remus tightened his grip around Ginny when he felt her getting slightly unwieldy, but she wasn't going anywhere. All of her energy had been drained away from lack of sleep and food, and mental exhaustion. Harry felt nothing but guilt for having her get involved in this, but it was purely accidental. She was the last person on earth that he would ever expect to get caught up in his crazy adventures, and yet here she was now. "You're hurting me!" She said, but nobody cared. Except for Harry.

"We're not here to hurt anyone!" He told them, "We've come here to help!"

"Help with what?" James asked curiously. It was eerie looking at James when Harry looked just like him. In fact, the three of them couldn't have been much older than what Harry and Ginny were now.

"Volde-"

"DON'T!" Remus scolded him before he could finish. His eyes were bloodshot, and his skin was pale white. "You mustn't say his name out loud, or else he'll find us!"

Harry had forgotten that small detail. He glanced at Ginny, who seemed to be holding her own quite well given the circumstances, but even she looked a bit unwell. He couldn't help but worry, but there was so much else on his mind at the moment that he just couldn't focus. That's when Sirius stepped in and scoffed, "They claim to have come from the future."

"The future?" Lily and James exchanged confused glances.

"Apparently, there's a mirror that holds some sort of portal-"

"It's at Hogwarts!" Harry exclaimed. "It's called the Mirror of Erised, Dumbeldore showed it to me!"

The mere mention of Dumbledore was more than enough to pique all of their interests, even more so than the mention of time travel. It just didn't seem likely that that was a thing, and for all they knew Harry was some evil being sent by Lord Voldemort himself to finish the job. "Dumbledore, you say?" Remus asked. "How do you know Dumbledore?"

"He's our headmaster in the present- er, I mean the future." He anxiously tripped over his words as he tried to explain it. "Ginny and I come from the future, about seventeen years. There's a battle going on right now and Volde- er, You-Know-Who is winning. Dumbledore is…well, all of you are…" Harry glanced around the room and saw their faces, and he suddenly didn't have the heart to finish his words. Ginny frowned in a saddening sort of way because she could tell how painful this was for him. All these people meant so much to Harry at one point in his life, and he lost every single one of them.

"Are what?"

Harry shook his head. "It's not important. What's important is that we're here to help, and we desperately need yours in return."

"And why should we believe you?" Sirius asked whilst pointing his wand directly at Harry's chest, namely above his heart. "For all we know you're just buttering us up until you find the right time to finish James and Lily off, just like that traitor Peter tried to do!"

"Peter didn't try to kill us, Sirius." James tried to reason.

"HE MIGHT AS WELL HAVE!"

"SIRIUS!" Remus shouted again. His voice was booming, and even more commanding than the last time. Sirius turned around and seethed at his friend, and his eyes were glossy and red. The pain was evident on his face more so now than before. "You need to calm down!"

He wiped his eyes and lowered his wand. His body sunk into a chair close by almost in defeat, and he sighed. "Peter betrayed us. Our closest friend…how am I supposed to get over that?"

"This isn't the time nor the pl-"

Remus finally released Ginny, but she had unintentionally put her entire body weight in his control due to her exhaustion. "I-I didn't mean to!" He nervously said, "I barely touched her, I swear!"

Lily rushed over to Ginny's unconscious body and picked up a limp hand. "Oh dear, she's freezing. Molly! Molly, come quick!" There was some commotion in another room, and then the door burst open. A slightly plump and youthful red headed woman came barreling through wearing a stained apron, and flour on her cheeks. Harry immediately recognised her as Mrs. Weasley, Ginny's mum.

"What's going on here?" She demanded. As soon as she caught sight of Ginny's body on the floor she rushed to her side as well. Harry gulped, as he worried that something might be seriously wrong with her. Perhaps it had something to do with time travel? If Hermione were here, then he might be able to know for sure.

"She's cold as ice." Lily murmured, "we must get her to bed."

"Yes, and quickly. One of you boys will come and take her upstairs!" Molly said, and when no one immediately spoke up she stomped her foot and barked, "STEP ON IT!"

At that note Ginny randomly became conscious again, but only for the shortest period of time. Her eyes fluttered open, and the first thing she saw was Harry leaning above her. "Harry," she sighed with relief. Then her eyes drifted a bit, and she squinted. "Mum?"

"Poor thing, she thinks I'm her mum! Can you believe that?" Harry cleared his throat and lifted Ginny's head up a bit more to take a sip of water that was handed to them.

"It's going to be okay, Ginny." Harry assured her, "you just need to get some sleep."

James came to Harry's side and flashed him a comforting smile. Harry couldn't help but wonder if James saw the resemblance between them, too. It was rather uncanny, what with the hair, the glasses, and even the smile. "Molly is an excellent healer. She'll have your girlfriend all better in no time, Harry."

"Girlfriend?" His cheeks reddened immediately. "She isn't…we're just…she's a friend." If even that. She was really just an acquaintance more than anything else since she was just Ron's little sister. They spoke sometimes at the Burrow, but mostly just in passing. There was nothing to talk about between them if it didn't involve Ron in some way, and they never did want to talk about Ron more than they had to.

"Oh, I see. Well your friend will be alright." Ginny became unconscious again almost immediately. He watched the three of them take Ginny out of the room, and now he was alone with Remus and Sirius.

"I don't look that old, do I?" Molly whispered on the way out, causing Lily to laugh. Harry smiled at the sound of it because it sounded so pure and nice, and it touched him in a way that he wasn't expecting.

"Don't even think about it."

Harry turned his head towards Sirius, who was still sulking in a chair in the corner of the room. "Huh?"

"James and Lily are married."

"Oh, er, I know." He replied, which caused both Remus and Sirius to furrow their eyebrows quite suspiciously. Remus was smoking a pipe by the window, and there was much less tension in the room now. "I meant to say, I erm, I assumed they were together. I was thinking about something else…"

"I still don't trust you," Sirius continued. He walked towards the door and stormed out, leaving Harry with just Remus now.

Remus was a reasonable man, and Harry wondered what he really thought about all of this. He seemed to be deep in thought as he smoked, and like he didn't want to be disturbed. Harry decided not to say anything and find somewhere else to go for the time being.

"There's a spare cot upstairs." Remus said out of nowhere. Harry nodded his head and moved towards the door, and he already knew where he was going for the most part. It was an odd feeling to feel out of place and comfortable at the same time.

Before leaving, Harry had built up the nerve to speak again. Ever since they arrived here he had been through a wide range of emotions that was, quite honestly, draining. He still didn't know what to think of all of it. There was no plan going forward, but for now he simply needed them on his side.

"Do you trust me?"

"No." Remus replied without hesitation. Harry hoped for a different answer, but he certainly expected that exact response. He was halfway out the door when he heard Remus continue. He turned around to catch him glancing at him from the corner of his eye, and a cloud of smoke filled the air around him.

"But James does, and I trust him."