"What the-" Ron began, but stopped mid-sentence when Hermione covered his mouth with her hand.
"We can't be seen!" Hermione hissed, pulling them into the Forbidden Forrest. Harry was amazed that the past looked so similar to the present, at least before the battle.
"Hermione, did it work? Have we gone all the way back?" Harry asked.
"Yes." came the reply, but it was Ginny who answered. "See here comes McGonagall now; she looks much younger." Indeed she did; her hair was still gray, but there were some black streaks still fighting to stay in. She carried herself much more firmly and she looked even more strict than Harry had ever seen her. Something else was different though, she didn't have her glasses. McGonagall staggered as she walked down the bumpy slope towards them.
"Potter! Evans!" she shouted. Clearly she mistook Harry and Ginny as James and Lily. "Get out of the forest this instant!" Both of them stared at her in disbelief. "Now!" When they still didn't move, Hermione gave them a push. McGonagall's mouth was in its usual line and even with distorted sight, she was still intimidating. "How many times must I inform you, Mr. Potter, that the Forbidden Forest is off bounds?"
"Er, sorry Professor." said Harry, quite unsure what to do.
"Detention, Mr. Potter! You too, Miss Evans!" And with that, McGonagall stormed off, still stumbling on the uneven ground. As she went back through the castle, Hermione spotted Madam Pomfrey and a pale, skinny boy exiting the ground and heading for the Whomping Willow. Tonight must be the full moon.
"Come on!" Hermione shrieked. "We have to go to the Shrieking Shack and back before the moon rises!"
They all sprinted towards the Whomping Willow as fast as they could under the invisibility cloak, which was flapping around their ankles. They pasted the lake and the beach tree and finally they were at the Whomping Willow when a thought struck Harry. They hadn't thought of a way to get past the tree. Groans from behind him told him that the other's had just realized the same thing.
"Now what are we going to do?" said Hermione, panicking. "We only have fifteen more minutes left before we have to leave. And only ten minutes until the moon rises!"
Suddenly the tree limbs froze. Harry looked behind him to see that Ron had thrown a stone at the knob and froze it.
"Brilliant Ronald!" said Hermione.
"Nah, it was nothing really." Ron said, shrugging.
Harry decided to squeeze through the tunnel first and behind him came Ginny, then Hermione and Ron.
"I do believe this place has gotten smaller." Harry said. He could barely crawl through, especially holding the book. Finally they arrived in the Shrieking Shack. Harry quickly placed the book on a table when none other than a fourteen year-old Remus Lupin crawled behind them into the room.
"Who are you?" the sandy haired boy asked, looking at Harry. "You look a lot like my friend, James. Are you a Potter?" He was very interested in Harry, and didn't seem to notice the others.
Harry was in a minor shock. He wanted to see his parents and their friends, but it still shocked him to see Lupin so small, even more so because Harry knew that, in the future, Lupin was dead. Meanwhile, Lupin seemed to come to his senses.
"Um, you need to go. Quickly!" he said. The moon was almost up and Harry could sense the urgency in his voice.
"Yes, Harry come on." Ginny took his hand. "Time's almost up, we have to go now." She steered Harry towards the exit and together they crawled through it, followed by Ron and Hermione. They had barely crawled out when a distant howl told them that Lupin had transformed.
"What now?" Ron asked, while they jogged into the forest.
"Well we should be taken back in about a minute." said Hermione, looking at her watch.
They waited and waited and waited and nothing happened.
"Um, shouldn't we of been gone by now?" Ginny asked.
"Yes, but- Ginny!" Hermione exclaimed. "Because we have a fourth person, the time doubled! We would have had fifteen minutes with just two people and then thirty with us three, but with four we have a whole hour!"
"Oh, so how much longer do we have then?" Harry asked.
"Twenty-six minutes and 40 seconds exactly." Ron said. That was strange, Harry thought, because Ron wasn't even looking at his watch, Hermione was. They all looked at him strangely and Hermione opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted when someone ran past them. She had long red hair and bright green eyes that were full of pure joy. It was Lily, Harry's mother; she sprinted past them without noticing them at all. She didn't even realize when her hair brushed up against Harry, she was laughing too loudly to hear his sharp intake of breath. Not far behind her was a boy, he had long black greasy hair that fell to his shoulders and he too was laughing.
"Lily, wait up."
"Come catch me, Sev." she called back. He stopped to watch her run, probably admiring the way her red hair swung behind her as she ran, as Harry was. Snape was fixing to sprint off after her, when he heard their breath. He drew his wand.
"Who are you?" he asked pointing his wand in Harry's face. "Potter. Spying on Lily are we?"
"Professor," Hermione began she caught herself.
"Severus isn't it." Ron said, trying to make himself sound intimidating. "Get back up to the school, now. It's getting dark. Take Miss Evans with you." Harry was impressed at how much he sounded like Mrs. Weasley.
"Who are you?" Snape repeated, but with much less spite in his voice.
"It doesn't matter," Harry said. "Just take care of Lily." Harry knew Snape would do this anyway, but he wanted to make sure he did."
"Severus," Hermione said. "She loves you as a friend, but she would still die for you."
"What are you talking about?" Snape asked.
"I think you know." Harry answered. "Now go, and don't wander around at night anymore, there are spiders in the forest." Harry steered him towards the castle and the others followed suit. They had to make sure Snape and Lilly made it back to the castle okay; there was a werewolf about, after all. After a minute they spotted Lily who had stopped to wait on Snape.
"Oh there you are Sev, I thought-" Lily said, but stopped when she saw Harry.
"Potter! What are you doing, go away!" She ordered.
"Mu- Lily," Harry could have sworn, he had almost called her 'Mum'. "You need to go back to the castle right now." said Harry, taking her arm and pulling her towards the door. Ron grabbed Snape's and pulled him inside as well; the same time as another howl filled the air.
"I told you!" Snape said to Lily. "He's a werewolf."
"Oh Severus, not that again!" Lily looked so mad, that Snape didn't dare to press the matter. They were already in trouble for being out of bed."
Lily asked the question of the day, "Who are you?" she said to Harry, looking at him with eyes exactly identical to his own; she seemed to notice this too and narrowed hers.
"Harry." he said.
"Harry," she repeated. "I like that name."
Everyone smirked at this and Ron actually snorted.
"Well I bloody well hope you like it!"
"Ron!" Hermione shot him a look that plainly said Shut Up!
"Right, well we have to go now." he said, ignoring Snape and Lily's curious faces.
"Yes," said Ginny, pulling Harry away from his mother; but they bumped into something. She turned around, but nothing was there. She sighed, resigned to the fact that there was always going to be trouble; nothing could possible ever go as planned.
"James Potter! Out!" Ginny demanded. Slowly a boy around fourteen appeared from under the cloak; he had messy, jet black hair, glasses, and a mischievous face.
"How'd you know it was me?" James asked Ginny.
"Lucky guess." she answered. James started at her in wonder, and then noticed Lily. He ran his fingers through his hair and winked at her, much to Snape's displeasure. Lily rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to Harry.
"What are you doing here?" Lily wanted answers, but Harry knew they had to go.
"Leaving, right now." He glanced at the others. Together the four of them walked out of the doors and back outside, shutting the doors behind them.
"We have five minutes left." Hermione informed them. They walked back to Hagrid's hut and found its resident sitting outside playing with a small three headed dog.
"Here Fluffy, here boy." said Hagrid, waving a small chew toy in front of it. The middle head grabbed it with its teeth and swallowed it with one gulp.
Oh Hagrid, Harry thought as they shrank into the shadows within the forest. Ron and Hermione chuckled at the sight, while Ginny asked, "Do I want to know?"
"Not really," Hermione replied, still amazed at the tiny Fluffy. Hagrid was now humming a quite terrible tune, but Fluffy drifted off to sleep anyway.
"How much longer, Hermione?" Ron asked.
"Three- ARGHHHH!" Hermione screamed and leaped away from where they were all standing. Behind her was Lupin the werewolf.
Harry immediately pulled out his wand, but he was unsure about what to do. He couldn't hurt Remus, but he couldn't let Lupin hurt anyone. While he had been debating over what to do, Ron had leapt into action. Ron cast a protection spell around Lupin, to where he was trapped in what would have looked like a small invisible bubble. Inside Lupin was scratching himself, clawing at his skin, and snarling at Ron, who made Lupin's bubble float back through the hole in the Whomping Willow and through the tunnel to the Shrieking Shack.
"Well that was close." Ginny stated as all four of them started glowing.
"Hey, What's going on?" Hagrid had head all the noise and was now staring at the four glowing teenagers standing in a circle, holding hands, and spinning very rapidly. "James?" asked Hagrid, laying a hand on Harry's shoulder.
"Hagrid, No!" all of them shouted. But it was too late; the five of them had crash-landed in the middle of Ron's room with a boom that was sure to wake the entire Weasley family.