Chapter 3: Snuffles and Baby Vomit

My parents. There. In front of me. Alive. My father. My mother...who is pregnant with me. This is so wrong, yet completely wonderful. Mental note: thank Fawkes, then kill the bloody chicken.

"Harry?" Mum whispered.

I nodded.

She came up to me and pulled me into a hug that could rival Mrs. Weasley. It was very hard to stay composed. I felt the tears coming and hurriedly tried to keep them down. Eventually, Mum pulled away to let Dad get in too. Then he pulled away and there they were, looking at me.

"He's got your eyes," Dad said.

"Yes," she ran her fingers through my hair, "and your messy hair." Then her fingers brushed aside my fringe, exposing my forehead. Mum gasped in shock and Dad whistled. I quickly patted it back down.

"Where'd you get that?" Dad asked in wonder.

"I don't think I should tell you that."

"Was it him, Voldemort?" Mum whispered.

How did she know? Something on my face must have betrayed me because she pulled me into a fiercer hug than before. The Dad came over to join in. There we were, hugging in the middle of this forest when a shaggy, black dog came bounding up.

I grinned, "Hey, Snuffles."

Mom grinned as well and Dad burst out laughing. The poor dog, a.k.a. Sirius, looked extremely confused.

"It's ok Sirius," he managed to choke out finally. With that, the dog turned into Sirius Black, who quickly rounded on Dad after I ran over and gripped him in a lion hug.

"What's going on James? And who is that?" he said, pointing to me.

"That's Harry, our son from the future."

"Really? Well, I can't say this surprises me. Nothing surprises me these days," he said darkly. That brought on a silence that I knew all of them wanted me to break, wanted me to tell them thingsgot better. I couldn't tell them that they didn't. Finally, Sirius couldn't take it anymore.

"So...am I your godfather?"

"Of course," I replied.

"We told you that already, Sirius," Mum said, exasperated.

He threw up his hands in mock surrender, "I was just checking. C'mon, everyone's worried about you back at headquarters."

We started walking away through the trees. I felt a little irritated that they hadn't though to ask if I knew how to Apparate.

"These woods are near headquarters. An Anti-Apparition spell reaches to the edge of them," Mum's voice floated out of the trees. How does she do that? Mother's intuition I suppose. "We were investigating a disturbance."

"Where is headquarters?" I asked.

"A few miles outside London. It's Unplottable and I wouldn't be surprised if it moved around every so often."

Sure enough, the woods ended after a few minutes into an open field. In the center stood a small country house. Behind it you could just make out the face of the clock tower. One light was lit on the bottom floor and the unmistakable smell of Mrs. Weasley's cooking drifted from it. Something in the back of my mind wondered why she was here; hadn't Moody said she wasn't in the Order at first? My mouth was watering too much for me to care, though. It had been months since I had a decent meal.

"James, Lily, there you are. Everyone has been so worried. We thought..." cried Mrs. Weasley as we entered. I chuckled. Same old, or young...er, Mrs. Weasley.

"It'll take more than four Death Eaters to get us, Molly," said Dad, who, to my utter amusement, messed up his hair. Quickly, I lifted a hand to cover up my snort. Sirius gave an appreciative grin.

"Looks like I'm not the only one who thinks that's ridiculous."

Dad looked at me, affronted, "You don't like the hair flip?"

"Quite frankly, it's the stupidest thing I've ever seen." That earned a chuckle from Mum. Mrs. Weasley noticed me then, and Mum noticed her confusion.

"Molly, this is Harry." Apparently no more explanation was needed.

"Goodness, is it really? My, he does look like you both," she said, looking me over. I'll bet you anything she's thinking about how thin I am and how to fix that.

Just then, a baby cried. Mrs. Weasley gave a start and bustled into the kitchen where a baby in a rocker was crying, which Mrs. Weasley picked up and commenced to comfort. It had a small tuft of bright red hair.

"Is that Ron?" I spluttered.

"Yes it is. Do you know him?"

"He and I are like Sirius and Dad." Mrs. Weasley beamed at this, then handed Ron to me. This is too weird. I'm holding my dribbling, babbling, infant best mate...who just vomited on me. Brilliant.

"I love you too, mate." Wait until I tell Ron about this.

"He does that to everyone dear. The worse you stink, the more he likes you," she sighed, "Scourgify."

More people came up to me in the next few minutes. Strangely, none of them questioned me or even acted surprised. They just shook my hand, smiled, and went about their business. Until someone arrived, a silver haired, moon-shape bespectacled someone.

"Albus, about time. We were going to start without you," someone remarked.

"So sorry, my interview ran a smidge longer than I intended," Dumbledore replied. My head snapped around to stare at the wizened, wrinkled face I'd longed to see once more.

"Sybill Trelawney?" I asked. Now Dumbledore stared back at me, contemplating. Finally, he spoke again.

"James, Lily, and Harry I presume. Could I have a word with you? I have a feeling we have much to talk about."