First Times, Second Chances

Chapter Six: The Unexpected Source

Peter felt terrible about telling Harry about Meri's past. Granted, he felt even worse after her tirade that was solely directed at him. Remus had caught a bit of the yelling due to his quickly passing through the room. Apparently no on e was safe from her anger. The first chance he got, Peter quickly stepped out of the room and fled upstairs when Meri had turned her back to gather more steam. That was the thing with the Potters, give them a chance and they'll keep ranting for hours.

Peter stopped by James' door for a moment before knocking. It was late in the afternoon and he felt the need to get out of the house before Meri came looking for him again. When there was no answer, Peter cautiously opened the door and found the sparse room vacant. He tried very hard to avoid James' bedroom. It was almost eerily sad and it reminded him of the feeling you would get from walking through a cemetery.

The rocker that he and Lily had bought the day they found out she was pregnant sat in the corner, dusty from not being used. The only other piece of furniture in the room was the bed, which had never been made for as long as Peter could remember. He didn't need to look in the closet to know that all Lily's clothes still hung there. Peter left the room feeling more like he needed a drink than when he first entered. He guessed that was one upside to living with an alcoholic werewolf: he always had a drinking buddy when he needed one.

He retraced his steps from this morning and walked back to the pub where they had eaten breakfast. When he stepped through the door, the scene had changed quite a bit since then. With the sun quickly disappearing below the horizon, it plunged the far corners of the pub into darkness. The early drinking crowd had filed in after work and were now either enjoying the end of another hard day's work or mourning the thought of starting another day of it.

Remus wasn't hard to find. He never was. He was usually the only one at the end of the bar with his nose in his glass and a wide ring of no one surrounding him. It seemed even in inebriated states, people realized he was dangerous even if they didn't know why. Maybe that's why he started drinking, Peter never really knew when it started. He ordered a whiskey and sat down next Remus.

"She stop yelling?"

Peter nodded. "For now."

"What was she going on about?"

"I, uh, had told Harry about Meri being from another time as well."

"Uh, I would have thought she would have told him that already."

Peter stared at his glass. "I suppose that's what she's doing now."

Remus threw back the rest of his beer and slammed the glass back down on the bar. "Seen James at all?"

"No, not at all today. I knocked on his door to see if he wanted to come down here but he wasn't there."

"This whole son thing had him scared."

"It seems odd, doesn't it?" Peter sipped at his beer. "You would think he would be falling all over himself to get to Harry, spend time with him, you know? It just doesn't make much sense."

"Nothing makes sense."

Peter bit back a sigh and turned to face the miserable man next to him. "You're a very up person, you know that?"

"That's why I drink," he answered, motioning to the bartender to fill it up. Peter waved off the bartender.

"I think you've had enough."

"Quit thinking for me. I've been doing this longer than you and I know when I've had enough."

"Do you? Funny, I always heard that alcohol impairs your judgment."

"Not mine."

"Of course not," Peter gave in and watched as the frowning bartender filled the glass up again.

"How's Sirius taking all of this?"

Peter tried to ignore the bitterness that clung to the name. "Fine, I suppose, why?"

"Meri had a chance to go home possibly. Best chance she's had in years. I'm sure he's just sweating right now."

"We all are, Remus. A little more sympathy for the man couldn't hurt matters. The same goes for James."

"Sympathy," he took a long drink from the foamy liquid, "sympathy is highly overrated."

The werewolf's attitude was starting to wear on him considerably, despite the liquor. "How about pity then? Would pity work for you?"

The other man sighed wearily. "Pity would be fine."

"So, can we keep him?"

Meri stopped rubbing her face and peeked at Sirius from between her fingers. "What?"

Sirius motioned up the stairs where Harry had just disappeared. "Harry. Can we keep him?"

"He's not a stray, Sirius. He's a boy, a really important one."

"To his time."

"To my time as well. He's the boy who lived and we need to get him back to that time so his time doesn't turn into this one."

"Did it ever cross your mind that this could be what our time is supposed to be like? That Voldermort was to come to power before he was destroyed? That maybe because the Death Eaters have weeded through the weak wizards and witches, we now have a very strong army? Who's to say that won't happen in his time?"

Meri shook her head. "It couldn't happen in his time."

"Why?"

"Because he lived. Voldermort lost his power the night he tried to kill Harry. Because Harry lived, Voldermort can not become all powerful."

"Then where is our hope, Meri? The boy who lived didn't here."

"Maybe that's why he's here. To help us get the upper hand on Voldermort."

Sirius looked incredulous. "And you got your hackles up when I called him a stray. You're referring to him now as a pawn."

Meri sank down into the chair at the desk. "No, I didn't mean…I was just saying…What I meant is that because he's here, we now have hope in defeating Voldermort."

Sirius sat on the edge of the desk. "What makes him so special?"

"You've noticed the scar?"

He nodded.

"That scar is the result of Voldermort marking him as his equal. When the scar was made, Voldermort transferred some of his power into Harry. I think it would be a safe bet to say that Harry is parselmouth and it could explain the amount of magical capability he has."

"Having that kind of power, wouldn't you think it would corrupt him like it had Tom Riddle?"

"Well, yes, but Harry's has some help. His eyes are the same color as Lily's. She sacrificed herself for him that night. Because of that, the love she had for him created a type of barrier. He has the choice to use the gifts for evil but his mother's love keeps him from doing that."

Sirius' brow furrowed. "So he wasn't born with green eyes?"

Meri slowly shook her head. "He was born with the Potter hazel eyes. That was the one thing that struck me when I pulled him out of the wreckage. His eyes had gone from that muddy green to a vibrant, almost neon, green."

Silence hung between them for awhile. Meri allowed the ticking of the clock to lull her into sleepiness as Sirius processed these new revelations. She didn't know how much time had passed before Sirius broke the silence.

"He asked me about us."

"What?"

"Harry. Smart kid, he asked if we were together."

"Oh. What did you say?"

Sirius shrugged. "That we were pretty much together. Not married but-"

"Together," Meri finished for him with a smile. "Have you seen James at all?"

"Not today, no."

Meri frowned. "I would have thought we would be fighting him just to see Harry. It strikes me as very odd."

"James is odd."

She could hear the joking in his voice but there was truth behind the words. "Perhaps you could fill the role till James comes to his senses?"

"Of course. I like the kid."

"You're just happy there's someone here that's on the same maturity level as you."

"It is about time," Sirius stood up and planted a kiss on Meri's cheek. "About that being together but not married-"

"I know. Soon."

He gave her a resigned look before heading up the stairs to track down Harry. Meri waited till she heard him starting to talk before she reached for the chain that always hung around her neck. She wore it under her shirts so it wouldn't show and no one had noticed it the entire time she had been here.

She fingered the ring that hung on the thin chain and held it front of her face. It was a very simple ring, silver with Celtic etchings on the band and a small diamond in the center. It was beautiful and the sacrifice that had gone into the purchase of it had touched her deeper than realizing the etchings meant "eternal love."

But the ring wasn't from Sirius and that was why she kept it hidden. In fact, it wasn't even from this time but her previous one. She thought that seventeen years in another time would have broken the spell that the ring had on her but it didn't. The giver of the ring still had her heart though her mind had given up the hope of ever seeing him again. That was until Harry appeared and her hope of returning to Remus was renewed.

James hurried down the dark alleyway, pulling his coat closer around his body. Why was it always colder on this side of the street?

"Where are you going?"

He stopped and turned to face the voice from the shadows. "What's it to you?"

"You missed the meeting already, James." The shadows gave up the one hiding in them. A man dressed completely in black, tall and haughty. His dark hair was pulled back into a ponytail and despite that James could still see the grease in it. Greasy…that was the perfect description of Severus Snape.

"I was tied up," James snapped.

"How unfortunate. What possibly could have kept you from our meeting?"

"Things came up."

"What things?"

"It's none of your business. I'm here now."

Snape gave him one of those annoyed looks but didn't say anything else. "There have been rumors that you have a houseguest."

He had been afraid of that. Stupid Meri taking Harry out of the house. "Well, we don't. Same old ragged crew."

"People are saying it's a boy, looking to be around mid to late teens. The say he looks like you."

"Really?" James flashed an ice cold smile. "Maybe I'm just looking younger." Before he knew it, he had his back pinned up against the wall, Snape's hook nose only inches away his own.

"Do not play games with me. You've been playing with the big boys now for seventeen years. I would have thought you would know how to play the game by now but apparently you do not. Who is it that has been seen in Godric Hollow?"

"Some kid who ran away from home. Meri took pity on him, you know her, she'll take in any stray."

"That better be the case."

Snape released him and James pushed off the other man's hands with a snarl. "It is. Don't touch me again."

"Please, you honestly think I like being around you, Potter? That I meet with you just because I need the friends? I don't normally associate with men who sell out their pregnant wives."

Snape's throat was in his hands before he even registered how he got the other man on the ground. "You were supposed to protect her," he shrieked. "I gave her over to you to protect!"

A flash of light threw James back against the wall, the back of his head making a sickening thud from the impact. He slid down the rough brick to sit on the ground, too woozy to stand. Snape stood over him with a wand drawn.

"No James, you were supposed to protect her. Don't blame me for your ill decisions. And I'll be checking up on that 'houseguest' of yours."

James tried to come back with a retort, any kind of retort, but all he tasted was blood in his mouth. It would have to do, he thought as he spit it in the direction of Snape's high polished black shoes. It missed by a few inches but Snape got the idea.

"Pathetic," Snape sneered before melding back into the shadows. James rested his throbbing head on the brick wall behind him and let the darkness overtake him.