First Times, Second Chances

Chapter Eight: A Third Choice

Meri spent the night in the hospital by James' bedside. While he slept with the help of the muggle drugs, she stared out the window until the first pink, orange and red streaks announced the coming sun. The fact was she needed this time to think without the fear of being interrupted. She knew she couldn't keep going on being divided the way she was with Sirius and Remus. She had to come to a conclusion and soon. This kind of distraction will do nothing except get her killed during a Death Eater attack.

"There's always a third choice, you know."

Meri looked over in mild surprise to see James sitting up in bed. His hair was mussed up and she had a brief flashback of him getting off his broom after playing Quidditch. What she wouldn't give to play Quidditch again. "What do you mean?"

He yawned immensely and clumsily grabbed his glasses only to shove them haphazardly on his face. "You always look that way when you're trying to make a decision. I can only guess what this one is."

Meri crossed her arms and smirked. "Give it a go then."

"From the way you've been behaving lately, I'd say you're stuck in the middle of the great Sirius/Remus debate."

She tried to hide her shock but could tell from her brother's smug look she was failing miserably. "Is it that obvious?"

"You may be one of the best Occlumens around but there's just some things you can't hide from a brother."

Meri took a steadying breath and swallowed the tears that rose up in her throat. "Thanks, James. So what is the third choice?"

"You wait."

She waited for him to expound but nothing came. "Wait for what?"

"The one you're suppose to be with. It could be you haven't even met him yet. Or you have and just don't realize it yet."

She smirked. "What it be Snape." It made sense to her, though. When neither one of them felt right then the only option was to walk away. "What about Sirius?"

"What about him?"

"He's been very dogmatic, no pun intended, about a relationship."

James rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, I don't want this to come out mean but Sirius has ADD when it comes to relationships with women. Give him a few weeks and I'll take him down to the pub and set his sights on someone else. How's that?"

Meri felt laughter bubble up from inside of her and was surprised at the unfamiliarity of it. How long had it been since she had just laughed? "Come on," she picked up James' clothes and tossed them to him. "Let's get you home. You have a son to spend time with today."

Harry was used to the many, many arguments that broke out between Ron and Hermione, but nothing prepared him for the breakfast table at Godric's Hollow. Even though neither one of them were eating anything, Sirius and Remus were having a stare down contest while Peter and he were trying to eat in comfortable quiet. But seeing the hard lines on Sirius' face and the almost feral look that adorned Remus', food was the last thing on Harry's mind. He felt more like finding safety than the next spoonful of cereal.

"Don't worry," Peter said quietly, "James and Meri will be back soon."

But it was if the mere mention of his Aunt's name set the other two men off. Harry couldn't even keep up with the insults being thrown across the table. Then the most surprising thing happened: Peter Pettigrew stood up and let out an ear deafening roar which silenced the men.

"Would you two kindly take your pissing contest outside? Harry and I are trying to enjoy our breakfast like civilized men."

It took a few seconds for everything to register but eventually Sirius and Remus excused themselves from the table and left Harry and Peter by themselves. Peter nodded in satisfaction and returned to his chair.

"Now, then, Harry, what would you like to do today?"

Harry went to say something only to find his mouth was still hanging open in shock. He snapped it shut, cracking his molars together. He took a few moments to study the man seated before him and could hardly believe that this was the Peter Pettigrew. Well groomed, well dressed, a slight roundness to him without being overweight and definitely more confident. It was almost easy to believe that the other three had come to flock around him instead of him begging and groveling his way into their group.

"What kind of animangus are you?"

Peter looked up from his bowl with a curious look on his face. "I beg your pardon?"

Even Harry to had jar his memory to remember what question had just flown his mouth. Swallowing a lump of nervousness, he asked the question again. "What kind of animangus do you turn into?"

"How did you…ah, yes, the Peter from your time is an animangus as well?"

Harry nodded.

"I turn into a mouse. Your garden variety field mouse."

"A mouse?" Harry repeated. "Not a…a rat?"

Peter laughed. "A rat? Heavens no. I would serious worry about one of my friends if they turned into a rat as their animangus form."

"My parents didn't."

All laughter and teasing fell from Peter's face. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. I'm sure rats serve their purpose as well."

"It's alright," Harry tried to brush off the conversation and go back to eating but his appetite seemed to have left him. "Um, what are everyone else's forms?"

"Well, obviously, Remus if a werewolf so he doesn't have one. James is a stag, Sirius is a black dog and Meri is an owl. Is that the same from your time?"

Harry nodded. "Except for Meri, I never even knew she existed."

Peter dropped his spoon into his empty bowl. "Really? No one told you had a aunt?"

"No. I figure they didn't want to tell me of one more family member that was dead…or missing as it is."

"Is it terribly different here from where you come from?"

The question left Harry speechless, not because he didn't have an answer but because there were so many things that were different. "It's definitely different. Things were just starting to get bad when I came here. You know, the being unsafe outdoors, constantly looking over your shoulder. But our numbers were greater, the witches and wizards that were against Voldermort."

Peter remained thoughtful for a moment before answering. "I think our numbers are greater than we know. There is just so much fear in the wizarding community that I think is keeping people from helping us." A great sadness seemed to fall across his features as he stared at Harry, more importantly, the lightning bolt scar on his forehead. "We have nothing to rally around, no leader, no sign of hope."

"What do you mean?"

"We don't have the Boy Who Lived. Meri told us the story of how you survived. How Voldermort's killing curse rebounded on to himself. That something held him to the living world but he was less than living. She also said that because of your mother's willing sacrifice, you were protected away from Hogwarts as long as you resided in your Aunt Petunia's home. At least that was her theory."

Harry nodded his head. "She was right."

Peter shook his head. "She was inconsolable when she got here. She screamed your name till she lost her voice. She even went into a muggle community and pounded on doors seeing if you had been brought there. We all thought she had lost her mind till she calmed down enough to tell us what happened on her part. That was when we realized she was from another time."

"Did you ever find out why Voldermort wasn't killed by his own killing curse?"

Peter shook his head. "No, we couldn't find anything in books that could explain that. We found lots of things to stave off death but never stop it."

"They're called Horcuxes."

Peter sat up in his chair, interest replacing the sadness. "Horcruxes?"

"They're objects that he was able to store a shard of his soul. If you find the Horcruxes and destroy them, he'll no longer have that hold to living world."

Peter sat up with a mix of shock and awe. He opened his mouth to say something when a silvery material entered the kitchen and solidified into a giant panda patronus. Harry was about to ask who's this was when the mouth opened and Meri's voice answered his question.

"Death Eaters were waiting for us outside the hospital. We need help."

Peter stood up with such force the chair toppled backwards. "SIRIUS! REMUS!"

All signs of their previous argument were gone as both men returned to the kitchen, wide-eyed and serious.

"Death Eaters at the hospital. Meri just sent a patronus."

Harry stood up and started to follow the three men out the front door when Sirius turned around and held him back. "Where do you think you're going?"

"I'm going to help." He even pulled out his wand to show them.

"If they see you-" Peter started, but Harry cut him off.

"They won't know who I am. Look, I've faced off with Death Eaters before, I even had to face Voldermort himself. I can hold my own."

Sirius looked pleadingly back to the other two. Remus shrugged his thin shoulders and Peter looked terribly uncomfortable. Sirius let out a exasperated sigh. "Fine. Stay close to us. Do not do anything to be a hero. You are no good to us dead."

Harry nodded in agreement but couldn't quite shrug off the memory of the last time he fought side by side with Sirius. Even as they set off down the sidewalk towards the hospital, Harry could hear those whispered voices behind the veil as if he were back in the Department of Mysteries.

Author's Notes: Hi all! I'm sorry for the long hiatus. I was making story notes when book 7 came out so I took time out to read the final book. Obviously, this story is set shortly after the sixth book so I just wanted to let everyone know there are some parts from book 7 that I will be keeping and others that I will rewrite (no offense to JK - I loved the 7th book!). But that is the joy of fan fiction!

And as for my reviewer, Raymond, I just wanted to make sure that you had read the complete chapter because Meri herself explains why Harry was not allowed to stay with her or Sirius:

"It all depends on how," she swallowed convulsively, "how they died. If James was surprised and just killed, then he wouldn't have had a chance to cast a protection charm. I'm thinking that Dumbledore knows something we don't. If Lily willingly died for Harry then yes, he would be safest at his muggle's Aunt's home." Reluctantly, she slowly handed the bundle over to Hagrid. "Make sure he gets there safely."

Also, please keep in the mind the spirit of fan fiction, that it is a creative playground for writers.