Hindsight

Summary: "Ten years," James whispered to his wife. "We've been dead for Ten years… how is this possible?" Ten years after the tragedy at Godric's Hollow, James and Lily come back to life and find their world turned upside down.

AN: Sorry it's been so long! I've been sick since last week and been sleeping if I wasn't working so it was hard to upload the next chapter even though it was written already. I hope you all can forgive me!

Also, I feel it important to bring this up. For pretty much ever chapter, I've gotten reviews asking me about the pairings and I just want to say that, for the most part, my story is going in a direction where it is ending well before puberty (and before the age in the books where Harry was truly interested in girls) so I wasn't planning on having a pairing anyway for the kids. So please, please, please, stop asking haha! I don't mean that rudely, I just mean that I hope this has answered your questions sufficiently.

Chapter 20

Ron rolled over with a loud yawn when he felt someone poking his side. He ignored the snickers above him and burrowed deeper into his blankets. He felt it whipped off him and he groaned in irritation.

"What do you want?!"

"Oi! Is that any way to treat your best friends?" Harry laughed.

Neville nodded eagerly. "Come on, Ron! It's time to get up! We have to catch the train soon!"

He groaned once more, shoving his pillow over his face. "When I told you guys to spend the last weekend of hols with me, it wasn't so you two could wake me up early every morning!"

Harry rolled his eyes but went back to his cot and began changing, Neville doing the same. Ron did in fact beg the Potters and Mrs. Longbottom to let the boys stay over at his house, mainly because the Twins-after getting over the initial shock- began teasing him about not noticing that he was sleeping in bed with a criminal and he couldn't take it anymore. James, Lily and Augusta promised the boys that they would see them at Platform Nine and Three-Quarters in a few days and, with that, they spent the rest of their weekend at the Burrow. Even Hermione popped in through the floo one day to hang out with them. The Burrow had never been so packed, but Molly loved having them over. "You'll be back next summer, of course?" she has asked-or maybe demanded- cheerfully.

"We'll never make it to the train if you don't get up, Ron."

Ron sat up and glared and the raven-haired boy. "Would you relax? You'll see mummy and daddy soon enough."

Harry hurled a pillow in his direction, which Ron easily dodged even in his half-asleep state. "Keep it up and I'll set Hermione on you for 'making fun of Harry when he's still very sensitive about things like this, he just got them back, Ronald!'"

Even Ron laughed at that. The one time Ron had joked about Harry enjoying being coddled by his parents, Hermione tore into him for so long that he had to walk away from her so she would stop.

"We all know the truth anyway, Harry. It's not your parents you miss. It's Hedwig."

Neville snorted at Ron's jest. It was true. Harry had begged his parents to let him take Hedwig with him to the Burrow but they insisted they'd bring her to him at the train. "It'll be too much to carry, Harry," his dad explained. "You'll see her soon enough."

"Looks like we're going to run late no matter what we do. Do you think Hermione will get there before us? Maybe she'll save a compartment when she realizes we aren't there yet."

"Mione would reserve four for us if she could," Ron answered as he stood and pulled his shirt over his head.

"We should hurry. We don't want to keep her waiting too long."

Harry and Ron grinned at each other. "Missing Hermione already, Nev?"

The boy blushed hard, knowing what they were trying to say. They joked about it too much for him to ignore. "I don't have a crush on her! She's just nice to me! Nicer than you idiots, at least."

"Hey!" Harry shouted indignantly. "I've been very nice! He's the mean one!"

"I'm not mean!" he scowled.

They stared at him knowingly.

The tips of Ron's ears turned red. "I'm not that mean."

They all fell into laughter once more.

"Boys!" they heard Mrs. Weasley call from the kitchen. "Are you ready to go yet? The car's on already!"

Ron's jaw dropped. "How's he going to convince mum that we can all fit in that car with two extra people with us this time around?"

They grabbed their things, ran downstairs and grabbed some rolls off the table before running out, throwing their trunks into the back, and squeezing rather comfortably into the backseat. Somehow, Molly did believe that Arthur hadn't messed around with the car and instead was impressed with how innovative muggles could be. At the very beginning of their drive, Ginny began giggling in the front seat when her parents started arguing about "just a push of a button-" and "No, Arthur." Harry and Neville turned to the redheads inquisitively.

"Dad enchanted the thing to fly," George whispered.

"We've taken it out loads of times," Fred added, "but there have been times that mum caught us."

"She's got eyes all around the Burrow, I tell you," Ron huffed.

Percy glared at his brother's. "I, for one, think it's a good thing that mum always catches you. You could get hurt, or worse, die."

"Imagine dying, Fred?"

"Then we wouldn't have to listen to Percy lecturing us, George."

Percy elbowed Ron hard when he laughed. "Fine! Take their side, Ronald, but when one of them ends up killing themselves from one of their stupid pranks, you'll be sorry."

They ignored Percy for the rest of the drive, accusing him of being a killjoy, and were all too happy when they got to the train station. They watched Percy storm ahead once they were all out of the car.

"You've no idea what it's like to live with that," Fred muttered as he grabbed his trunk, loaded it on a trolley and chased after his brother. "Percy! Would you slow down! If I die chasing after you, you'll be sorry!"

"That's not a funny joke, Fred!"

George chuckled as he helped them take the rest of the stuff out of the boot. "He was the one that said we'd kill ourselves! What a prat." He tossed the keys to Ron. "Lock the boot, Ron, and hurry or we'll miss the train!" He jogged into the station to find his brothers. Ron did as he was told, shoved the keys into his pockets and then caught up with everyone else. He was just about to pass the keys back to his father when he saw Mrs. Longbottom waving at them from the wall between Platform Nine and Ten.

"There you all are!" She sighed with relief. Neville rushed forward and hugged his grandmother. Augusta rubbed the back of his head then pulled away and straightened. "Your older boys went in already, and your family is waiting in there for you, Harry. You best go in now or you'll miss the train. I only wanted to see you before leaving, Neville. Your uncle just got carted off to the hospital."

Molly and Arthur made the boys promise not to take long before heading in with Ginny.

Neville frowned. "Is he all right?"

"Hit his head but he'll be fine." She leaned down and hugged Neville tightly before standing up straight. "You be good, Neville. I better not hear that you've gotten yourself into trouble. Clear?"

"Clear, mam."

Augusta nodded to Ron and Harry. "Take care, boys." With that she rushed away and disappeared into the crowd.

"Your uncle will be okay, Nev," Ron assured him as he lined his cart up at the wall. "Ready?" Harry rolled up behind him and beckoned Neville to his side.

"Let's go."

Ron took off, then Harry, then Neville, but instead of disappearing through the barrier, Ron crashed into the wall, which led to the two other boys flying over the carts and into him. Their trolleys toppled upside, Pig was freaking out in his cage, and a worker came over to scold them for messing around. When they finally got their bearings, righted their belongings and realized what had happened, Neville scrambled over to the wall and began slapping it hard.

"What's going on?" he asked frantically. "Why can't we get through? What if we miss the train?! What if our families can't get out?!"

"Neville, just calm down!" Ron ordered. He stepped forward and examined the wall like Neville, reaching all around to see if there was any part of it open. "I don't understand… Why is it closed? Have we-"

The bell rang, signaling that another hour had come and, quite possibly, the Hogwarts Express was rolling out of the station. Harry's jaw dropped in shock and Neville threw his head back with a moan of horror. "We're going to be in so much trouble! Why hasn't anyone come out to find us?! Are they really trapped in there? Why did gran have to go already?!"

"Maybe we can catch her?" Harry suggested. "Did she come in a car?"

Ron spun around as he grabbed the outside of his pocket. "The car!"

A few minutes later, Ron was loading their things back into the car while Harry and Neville watched him warily from the side.

"I don't know if this is a good idea, Ron," Harry said weakly. "What if our parents get out and look for us?"

Neville was pale. "Gran's going to kill me."

"What if they're already out and looking for us?"

"Gran's going to murder me."

Ron turned to them with a glare. "What if that wall stopped us from getting through because Peter Pettigrew put a spell on it and is waiting to jump out and murder us before your gran even has a chance to? We have to get out of here now. He could be hiding in the shadows looking for a chance to grab Harry or me or you, Neville, and I'm not going to let him!"

He slammed the boot shut.

"I was stupid enough to bring him to your house even though everyone insisted I leave him home," Ron said as he loaded Pig into the backseat. "It's my fault that he knows where you live now, Harry, so I'll get you out of the mess this time. Now, can you both get in the car because I'll be cross if I turn around and you're both dead."

Harry glanced at Neville, gave him an encouraging nod and, after much hesitation, they both got in. Harry took the front with Ron and Neville sat in the back with Pig.

Ron took the keys and pushed them into the ignition. "Right… here we go."

"HARRY JAMES POTTER, OF ALL THE ABSOLUTE MORONIC, IRRESPONSIBLE, OUTRAGEOUS, INSANE, THINGS TO DO!"

Harry sunk deeper into his seat as James continued yelling at him. Lily, who had moved on from checking him for injuries, was now hovering over Ron and Neville to make sure they didn't have anything more than the scratches that were visible on their skin. Professor Snape looked positively gleeful as he watched the children get torn apart, even if it was by the man he hated. McGonagall was pacing back and forth, looking like she was trying to decide what to do with her students.

"You couldn't wait ten minutes?! You were seen! YOU COULD'VE DIED. CRASHED INTO THE WHOMPING WILLOW OF ALL THE DAMN TREES!"

"It's not like we chose the Whomping Willow on purpose," Harry muttered.

"DON'T YOU SASS ME, YOUNG MAN."

He somehow pressed even more into the back of his chair. To make matters worse, Professor Dumbledore entered minutes later, looking grave. None of the boys could look up at him, unable to take the disappointment in his eyes.

"Please explain why you did this."

"It was my fault, sir," Ron blurted out. "I thought that maybe the barrier was closed because of Pettigrew-"

"The barrier was closed, Headmaster!" Neville pleaded as he sobbed into his hands. "We crashed right into it and the man yelled because he thought we were just being stupid-"

"It wasn't Ron's fault!" Harry defended. "We all agreed to take the car, it wasn't just him! We just thought that if Pettigrew was hiding and waiting to grab us or kill us, our best shot would be to get out of there as soon as we could!"

"Don't lie, Harry! I insisted on it! We thought that our families might be stuck on the other side! I panicked!"

"Gran's going to kill me!" Neville wailed.

"We were just scared that Pettigrew was near! That he had locked the barrier!"

Snape slammed his hand on the desk. "And you didn't think of writing to us with your owl, Mr. Weasley? Or maybe just waiting a minute more? You've broken serious laws, damaged an old and valued tree, you've-"

Lily somehow grabbed all three boys at the same time and pulled them into her embrace. She turned so that she was shielding them from Severus' view and craned her neck to glare at him. "Stop it! Don't you see how frightened they are?!"

"Babying them will do nothing to show that their crime-"

"They're just boys!" She shouted. "They didn't mean to cause trouble, they were just scared! Leave them alone!"

Ron hid his face in Lily's shirt, Neville doing the same as Harry stared up at his mother. "I guess we'll go get our things?" Ron asked hopelessly.

Dumbledore looked at the boy. "What do you mean, Mr. Weasley?"

Harry gave the man a dubious stare. "Surely, you're expelling us."

Neville let out another pitiful sob.

Dumbledore sighed. "Not today, but I can't begin to express how severe the decisions you've made today are. Much worse could have happened besides two muggles seeing you-"

"Headmaster!" Snape protested. "These boys-"

"That's enough, Severus, I know what they've done. Look at them. They know what they've done too. Right now I'm more worried about the barrier being closed."

"So they aren't getting punished at all?"

James, who had calmed down considerably after hearing their explanation, gave Snape an irritable glare. "Shut up, Snape. Didn't you just hear the Headmaster? Someone closed the bloody barrier so they couldn't get through! The muggles can be taken care of so sort your damn priorities out!"

Snape, though visibly angry at being yelled at by James, looked like Christmas had been canceled.

"Besides," Dumbledore interrupted before any argument between the two could start. "It is up to Professor McGonagall to decide their punishment. I must return to the feast, there are a few notices I have to give out, and once I'm done, I expect to see you all in my office." He looked at the students. "Not you. You can go up to your common rooms once you're done here. Severus, come with me."

"But-"

"Come."

Snape gave the boys a menacing sneer before sweeping out after the Headmaster. "Snape, our agreement?" James called out.

The man glanced back and gave him a curt nod.

"Professor," Harry started when they were left alone. "Technically… because this incident happened before the start of term… Gryffindor can't lose house points, right?"

James snorted and McGonagall seemed very slightly amused. "I will not take house points off, Mr. Potter, but all three of you will be serving detention. Understood?"

"Yes, Professor," they answered together. It was more than they could have asked for. She summoned for a plate of sandwiches to be brought from the kitchens and left them in Snape's office.

Harry looked up at his parents with the biggest puppy eyes they'd ever seen.

"Don't you dare," James warned.

His gaze went back down to his feet immediately. James sighed.

"I understand why you did what you did, boys," he conceded, "but if you ever do anything like this again-"

"We won't," Ron said hastily.

"We swear!"

"Promise!"

James nodded approvingly. "Harry, come here." The boy released his mother and allowed his father to hug him. "Crazy git. I guess I should've known you'd try to outdo the Marauders eventually."

"I wasn't!" he protested, though he knew his father was joking. "Do you think it was Pettigrew, dad? Do you think he closed the barrier so he could take me?"

James looked to Lily, who appeared to be tightening her hold on Neville and Ron. James sunk down to one knee so he could look Harry in the eyes.

"Here." He reached into his pocket and, with a grimace, pulled a hissing snake out.

"Sally!" Harry exclaimed, reaching out for him immediately. James passed it to the boy gingerly. "He's angry with you. He heard you yelling at me."

"Tell your bloody snake to get over it," he grumbled angrily. "I brought him as a surprise, thought the thing would starve itself to death if he went without you for months. Just don't let anyone see him or you'll get into a rotten load of trouble. I just figured if any rats were around, Sally wouldn't hesitate striking out to kill them for you… Hedwig should already be up at your dorms, I expect."

"Thanks, dad," he said gratefully.

"Listen to me, Harry. I know I'm going to sound insane with what I'm about to say, but if you suspect anything- anything at all- promise me you'll tell Professor Snape."

Harry's jaw dropped and he heard his two friends let out strangled chokes behind him. "Snape?!"

"I know," James said emphatically. "Professor Dumbledore is a very good man, Harry, but sometimes he takes things into his own hands so that others won't be burdened. Your mother and I want to know everything that goes on here and, knowing that Snape has saved your life twice already-"

"But Snape?!" Harry griped. "He hates me, dad! He'll never take anything I say seriously!"

"We have… an agreement of sorts. I did a favor for him back when we were students here and this is how he's paying me back. He's sworn to keep us updated and that he'd give us word if you come to him with anything. Promise me you'll go to him, Harry."

"This is stupid," Ron butt in. "He can't be trusted! He's the absolute worst!"

"Is he not the man who saved Harry from falling off a broom?" Lily challenged kindly as she stroked Ron's hair. "We know he isn't the nicest of your professors, but you boys must trust us on this."

Harry looked like he was going to be ill but gave in reluctantly. "Fine. I'll go to Snape."

"Thank you," James breathed. "Now go on, eat your food so you can get some rest."

Half an hour later, the boys bid goodbye to Harry's parents and went off to Gryffindor tower. Despite having been forgiven for what they'd done, they all still felt rather horrid about the day. They were quiet the entire way up, barely talking to each other, and when they did speak it was because they realized none of then knew the password to give to the Fat Lady. They got up to the portrait, hoping someone would walk by to let them in, when Hermione appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

"There you are!" she shouted, lunging forward to hug them all. "Where have you been?! Do you know how worried I've been? All these silly rumors about getting expelled because you crashed a car into a tree-"

"Well, we aren't expelled," Harry mumbled.

Hermione reeled back in surprise. "Don't tell me you actually flew a car here?"

"Save the lecture," Ron begged. "Just tell us the password, would you?"

She glared at him. "It's 'wattlebird but that's not the point-"

The portrait swung open and whatever she wanted to say was cut short by the flurry of noise that exploded at the sight of them.

"Brilliant! Inspired! What an entrance!" Lee Jordan was bouncing in his spot as he yelled out to them.

The Twins came up with beaming grins. "Our brother!"

"Why couldn't we come in the car with you?"

Ron grinned embarrassedly, which fell the moment Harry nudged him and pointed at Percy, who was storming their way. "Off to bed, very tired," Ron told them all hurriedly, as he grabbed his two friends and raced up the stairs. "Talk to you in the morning, Mione!"

"Ronald Weasley, you get back here and-"

They all ignored her as they disappeared up the boys' dormitories and into their rooms. Seamus and Dean were already there and praised them just as much as the other Gryffindors did. This time, Harry and Neville couldn't help but grin with Ron as well.