A/N: I am now probably infamous for my lengthy Author Notes so just three words for you this time: Hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: All rights to Harry Potter belong to J.K Rowling. Any use of the characters, scenarios, places or objects found here are for my own amusement and I can make no claim to either owning or creating them.

Tapestries and Talks

But Dumbledore stopped Harry on his way through the door. It was weird having the old wizard treat him like any other student, not that he thought he deserved preferential treatment, but the Dumbledore he knew always seemed to understand what was going through his mind and now all that the Professor seemed to be able to register was that the uncomfortable look on Harry's face suggested that he wanted to be somewhere else.

"This will not take long Harry, or Mr Granger as you are now calling yourself, if you would please take a seat."

Harry pulled a chair from a table and sat in front of the desk, opposite Dumbledore, rather reluctantly. This was surely to concern the warning that Dumbledore had issued about spending time with his parents, the warning he had clearly disregarded. To his surprise however, Dumbledore did not reprimand him. He did look over his half-moon spectacles with a sombre expression, piercing Harry with that gaze that made it feel like the old wizard could see right through him. The young man (who now felt more like a little boy) shuffled uncomfortably in his seat.

"Be careful Harry, time-travel can be a treacherous thing. It is human nature to wish we could erase mistakes or alter our pasts. However, I think maybe you know better than others the importance in considering the consequences of our actions."

Harry looked at Dumbledore searchingly, could the Professor possibly know what Harry had done or, he tried to think in time-traveller terms, was going to do in the future regarding Voldemort and the Wizarding community?

"I'll bear that in mind, Professor," he said, warily and slightly confused, still looking for the glimmer of recognition in the old wizard's eyes.

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled, though without the acknowledgment that Harry had hoped for. Harry expressed a thought that had been nagging at him. "Professor, if I'm stuck here, what will happen to my friends? What will they think has happened to me? And what about the Deatheaters that attacked me, people need to warned…"

"You are not looking at time in the right kind of perspective, Harry. You must think of it as line, but one that can take many paths. Indeed, your disappearance from your time will cause that line to take a route it would not have if you had never used the broom. However, as long as we return you to the exact moment you departed from your time that line will not branch off and will continue along the path that it was originally going to take."

Harry tried to wrap his mind around this. "So the reality where I disappear, where my friends worry where I am, won't exist if I return back to the moment I left my time?"

Dumbledore smiled, "Exactly, it will be as if you never left."

"That's a weight off my mind, thank you." Sensing that was the end of their conversation Harry got up to leave.

"Oh, and Harry?" Harry stopped and turned. "Many wizards who play with time travel often discover a time they prefer to their own; I myself always believed I would enjoy life at the turn of the century." Harry found himself picturing Dumbledore strolling about Victorian England and couldn't, as was probably intended by Dumbledore, suppress a grin.

"But those wizards who decide to stay in a time that is not their own indefinitely find that their decision carries dire consequences. It does not do to dwell on the past, and worse to dwell in it. Those wizards believe that knowing what the future will bring is an advantage, but then discover that they are imprisoned by their own knowledge. How to make a decision, any decision, no matter how minor, knowing that it will affect the future. A future that they cannot depend upon not knowing how their existence in that world has altered time. They start believing they have knowledge that no-one else has and then end in wishing that they are ignorant to all the future holds."

Harry did not know what to say to this, what kind of warning was that? He didn't want to stay in 1977, that was obvious. Wasn't he just asking Dumbledore to fix the broom? He decided to settle on nodding and left the room.

--

/Lilly walked slowly from her Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson, letting the hustle and bustle of the rest of the students fade away. Frankly, she was pretty ashamed of herself. DADA had always been one of her worst subjects and she had been struggling all term with the subject they were learning. She had been spending nights up, going over the theory in book after book; with the number of texts she had checked out of the library on the subject of duelling she was sure Madame Pince was beginning to believe she was planning some kind of battle.

And still each essay kept coming back with a lower and lower mark. Even dunderheads like Black were getting better grades than she was, though she was the only one who knew it, not even Alice was aware of how much she was struggling. Everyone just assumed perfect prefect Evans was excelling as usual.

Therefore when the headmaster had announced a surprise test she had felt like bursting into tears. Lilly had never been in a situation like that before, she wasn't failing because she wasn't working hard enough, she just couldn't her head around subject, no matter how hard the young witch tried.

Lilly had panicked, she didn't realise how oppressive the sound of forty scratching quills could be before yours wasn't one of them. The blank parchment had been mocking her as she stared at it, the words refusing to spring from her mind like they normally did. So she had cheated. Lilly shuddered; it was like a dirty word. She couldn't quite believe she had done it; it had just been too easy when she pictured the idea of a big fat zero coming back on her marked test.

She heard the sound of swift footsteps behind her and glanced over her shoulder to see Harry Granger hurrying up to her.

"There you are, I was hoping I would get a chance to talk to you."

She froze and stared at him, "Get…a…chance…to talk with me?" she stuttered and mentally berated herself, could she sound more like an idiot right now? She was just so shocked that he was talking to her, it was still early days but she was sure the Marauders would have turned him against her by now.

He grinned at her and glanced around at the corridor around them, "Yeah, but, um, we should probably go somewhere a bit less open for this." Lilly looked around, despite her curiosity, "There aren't any empty classes around…" she pointed out.

"Oh, I know!" Granger grabbed her wrist and led her a few yards down the corridor before pulling her behind a tapestry and into a concealed passageway.

Lilly didn't have time to wonder how he knew about a secret passage on only his second day at Hogwarts before he was speaking again. "So I was watching you during the test and you seemed to be having trouble." She didn't know whether to feel angry at this assumption or to blush at the idea that he had been watching her, she settled for a blush. The blush however, swiftly disappeared when a weighted silence fell between them and she realised that he was very nicely trying to tell her that he had seen her cheating.

"Oh god," she said quietly to his raised eyebrows that almost disappeared underneath his messy fringe. It was oddly attract-

CONCENTRATE LILLY! The not-so-little voice at the back of her mind snapped her back into reality. She decided to feign indifference at the fact that she had been caught in the act when inside she was actually shrivelling up in shame-what must he think of her?

"It's not a big deal, I probably got a Troll anyway." She crossed her arms defensively.

"I know, but I thought…if you were having trouble with the subject maybe…I could tutor you if you wanted."

But Lilly was now in ice-queen mode, it was a defence mechanism, sure, she knew that, but it helped anyway. What made this guy think he was so much better than her anyway? Was it any of his business what she did in tests? And-oh god, she realised again-he was probably going to tell all his little Marauder friends that he had caught Lilly Evans, 'Miss Perfect,' cheating. After all the times she had told them off for copying off each other they would never let her hear the end of it.

"What makes you think I need your help? In fact, what makes you think it's any of your business in the first place?" she snapped, glaring at him. However, far from the normal response she got from guys at the sight of her evil side emerging (step back, look frightened and head for the hills at the first possible opportunity) he actually smiled.

This infuriated her more, though she knew that she was probably angrier at herself than his offer of help. "What," she inquired in tones of venom, "is so funny?"

"Oh, nothing, you just remind of someone I know," his light-hearted tone added to her aggravation, "And your right, I'm sorry, I don't know why it would be any of my business." He had the good grace to look at least slightly contrite.

Lilly shook her head, trying to dispel her feeling of uncertainty. "Whatever." She swung her bag over her shoulder and pushed her way out of the passageway, storming off with practised dignity; a dignity that was slightly hindered by the cheery call coming from behind her, "If you change your mind, let me know!"

He was still as chirpy as ever. Guys were so ANNOYING!

--

/Harry probably should've been worried that his own mother appeared less than friendly towards him. He probably should've been wondering what was wrong with him that made her act that way. He probably should've been over-analysing everything within the encounter, anxiously questioning his actions.

But frankly, he couldn't be bothered.

That's what he spent his whole life doing, wasn't it? Overanalysing, going over each mistake torturously, wondering what he should have done? For once he had not allowed himself to worry about his every action and he actually felt…alright about it. Instead of allowing himself to obsess he had relaxed, let go, he had been able to laugh at his mother's resemblance to Hermione in a huff and he had even been unperturbed by Lilly's hostility towards him. He had learnt something from Ginny at least, it wasn't anything personal, she had probably just been embarrassed about being caught at cheating. Girls reacted weirdly like that.

It was also rather amusing to see her reaction, he was sure he had irritated her no end when he remained cheery. He was also sure that she wouldn't stay mad at him forever; no-one could remain openly hostile to someone who was always friendly towards them, which was exactly what he planned on doing. He felt something odd and unfamiliar but not all that unpleasant swell inside him, he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was.

Barely thirty seconds after Lilly had exited the secret passageway Harry followed suit in an unusually good mood. After all, he thought as he broke into a whistle, not many kids got to wind their mum up without being grounded.

--

/Remus was halfway to the Gryffindor common room before he realised he'd left is quill in the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. Muttering something to the other Marauders he immediately doubled back, not wanting to be late for supper.

What Remus was unaware of was the two people who had concealed themselves behind a tapestry moments before he strode past their hiding place.

With relief he discovered that the DADA classroom was still unlocked and he retrieved his quill swiftly, realising that if he hurried he would still have time to drop his stuff of in his dorm before supper started. However, when he turned the corner of the corridor he was struck by raised voices coming from behind the tapestry to his left:

"…is so funny?"

"…nothing…"

Remus was not a nosy person by nature more…curious. But even despite this he didn't really have any desire to eavesdrop on the pair in the passageway (it was clear from their voices that one was male the other female.) Their voices drifted out towards him.

"…any of my business"

"Whatever."

It sounded like a lovers tiff. Remus was just about to leave them to it when the girl stormed out of the passage; he quickly backed around the corner, not wanting her to think he had been listening in, but just slowly enough to catch sight of the red-head striding away. Lilly Evans?

A voice called from behind the tapestry, a voice that was startlingly familiar in its cheerful arrogance. "If you change your mind, let me know!" James? But that was impossible, Remus had just seen James head for the great hall with the others. Even if it was James, what was he doing hiding behind a passageway with Lilly Evans? The girl could barely stand to be near James, let alone risk being found in such a compromising position with him (and he was sure for a girl like Evans being cramped together in a dark passageway, a favourite haunt of many love-struck couples in need of a little privacy, with the boy she allegedly hated, would count as compromising.)

When the owner of the male voice appeared Remus did really believe for a split second that it was indeed James. But then he caught sight of a pair of green eyes and realised that this boy was in fact slightly taller than James: Harry.

It was crazy how much he'd sounded like James just then. And then the reality of what he'd just seen hit him, oh dear, if James heard about this he would not be happy. Even if Lilly had left in apparent huff it still left plenty of theories as to why she and Harry were arguing or why they had been in the passageway in the first place. And Harry's parting remark left many questions, Remus was careful not to jump conclusions but he could not help but wonder what exactly Harry had been offering that enraged Lilly so.

But Harry seemed like a nice guy, why should he have any idea that James had a thing for Lilly? They had hardly pointed it out in the guide to being a Gryffindor: Rule number one, Lilly Evans is out of bounds because James Potter is in love with her and his word is law.

But that was a kind of unspoken law amongst the Gryffindor boys, the poor girl probably hadn't been asked out by a Gryffindor since her fourth year. Nobody really had seemed to question its logicality though, if James liked a girl all evidence pointed to the fact that he could have her-so what if the one girl he actually fell for was the one girl who thought he was a complete prat? Once James set his sights on a girl a sort of switch clicked in everyone's brains: No point asking her out now.

As much as Remus detested these kind of rules created by a hierarchy of popularity James was his friend, popular or not, he'd done stuff that meant Remus would probably owe him for a lifetime, he'd be telling James' kids about the kind of friend their dad had made at school: loyal more than anything else. Despite any 'furry little problems' James' friendship had been unwavering and that counted for everything in Remus' books.

He'd just have a quiet word with Harry, explain the situation, he repeated what he'd thought before, Harry was a nice guy. He'd back off as soon as he realised the circumstances between James and Lilly (well, more the circumstances James had for Lilly, it wasn't exactly a two-way thing) anyway, Lilly didn't even seem to reciprocate Harry's feelings, he probably looked too much like James for her liking.

And, coming to his decision, Remus strode off to supper, not really realising that he had stopped being careful not to jump to conclusions and had come to rest quite firmly upon a very big conclusion indeed.

--

Remus waited until after supper to have his word with Harry. He drew Harry away from the others on their way back to the common room, engaging him in a conversation about how he thought the Defence test went and deliberately walking slowly so that they lost the others as they hurried on ahead.

"…Yeah, I think I did okay, I mean, I haven't studied what you've been doing before but Defence Against the Dark Arts has always been my best subject."

The young werewolf nodded, "There's something else I wanted to talk to you about, Harry." He stopped walking completely and faced the taller boy. He had to do this delicately, he didn't want to humiliate Harry by telling him he had witnessed his rejection, no guy wanted an audience when a girl turned him down. "You see, I saw you talking to Lilly."

"Oh," said Harry, and Remus was sure he understood what he meant when he said 'talking to.'

"Yes, I just thought you'd like to know that James likes her too, a lot, he's been practically in love with her for the last four years and I don't really think it's the best idea for you to go after."

At this, much to Remus' confusion, Harry burst into laughter.

"Oh, Remus…" he chuckled some more and wiped a tear of mirth away from his eye with one hand and placing the other on the werewolf's shoulder in a reassuring way. "Trust me, I do not have a thing for Lilly, she's not really my type."

Remus felt himself colour, he had been so sure, but the more he thought about it the more it was obvious that Harry had not been asking Lilly out, he'd only just met the girl for heavens sakes. The werewolf, in a very rare occurrence, felt quite stupid. He was also quite relieved, no complications then, James could go on pining after Lilly and Harry could join in with the others teasing him about it.

"Seriously?" he asked, just to make one hundred percent sure.

"I'm more serious than Sirius himself," Harry said sombrely and Remus rolled his eyes in exasperation, how many times had he heard that particular joke.

"So what were you talking to her about that made her so angry?"

"Ah," Harry frowned, "That, I'm afraid, I can't tell you, it would be a breach of her privacy."

Remus looked at Harry long and hard and decided he must be telling the truth. He didn't know whether it was those weirdly familiar green eyes, or his striking resemblance to James, or just the certainty that kept overwhelming him in the form of some deep-set instinct that this guy was just good, but he couldn't help but trust him.

Remus enjoyed walking back to the common room with Harry. It was strange how even a short chat seemed to gain a considerably deeper acquaintance with the new boy. Remus read people well, and people were never too open when making new friendships, a newcomer to their year was always wary and on-their-guard: testing the waters before they bared all.

But Harry acted as if he already knew him, chatted without inhibitions. He let the young werewolf in and he couldn't help but be drawn in. They talked about all sorts of things: school work and teachers, the differences between Hogwarts and living with Muggles but only when they got onto the subject of Quidditch did Harry's eyes really light up.

"You like Quidditch then?"

"Yeah, it's the best; it's even more than that. I remember the first time I got on a broom and it was like…like…for the first time I felt truly free, you know? Like all this time you'd been held down by chains and you didn't even know it until you realised you could fly. I get on a broom and it feels like all my troubles are gone, like there isn't any world outside the sky."

"Uh huh." Remus took this in, that was pretty poetic for a guy talking about his favourite sport. Harry seemed to realise this a little bit and gained a rosy complexion.

"I just mean that whenever I have a problem or something I need to think about, a couple of laps on a broom makes everything look better."

"No, I can understand that. So you play then?"

Harry nodded, "Seeker."

"James is seeker of the Gryffindor team, he's captain too, Sirius is a chaser. I can't really say I'm an expert on the subject but if it's Quidditch you want to discuss; those two can talk about the damn sport for hours."

They had reached the portrait hole and were climbing through it when he said these words. "What's that you're not an expert on Moony? I didn't think it was possible."

Remus grimaced at a grinning Sirius, "Quidditch."

"Ah, the beautiful game," sighed James, with the air of talking about something sacred.

"Harry plays," the werewolf explained.

The two raven haired boys jumped up in excitement, as if Harry had just declared he could spontaneously combust.

"Really, what position do you play?"

"Are you any good?"

"What team to you support?"

"Got any bets on the World Cup?"

Harry laughed and sank into an armchair, deciding how to answer their bombardment of questions. "Let's see: I play seeker position, I'm a fair flyer, I don't really support a team but I'm open to persuasion and I'm sort of out of touch with the World Cup, I prefer playing to watching I think."

"Huh, we'll have to have a couple of laps round the pitch, see what you're like. You might even give James a run for his money." At this James and Sirius looked at each other and grinned mischievously, sharing a secret joke. Remus knew to them the idea of anyone giving James a run for his money was preposterous, he was easily the best player at Hogwarts.

"That should be fun," agreed Harry eagerly. Remus felt a little bit sorry for him, knowing he probably didn't have much of a chance. He knew what was coming next, it wouldn't be the first time the devious duo had hoodwinked some poor innocent out of their money.

"How about we make it interesting?" Sirius' grin stretched wider and Remus was surprised Harry didn't even look slightly perturbed. He supposed he didn't know Sirius well enough, but to Remus that grin spelt T.R.O.U.B.L.E.

"Sure, what are we betting?"

"We'll set the snitch loose and the first one to catch it wins. I've got a galleon on Prongs-I mean-James."

James clapped a hand on Sirius' shoulder appreciatively and Remus rolled his eyes, as if he had been expecting anything else. "James?" Sirius asked.

"One galleon to me, of course." They looked at Remus.

"A galleon on our newcomer," Remus said dryly, enjoying their looks of surprise. Harry grinned,

"Thanks Remus, I suppose I'll bet on myself too then."

"Peter?"

The small boy, who had until now remained silent squeaked out one galleon on James. "Excellent! When shall we do it?"

"Wednesday, we always have free time then."

"Wednesday it is," Sirius rubbed his hands together deviously, "Say your prayers Granger."

Harry laughed, impressing Remus again by not looking worried in the slightest, "If I'm praying for anything, it's that James is still in one piece when I'm through with him." There were a couple of 'ooooohs' and joking hissesfrom any surrounding Gryffindors who had been listening in.

James chuckled, "I knew I'd like you, Harry."

--

/Harry was not really worried about the contest between James and him, he was more curious than anything. Countless people said he must have inherited his flying ability from his father, now was the time to find out exactly how much he had inherited. A galleon into the bargain just, as Sirius had said, made things interesting. It was obvious they both James, Sirius and Peter didn't think stood a chance, and Harry was beginning to suspect that Remus had only put his money Harry out of pity.

But none of them had known that James would be battling against his own flesh and blood.

He nearly tripped over his dirty robes from yesterday that he had left on the floor by his bed. With a sigh he picked them up, rummaging in the pockets before throwing them in a pile for the laundry. A couple of stink bombs, a sugar quill, a piece of Astronomy homework he wouldn't be handing in any time soon and the photo he had shown Dumbledore.

He piled the rest of the stuff on his bedside cabinet and picked the photo up. The world in which this picture had been taken seemed light years away and it didn't exactly help to know that the time the picture had been taken in was decades away as well. After Dumbledore's assurances that the amount of time he spent in 1977 wouldn't affect the events in his own time Harry felt strangely distant from the scene in the pictures.

Shouldn't he be pining after his own time? Spending every waking moment contemplating getting back? But instead he found himself chatting to Remus and making bets with his dad and Sirius, offering to tutor his mother and wondering how he did on his Defence Against the Dark Arts test. What was he doing even making assumptions that he was going to be here that long?

And then Harry stopped himself before the surge of self-doubt submerged him, he was going to stop doing this. He'd managed to do it with Lilly, let go, not question everything. He could make it a habit, new Harry wasn't going to worry, he was going to go with the flow, so what if he was enjoying spending time with his parents and their friends? Why was it so dreadful that he was happy at that moment?

It wasn't dreadful.

And he was going to carry on being happy.

Not being concerned about everything wasn't the end of the world.

Harry tucked the photo under his pillow as he slid into bed. He didn't have to be wary, he didn't have to worry. He could let go.

It didn't occur to Harry that this might be the one time he should be wary.

A/N: There we go, sorry it took so long to get out. As always please Read & Review (it means so much to me). Thank you for all your previous reviews, I do try to reply to them all but if I missed you out I'm sorry, I appreciate your all your comments very much.