Hey, I'm sorry for not updating in such a long time but things have been quite chaotic and my usual writing time can no longer happen since we lost internet access at work. But the good news is, this story is almost finished and I will be working on my other works and giving them endings as well.
I hope you have enjoyed this story so far and if you get the chance to check out my other works, you won't be disappointed. If you're looking for another completed (for now) story to read, check out 'New Beginnings'. Warning, it does contain a mild slash not mentioned within the first chapter or summery as it was decided upon as the story progressed.
Not long after Remus and Harry had left for the Shrieking Shack had the Dark Mark appeared over the Shrieking Shack and the staff at Hogwarts were beside themselves. Dumbledore had gone and checked out the site and found nothing but the boys' bags and a note instructing him to 'come alone if you want to see the boys alive'. No students were to know that Remus and Harry had been taken; which is why James was struggling to remain quiet after hearing his best mate was in trouble. But if he were to make a sound, he'd receive detention for the rest of the year.
"What are we going to do?" Professor McGonagall cried, obviously worried about the young boys.
"I believe that everything will work out and there's nothing we can do but wait."
James frowned, ordinarily when things like this happened, he went to Sirius, Remus and Peter but he couldn't tonight. Peter was too much of a coward to be of any help and Sirius was in the Hospital Wing after eating a candy that caused his tongue to swell up twice its usual size. If James hadn't decided to sneak into the Hospital Wing to see Sirius, he would have never known this was happening.
James still couldn't believe that Dumbledore plan was to do nothing!
If James hadn't decided to sneak into the Hospital Wing to see Sirius, he would have never known this was happening. But sure enough, he'd found Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall and Hagrid talking in the hallway; actually, they were whispering but James' cloak helped him get close enough to hear everything they were saying. James was often referred to as 'nosey' but he simply stated that he 'preferred to be informed'. After all, people had a tendency to leave him in the dark a lot simply because he was young.
James made his way to the Great Hall, trying to think of something he could do. It was early evening and there were only a few students in the Great Hall; n was the best time to sit and have a snack before the food went away for the night. So many of the students were unaware of how much food was actually available between meals. He found Severus Snape sitting at the Slytherin table with a couple second-years and decided he would tell him what had happened.
He found Severus Snape sitting at the Slytherin table with a couple second-years and decided he would tell him what had happened. It was the right thing to do and maybe James could convince Sniv-Severus to help him. As James made his way to the Slytherin table, he could hear several Gryffindors whispering; obviously confused since they'd never seen James Potter go near the Slytherin table.
"Snape; mind stepping outside for a word?" James said, doing his best to state the question in a way that expressed no ill intents but clearly the approach along caused alarm for Severus because he raised an eyebrow and refused to move. James could hear the Great Hall fall into total silence as everyone stopped to watch the exchange between the two boys.
"And why should I do that?"
"Because I need to tell you why Harry Potter might not be coming back in the morning."
That did not come out the way James had intended it too and he couldn't blame Severus one bit for the thoughts that undoubtedly were crossing his mind right now. Now Severus was probably thinking he had done something to intentionally hurt Harry; perhaps he should have sat down and decided what he was going to say before he said it.
"What did you do, Potter?" Severus said through clenched teeth as he stood up to look James in the eye.
"Look, I only know that Remus and Harry are missing and Death Eaters are involved; I had nothing to do with it. There was a note and Dumbledore isn't planning on doing anything! He said he'd leave it up to an order. What will that do?" James said, dragging Severus out of the Great Hall where he proceeded to repeat the conversation back to Severus and then for the first time Severus Snape and James Potter sat together and came up with a plan involving James' invisibility cloak.
Masks, everyone was wearing marks; except for one man who Harry recognised from Hogwarts a History.
The man who killed his parents.
Lord Voldemort. Except... he was different. He wasn't as... snake-like in his appearance. He was actually quite handsome compared to the version of Voldemort Harry was used to seeing and this left Harry wondering what would happen to alter his appearance.
"My Lord, we have returned with the students as requested and the note was left behind."
If Harry wasn't so scared, he would have found the look of shock on Voldemort's face amusing; he was right, their Lord had not been anticipating their success and surely not this quickly either. It seemed almost like Voldemort was unsure how to react to this but he quickly schooled his reaction.
"They had snuck off to be alone in Hogsmeade, making it easier for us to find them."
Voldemort waved a hand and the two men instantly quieted and backed out of the room almost as quickly as their feet could carry them.
"Well, what do we have here! A Gryffindor and a Slytherin!"
Voldemort stated the word Slytherin with pride as he stared nostalgically at Harry's tie. The boys squirmed under the gaze and watched as Voldemort ran his hands through his hair.
"You are going to be helping me make a legacy for myself and if you boys play your cards right, I will let you fight by my side to rid the world of those not worthy," Voldemort said loudly. "Soon, no one will be able to destroy me and I will restore the magical community back to its former glory."
"What's going to happen?" Harry asked, not wanting to anger this man; he wanted to be alive when he was saved.
Voldemort looked upset at having been interrupted.
'You shouldn't have done that, foolish child. Didn't your parents teach you not to interrupt the Dark Lord!' A voice said from the shadows as a large snake slithered into the room and onto Voldemorts shoulders; vile creatures they are. 'I'm assuming your parents were muggles'
'My parents were magical; both of them!' Harry replied, unaware of why his response seemed to stun both Voldemort and his snake into silence.
"What's your name?" Voldemort asked after a few seconds. His anger seemed to have faded and he was glancing at Harry the way Dudley used to stare at a toy he was going to get.
"Harry Potter." Harry sputtered out, knowing the man would have ways of knowing if he lied. This was apparently a good answer because Voldemorts smile grew slightly upon hearing the Potter name.
"A Potter! That is a pure bloodline! Yes, I see it in your eyes! Well, Mr Potter, I am going to be creating 'Plan B' shall we say and Albus Dumbledore will be helping me move part of my soul into my companion here," Voldemort explained, suddenly more than happy to bring Harry in on his plans. Harry was sure it had to do with his 'pureblood' statis.
Harry was letting his mind drift when a muscle spasm caused him to hiss out in pain; the moon must have risen. Next, to him, he could feel Remus seizing up as well. Both boys ground their teeth and tried to remain as silent as possible because Voldemort had yet to notice anything as he was too busy talking about his plan to fool the old coot Dumbledore.
The last thing Harry saw before his mind went completely blank was the site of Voldemort noticing their transformation for the first time and a look of horror crossing his face as his 'companion' slithers out of the room with a bored expression on her face.
"What I'm saying is we should be able to track the time turner! They have tracers on them to keep them out of the wrong hands," Severus explained, hoping James wouldn't figure out just how he was related to Harry Potter. "Of course, this will only work if he was actually wearing the time turner."
Harry had stopped wearing the turner for about a week but he came to the realisation that he liked knowing where it was at all times so he could assure it's safely and had since started wearing it in his jeans pocket.
The two had already managed to sneak off the school grounds with the help of James' invisibility cloak with nothing but their wands and a map; all that was left to do was actually trace Harry and Remus' location.
Severus took out his wand and cast the spell he had discovered over the summer that tracked nearby time-turners. He never actually thought he would need it but now that he did, he was grateful he took the time to learn it. As Severus pointed his wand to the map he chanted the spell as clearly as it could but Scottish Gaelic was tricky to pronounce.
"Àireamh àm tuairnear" Severus chanted and soon a single spot started glowing on the map. "There is a rumour that you can use that spell to reveal people on a map. It'll bring up their names too."
Severus briefly wondered why he felt the need to tell Potter that but decided to focus on finding the destination that had shown up on the map.
"This isn't far from Hogsmeade! It shouldn't take long to get there at all," James exclaimed pointing to the glowing dot and sure enough, he was right.
As they walked, James began asking questions about why Harry had a time-turner at all. They were questions that didn't surprise Severus but they made him realise what a slip up he had just made and if he wasn't so worried, he would have tried to cover it up but instead chose to remain silent. Thankfully, the site of several people fleeing from a house was enough to catch distract the Gryffindor from his current line of questioning. They were running like their lives were in danger.
From inside, snarling and vicious growls reminded them that it was, in fact, the full moon. Severus grabbed James arm and pulled him backwards away from the door. He quickly threw up a ward to keep Remus and Harry confided into the house, much to James confusion.
"What are you doing, Severus? How are we supposed to get in now?" James demanded, getting ready to take the wards down.
"As much as I'd like to see you waltz in and get your face ripped off, I must insist you stay out here until at least the moon goes down," Severus said.
"The mo... They're werewolves..." James breathed, sounding not overly surprised. It left Severus wondering if he'd simply confirmed a suspicion for the Gryffindor's golden child.
From around the corner, Severus and James could see a few Death Eaters lingering nervously. They looked lost and almost torn between grief and relief.
"What do we do now? We have no protection. The Dark Lor..."
"You fool! The Dark Lord is dead now and it's your fault! You hand delivered him a couple of werewolves on the full moon!" The man screamed, smacking the other man over the head before storming off after some of the other Death Eaters; some of which were rushing so hastily that their masks were falling off, revealing their identities to a whole block of witnesses. A few of them had the brains to apparate away as soon as they reached the edge of the property but most didn't seem smart enough to come up with such a plan.
"They killed Voldermort?" James suddenly whispered to a stunned Severus.
"It appears so."
"What do we do now?" James asked, nervously; it was obvious this was not part of the plan. Severus turned towards the house and found that the screaming had stopped and all that was left was the sound of two snarling werewolves attempting to break through the wards and escape.
"Now, we wait."