Perfection Lost

Chapter Two- James' Story

***HP***

"So, it happened like this..." James began his tale. "I was sitting there playing with Harry when suddenly the alarms for the wards went off. Knowing that we were under the fidelius charm, I thought maybe an animal had accidentally set something off. See, the wards would let us know if any type of dangerous creature crossed them."

"But it wasn't an animal," Harry whispered. He had always wanted to know exactly what happened that night.

"No, it wasn't." James hugged his son tighter to his side. "It was an animagus. I went outside to look around, but there was nothing there out of the ordinary. At least, not that I could see. I went back into the house to let Lily know that I hadn't found anything outside, but-" James suddenly stopped and glanced at Harry. He wasn't sure if he should tell this part in front of his son. He didn't want to damage whatever memories the boy might have had of his mother.

"But what?" Harry questioned softly. He knew that whatever James was about to say wouldn't be anything that Harry would ever want to hear, but he needed to know what happened.

Sirius, seeing James' discomfort with telling Harry this part of his story, said, "Harry, maybe you should go outside for a bit."

"No!" Harry shouted. "I have a right to know what happened to my mother!"

"Okay, cub, settle down," Remus soothed. "He's right, though. He does have a right to know what happened to Lily." His amber eyes shifted from Sirius back to James expectantly.

"Alright, then," James sighed deeply. "I came back inside to find Lily wrapped in the arms of another man. At first, I thought maybe it was Padfoot, Moony, or Wormtail. But, then the man turned around. He just stood there staring at me as if he were waiting for something. I didn't know what to say, or do. I just stood there like an idiot while the man leaned down and kissed my wife. That's when I lost it. I drew my wand, and then the next thing I know, I'm waking up to Padfoot slobbering all over me."

"Well, that was anticlimactic," Vernon murmured.

"What?!" Harry shouted again. "You mean to tell me that you have no idea where you've been for the last ten years!? How is that even possible?!" Harry didn't believe for one second that James was telling the whole story, and he wasn't the only one who felt that way.

"Prongs?" Remus' face was scrunched up in confusion and disbelief.

"I wish I could explain it, but I honestly don't know anything else. Do you think I like the fact that I've missed out on my son's entire life? Do you think I don't want to know what happened to my wife? Why was she kissing another man? Who the fuck was the man?!" James exploded. "I don't even know if Lily is dead or alive!"

"Sirius, where did you find James?" Remus asked soberly. He had his suspicions about what had happened, but wasn't about to share them in front of Harry.

"I didn't so much as find him as I stumbled across him."

"Stumbled across him?" Petunia asked quietly. She knew something was wrong with this whole story, but for the life of her, she couldn't figure out what it could be.

"Yeah, I literally stumbled across him when I stopped in at Hogwarts to see Severus." Sirius really didn't want to admit that bit, but it was necessary for them to understand. He just knew that there were going to be tons of questions about why he was visiting Severus Snape.

"He was at Hogwarts?! How the hell did we not find him before now?!" Remus was stunned. He had no idea how they could have missed finding Prongs if he was at Hogwarts the whole time. It just didn't seem possible. Then again, Hogwarts had many secrets that not even the Marauders, or Dumbledore, had ever been able to reveal.

"Yeah, that's pretty much what I thought too." Sirius grimaced slightly as he continued on. "I had just reached the corridor to Severus' office when I heard what sounded like something soft sliding against stone. Kind of what a snake would sound like when slithering across a stone floor."

"I wouldn't be surprised if there were snakes in the dungeons," James muttered to himself.

"Anyway," Sirius said after shooting a glare at James for his interruption, "I decided to ignore the sound and had just reached the portrait outside of Severus' rooms when I tripped over something soft and solid. Imagine my surprise when I saw nothing there. Now, knowing all about invisibility cloaks," here Sirius tipped an imaginary hat to James, "I reached out, and guess what? There I found Prongs covered by his own cloak. The one we used to use to sneak around the school."

Harry suddenly jumped up and started pacing. No one stopped him, or tried to interrupt his thoughts. Petunia smiled softly when Harry began mumbling to himself. She knew this was how the boy worked out his problems. He would pace, mumble, pace some more. It was normal.

"Okay, so, let me get this straight," Harry began slowly. "That night, the wards went off due to an animagus, or that's what you believe."

"Yes," James nodded as he spoke. He decided to play along and see if his son could work out what might have happened. The boy may be only eleven years old, but on the way over here, Sirius had told him that Harry was very smart.

"Then, you find my mother kissing another man." This was a part that didn't seem right to Harry. Why would his mother want to kiss someone other than his father. From the stories that Moony and Padfoot had told him, his parents were deeply in love.

"Hmph," James grumbled with another nod. He really didn't like remembering that part. He still had no idea why Lily would do that.

"Okay, so then you don't remember anything until Sirius finds you, correct?" Harry had stopped pacing and stood directly in front of his father with a raised brow. James eyes widened when he realized his son looked just like Snivellus when he did that.

"No, I don't remember anything else." James shook his head slightly.

"Isn't it obvious?" Harry asked the adults surrounding him. When all he got were confused looks, he sighed in exasperation. How is it that I, an eleven year old who has never gone to school yet, can figure this out, but the adults can't! "I guess not," he mumbled and went on to explain his theory. "James was stunned, put under the sleeping beauty curse, hidden away until someone wanted him found. What I can't figure out is why, and why would he be found now? Does it have something to do with me starting at Hogwarts this year? Is Professor Snape involved with his disappearance? Was he the man that my mum was kissing? You said they dated, right?" This last question was directed at Remus who ducked his head when Sirius and James both turned to stare at him.

"Yes, they dated." Remus mumbled trying to avoid Sirius and James' attempts at catching his eye. How neither of them knew about Severus and Lily was still a mystery to him. It wasn't like they were very secretive about the whole affair.

"So, it could have been Professor Snape, right?" Harry asked James directly.

"No, it wasn't Snivellus." James growled. He hadn't known about Lily and Snape. It didn't mean anything now, but it still caused a burst of jealousy to rise in his heart.

"Don't call him that!" Sirius called out before Harry had a chance to say anything. Severus Snape had done a lot to help Sirius, Remus, and the Dursleys with Harry after everything that had happened. He had taken time to tutor the boy in potions and dark arts. He had spent countless hours babysitting when the Marauders were unable to do it for the Dursleys. Vernon and Petunia had relied on Severus quite a bit when Harry's magic started acting out. He had been able to ground the boy so that things like accidental apparition didn't happen nearly as often as they could have done. Sirius would never forget the first time they had found three year old little Harry perched on top of the roof of the house. Petunia had been frantic enough to almost call the muggle fire department to come get him down. But, thankfully, she had contacted Severus first.

"Why are you taking up for the git," James asked sourly.

"He's not a git!" Remus called out this time. He could never thank Severus enough for his help with their cub, or for brewing the wolfsbane potion every month free of charge. He didn't know what had happened to Severus to make him so willing to help his former childhood rivals and their cub, but was eternally grateful for it.

"He's always been a git!" James exclaimed hotly.

"How would you know?" Vernon interjected harshly. He couldn't believe this was James Potter. The James he'd known would never have resorted to such childish insults. Yes, he knew that James and Severus didn't have the best childhood relationship, but that was over twenty years ago. He and James had been quite good friends. They'd gotten along well when he'd married Petunia. Hell, he'd even been there when Harry was born. But this man, this man here now, this man wasn't the same James Potter with whom he'd gone golfing and driving. "You haven't been here for the last ten years."

"Can we get back to more important things?" Harry asked exasperatedly. These people were suppose to be the adults in his life. He shook his head and returned to the original topic. "So, if it wasn't Professor Snape, could it have been Peter?"

The looks on Sirius, James, and Remus' faces was priceless. The thought had never crossed their minds that Peter could have been the man there that night. It made an odd sort of sense when they thought about it. Peter had been missing almost as long as James had done. The last time anyone had seen him was on Harry's second birthday. After that, Peter had gone on an "extended vacation" according to Dumbledore. And since Dumbledore told them not to worry, they didn't. Honestly, they'd forgotten all about Peter.

"P-peter!" James spluttered. "Wormtail would not have kissed MY wife! He wouldn't dare! If I find out that little rat was slobbering all over MY woman, I'll kill him!"

Harry looked at his father hard. He took in the messy, dark hair, the glasses, the hazel eyes, the slight chaser like build. He looked exactly as the others had always described him, except for one thing.

"Where'd you get that scar?" Harry asked while pointing to a rather ugly patch of scar tissue on James' left arm. It almost looked like a burn, but Harry could feel the magic radiating off of it. He'd always been particularly sensitive to dark magic, and that scar was emanating some very dark magic.

"Oh, this?" James asked nonchalantly. "I got this during an auror raid."

That response made Sirius' head jerk up. Remus raised an eyebrow in question. As far as they both knew, James had never been an auror. Why would he have been in a raid with them? Before either could voice their questions, Harry had picked up Remus' wand, which was sitting on the coffee table in front of them, and pointed it at James.

"Just who the bloody hell are you?!" Harry snarled while pointing the wand directly at his so-called father's heart. He noticed that Remus and Sirius were sitting there stunned at his actions, but he didn't really care. This man was NOT James Potter! Harry had felt that something was off, but he hadn't been able to put his finger on it. Now, he knew. This man couldn't be his father. He knew his father would NEVER work for the ministry. He had several old journals of James' that went into detail of how much James hated the ministry for not fighting against Voldemort.

"Harry," James began softly, "I'm James. You're father. Put the wand down, son."

"You are NOT James Potter. You are NOT my father. And, you are NOT going anywhere!" Harry yelled the last out just before stunning James. The man had suddenly tried to make a dash for the door. Harry turned back to his family and asked, "Now what? His story was obviously a load of bull."

"Now, we take him to Dumbledore," Sirius answered firmly.

"No," Harry returned thoughtfully, "not Dumbledore. From what you all have told me that man likes to play chess way too much."

"The only other place to take him would be the ministry." Remus answered.

"No, we can't do that either. How is it that this man looks like my father, but it's been over an hour already. It can't be polyjuice." Harry tilted his head to the side and stared at the man on the floor.

"Well," Vernon answered, "he can't stay here, Harry. It's not safe. That Moldyshorts guy could have sent him." The Marauders and Harry all burst out laughing at Vernon's name for Voldemort. It really was rather funny.

"Moldyshorts," Sirius giggled. "I am so going to call him that all the time now."

"I have an idea," Petunia said as she stood up and made her way to the kitchen.

The others sat there waiting for her to return, taking turns prodding the stunned James Potter look-a-like as if he were an opossum found by small children on the side of the road. All we need is a stick, Sirius thought gleefully.

Petunia returned to the living room with an odd bundle of clothing. She set it down on the table and unfolded a dirty, ratty cloak. "This was Tom Riddle's cloak when he was a seventh year. Don't ask how I got it, because I can't tell you. It was left with me for safe keeping by a friend. Now, if I'm correct, if I place this cloak over him, he will revert back to his natural appearance. It's a special cloak that unveils disguises."

Petunia draped the cloak over James and left it there for a few moments. When she pulled it away everyone in the room gasped in surprise.

"How?" Harry whispered. "I thought you said it unveiled disguises. There's no way that that's my father!"

"I agree," Vernon rumbled concernedly. "That's not the James Potter that I knew."

"Nor I," Petunia added softly.

"No, that isn't our James," Remus said in a stunned whisper. He turned to Sirius and noticed the crinkles around his best mate's eyes and knew that the animagus was thinking hard.

"I think that man very well may be James Potter," Sirius started to say but was interrupted with several denials. "But," he continued while holding up a hand to silence them, "he's not our James Potter. He's identical except for the scar on his arm and his hatred for Severus."

"What are you saying, Sirius," Petunia asked worriedly.

"I'm saying that-"

"He's from either another time or dimension." Harry finished Sirius' sentence in complete and utter awe.

"Yes, I believe he may be."

Remus stood up and clasped his hands behind his back. He glanced at everyone in the room, then looked down to the man on the floor. "Now, what do we do?"

AN: Thank you for the reviews! I'm glad that everyone, so far as I know, is enjoying this story. I really wanted it to be different from anything else I've ever seen on . I hope I am succeeding.