AN: As promised, another chapter!... :)

Chapter Fourteen - New Year

The days between Christmas and New Year's eve were, though pleasant, unremarkable. The highlight was the day that Neville visited.

Sirius stood at the end of the path to their house, wand in hand. "I'll be back in a minute, Harry."

Harry blinked and Sirius was gone with a crack.

Harry had sent an invite to Neville alongside a book of useful garden charms as his Christmas present. Harry didn't know much about Neville's home life, but he knew that his upbringing under is grandmother had left him with little social skill and even less confidence. Harry hoped that he was right in thinking Neville might appreciate some time away.

Another blink, and they were back.

"Here we are— you alright, Neville?" Neville was doubled over, hands on his knees as Sirius chuckled. "First time using a Portkey, eh?"

"Gran p-prefers the Floo," Neville wheezed out, straightening. "Oh, hi, Harry."

"Morning, Neville," Harry said with a grin. "Welcome to our new home."

Neville looked around, "Th-this is amazing. I've never been to France before."

"Neither had I," said Harry. "Come on, let me show you around."

Harry gave Neville a brief tour, allowing a moment for Neville to politely say hello to the ghost. Sirius watched as Harry led Neville through the kitchen, and Harry noticed Neville ringing his hands.

"Want to go outside for a walk?" Harry asked.

Neville threw a sidelong look at Sirius, and then nodded hesitantly at Harry.

Harry gestured with his head. "Come on, back door's this way."

"Lunch will be ready around midday, Harry!" Sirius called.

"Thanks, Sirius!" Harry called, pushing open the door and stepping into the garden.

It was a short walk to the stone gateway that led to the forest.

Neville looked around, smile growing as they passed into the trees.

"I can't believe Mr Black just lets you wander around outside like this. Gran only lets me out the house if I'm going to the greenhouse."

Harry frowned, "I'm sorry, Neville."

Neville blushed, looking away. "I didn't mean it like that. Gran is great."

Harry smiled at that. "That's good. The Dursleys had the opposite approach, they barely let me in the house, unless I was locked in my room of course."

Neville shivered. "I'm glad you've moved in with Sirius now."

"Me too," said Harry.

They wandered around the forest behind the house, talking about Hogwarts and some of their memories growing up. Neville was particularly fascinated by the descriptions of Dudley's toys.

"So this helly-copter toy can just fly around, without magic?" Neville asked.

Harry laughed. "Yeah, it's quite impressive, I suppose."

Harry, on the other hand was most surprised when Neville opened up about visiting his parents, something Harry hadn't known about until the Christmas of his fifth year.

"Does it help, do you think, visiting them?" Harry asked.

Neville paused, plucking a long blade of grass to pick apart as he thought.

"I think it helps them," he said, his voice soft. "Particularly mum. The healer says she's always happier when I visit."

Harry smiled at him sadly.

Neville was quiet as they moved slowly through the woods, his fingers still shredding the blade of grass.

Harry drew his wand, flicking it towards a bush.

"Potter, you dimwit, have you no access to a hairbrush. You look more like a bush that I do." The disdaining voice of Severus Snape rang through the trees and Neville jumped, eyes wide.

Neville laughed as the bush continued to insult them. "Wait, Harry, is that a new wand?"

Harry looked down at the yew wand. "Oh, yeah, well kind of. I got it from Ollivanders at the start of term, but I ended up using my mum's instead."

"Why? I-If you don't mind me asking."

Harry frowned, taking a seat on a fallen tree trunk. "Do you remember on the train, when Ron's rat turned into Peter Pettigrew."

Neville nodded, giving him an expression saying obviously I remember that.

"Remember the wand that Hermione pointed out? Voldemort's wand?"

Neville nodded with a squeak, then his eyes widened. "They look… they look really similar," he said.

Harry nodded, taking a breath. "I can remember the night he killed my parents. Or parts of it, at least. One thing I remember clearly, is the moment he pointed his wand at me and cast the killing curse."

Neville's eyes widened even more, his mouth opening and closing as if he wanted to say something but couldn't find the words.

"I can remember what the wand looked like, before he cast it. It's the same bone white as this." Harry held the wand up to the light. "So I hated it as soon as I laid eyes on it."

"W—why start using it then?"

Harry let out a sigh, looking at the wand held before him. "I hate being weak even more."

Harry and Neville turned to lighter topics after that, as they made their way back to the house, but Harry could see that his words had had an effect on Neville. He didn't press him.

Neville stayed for lunch, and Sirius took them to a nearby town for some hot chocolate and pastries. Neville left as the winter day was already turning dark, more energetic and brighter than when he'd arrived. Harry waved goodbye as Sirius Portkeyed him back to England.

As the evening rolled in, Harry and Sirius retired to the chairs by the fire, arguing about what they should do regarding Quirrell.

"I could just jump him, like I almost did last term," Harry muttered, annoyed that they weren't any closer to agreeing.

Sirius sighed, "I don't think you'd enjoy explaining why you disintegrated your Defence teacher— for apparently no reason."

"It's also probably best that we wait until the end of the year", said Harry, reluctantly. "Quirrell seems pretty strong right now, but, if I'm remembering right, he has to start drinking unicorn blood to survive later on. It might be easier to deal with him then."

Sirius ran a hand through his hair, "I still think its best if we lure him into some sort of trap. He might be a powerful wizard, but against the two of us, weak from unicorn blood and surprised, it will be no contest."

Harry shook his head, "You didn't see him perform that spell on the lake. Quirrell is no pushover, weakened or not. We need to just let things play out like last time and I can grab him when I've made sure the stone is safe."

"That's a bad idea, Harry. The last time you told me what to expect from Quirrell, you almost died nosediving from three hundred feet in the air."

"Then what?" Harry huffed. "If we can't agree, what do we do? We have to do something."

Sirius sat back, a pensive look on his face. "Maybe we need to tell someone else, get another perspective."

Harry blinked in surprise. "Who, Dumbledore?"

"No," said Sirius. "Not yet, at least. We need someone who's not as involved, who we can get advice from."

Harry tapped his chin. "I assume you're thinking of Prof— Remus?"

Sirius shrugged. "He's coming over tomorrow. We know that we can trust him. It might be worth an attempt, though he probably won't even believe us at first."

Harry nodded slowly. "It would be a bit of a relief, having someone know."

"Moony is smart, too. He always came up with the ideas that got us out of trouble at school. If he believes us, I have no doubt he'll think of things neither of us would have."

Harry let out a breath and sat back. Normally the idea of someone finding out about their secret terrified him. But right now…

"Alright," he said.

Sirius rubbed his hands together, looking like a weight had lifted off his shoulders. "This should be fun."

The crack of Apparation alerted them to his arrival.

Sirius shot up from the sofa arm he'd been awkwardly sitting on. "I'll go and let him in."

Harry stood from his seat on the sofa, putting his book down, one of Sirius' Christmas presents.

"Sirius," Harry said. "It'll be fine."

Sirius paused, smiling nervously. "I know, Harry. It will."

Sirius pulled open the front door, where stood a dishevelled looking Remus.

"Hello, Moony," Sirius said.

Remus smiled awkwardly. "Padfoot."

Sirius hugged him, and, after a fleeting moment of shock, Remus returned it.

Remus awkwardly greeted Harry, shaking his hand and looking to Sirius with uncertainty.

"I know you were friends with my parents," Harry said. "It's very nice to meet you, Remus." It took an inordinate amount of effort to not say 'Professor', but he'd done it.

Sirius winked at him.

"It's good to see you, Harry. The last time I saw you, you were just a baby."

Harry smiled, and Remus smiled hesitantly back at him.

"Tea?" Sirius asked.

"Yes please." Remus nodded, taking his hat off and holding it to his chest like a shield. He looked around the room, "This is a lovely house you have here— is— is that a ghost?"

Harry looked over to where the old ghost was currently floating, gazing out of the window.

"Oh yeah," Sirius said as he made his way over to the kitchen. "Don't mind him. He doesn't speak English but he's seems a friendly old fellow. Surprisingly it's my first ever house ghost. I'm honestly surprised we didn't have an old house elf spirit wandering about back at Grimmauld Place."

"It's funny," Remus said, "I've never actually visited your home before."

Sirius laughed shortly. "Grimmauld Place wasn't much of a home. Old Fleamont and Euphemia taking me in made the Potters' home more my own than any other I've had before this one."

Remus nodded sadly. Harry gestured to a seat and Remus gave him a warm smile. "Thank you, Harry. Is there anywhere I can place my hat and coat."

"Oh, sorry." Harry said, pulling out his wand. He flicked it and a surprised Remus surrendered the wiggling garments as they floated over to a coat rack by the stairs.

"That's impressive control, Harry. I mean that sincerely."

Harry smiled, waving Remus' comment away. "Ah it's not so impressive, honestly."

Remus was interrupted from replying by Sirius, who entered with a loud sigh.

Remus accepted the cup of tea that floated over to him with a thanks. He paused, an eyebrow raised as he took a sniff. "Are you trying to get me drunk, Sirius?'

Sirius tilted his head, eyebrows raised in question. "Ah," he chuckled, "Sorry, we're out of milk and I've been in the habit of adding a dash of Irish cream."

Remus blinked slowly and placed the tea down on the table, untouched.

"I'm glad you came, Remus." Sirius said as he sat down on his own chair. He sat back, sinking into the cushions. "I was worried that you might not."

Remus raised an eyebrow, "You were worried I wouldn't?"

"I know you might have blamed me, is all; for everything that happened. If we'd trusted you instead of Wormtail…" Sirius shook his head, taking a sip of tea.

"Sirius, how could I blame you for that? For trying to protect James, Lily, and Harry?" Remus looked pained, "Padfoot, I left you to rot, innocent, for ten years in Azkaban. I thought you wouldn't ever want to see me again when I read the news."

Sirius shook his head. "Remus, I could never blame you. What could you have done? The ministry would never have listened to a werewolf. No, fuck Pettigrew."

Remus looked at Sirius in shock, a sort of unbelieving relief written on his face. He swallowed, "Yes, fuck that rat."

He turned sharply to Harry, hand covering his mouth. "I'm very sorry, Harry."

"Hey, don't worry about me." said Harry. "Fuck Pettigrew, let's all say it together."

Remus laughed. "I'm sorry, Harry. I know you're probably quite mature for your age, given what I've read in the papers."

"You have no idea." Harry chuckled, exchanging a nervous look with Sirius.

Remus seemed to notice, looking between them with a look of politely masked curiosity.

"So, uh, Remus," said Sirius, in what Harry was starting to recognise as his guilty tone.

Remus seemingly made the same analysis and raised an eyebrow, straightening a little bit. "Yes, Sirius?"

"I'm going to tell you something that might be quite difficult to believe." Sirius glanced at Harry. "It's to do with both Harry and I, and I want you to take what I say completely seriously. I'm not joking around here, and we're taking a big step of trust in telling you this. Not even Dumbledore knows."

Sirius certainly had Remus' attention. The man was looking between Harry and Sirius, eyebrows raised.

"You're beginning to make me nervous, Sirius. What is it?" Remus asked.

Sirius looked to Harry and nodded at him.

Harry blurted out, "We travelled through time. We, uh, we came from the future, by accident. Sirius fell through this veil at the Ministry and I went through as well and… you tried to stop me — I mean not you, future you, but uh…" Harry trailed off at Sirius' signal to stop talking. Remus was looking at Harry with an alarmed expression.

"Remus?" Sirius ventured.

Remus turned to Sirius, "Tell me now if this is a bad joke, Sirius, I can't—"

"Harry is telling the truth, Remus." Sirius said, looking at him sincerely. "I swear it. Somehow Harry and I both ended up here after a mess in the Department of Mysteries. We were fighting Death Eaters—"

"Hold on, hold on." Remus said, waving his hands and cutting Sirius off. "Give me a second."

Remus closed his eyes, covering his face with his hand for a few seconds. "You are completely serious?" He asked again, looking at Sirius intently.

Sirius held up his hands. "I promise, Moony. I swear it on James and Lilys' memory."

Remus breathed out a long breath and sat back into his chair, head still in his hands.

The silence passed from seconds into a minute, and Harry and Sirius sat, awkwardly, exchanging gestures and mouthed words, uncertain whether to say anything more.

Remus sat up with another loud breath. "Okay."

He looked at Harry and Sirius, a look of focus on his face. "Tell me, from the beginning. What happened?"

"From the beginning?" Sirius asked, and Remus nodded. Sirius gestured to Harry, who blinked. Remus turned to him, expectant.

Harry cleared his throat. "From the beginning then. Should I start from when I got my first letter?"

"Start with the Dursleys." Sirius suggested.

Harry shrugged. "Alright. Uh, this might be quite a long story, Professor Lup— I mean, uh, well I guess I'll get to that soon. Are you ready?"

Remus reached for his cup of tea, taking a series of gulps until the cup was emptied of its contents. He sighed, and nodded. "Go on, Harry."

Harry cleared his throat again. "Well, I guess it started the day Voldemort was defeated, and my mum's sister, my Aunt Petunia, got an unexpected delivery on her doorstep…"

"… and then Professor McGonagall gave me some points, because the steel spear I'd transfigured was like the extra matchstick-to-needle homework she'd been making me do. That was the last big thing that happened last term." Harry gestured around them. "And here we are, now, in the past, or present I guess."

Remus nodded, sitting back into his chair.

"So we've got to stop Voldemort from getting the stone," Sirius said.

Harry nodded. "I think I should just do what I did last time, you know, since it worked out before."

"But you agree with me, right, Remus? It's too dangerous. You and me can jump him if Harry draws him into a trap."

"Hold on," Remus said, holding out a hand. "You two are getting ahead of yourselves." He paused. "I may be a bit stuck on the fact that Voldemort is set to return in the next few years, but I don't think I'm wrong in suggesting we look at the bigger picture first, before addressing the philosopher's stone."

Harry and Sirius exchanged a look.

"But, Remus," said Sirius, "the stone means he could return even sooner if we don't stop him again."

Remus shook his head. "Unless I'm misunderstanding what you said earlier, Harry, Voldemort never actually had any luck getting the stone until you turned up and retrieved it from the mirror yourself. Dumbledore's defences were working exactly as planned to keep the stone safe."

Harry looked at Remus, eyes wide. He was right.

"So," Remus resumed, since Harry hadn't denied it, "as far as I see it, the best plan is neither option you two are suggesting. We simply need to stay away from the whole situation and let the defences take care of the stone. From what you said about Professor Quirrell, the man didn't have long left to live by the end of the year."

Harry nodded.

Sirius laughed. "See, this is why we had to tell you, Moony. Harry and I would have never thought of that."

Remus chuckled, "I'm sure you would have eventually. It's a lot easier for me, I imagine, coming with an outside perspective. But, as I was saying," he shifted in his seat, leaning forwards, "you need to think about the bigger picture, or you'll miss your chance to take advantage of all this knowledge you have about Voldemort's plans."

"Like what?" Harry said, feeling excited.

Remus smiled, "Well, I certainly need a bit of time to think, to be sure. I've just had a few ideas that came up while listening to you." He cleared his throat. "There are a few key things that stand out as fairly simple and risk free."

He raised a hand, listing number one with his finger, "First, this diary from your second year. Since you know this Weasley girl is going to have it, you can grab it straight away and avoid the whole mess."

He held up a second finger. "Second, basilisks might be incredibly dangerous for the unprepared, but their fatal flaw is the call of a rooster, which I'm sure you two can easily organise, with a bit of planning."

"That's a great idea, Moony!" Sirius clapped his hands together.

Remus smiled, "Third, that ritual of Voldemort's you described, Harry. Can you say the steps again?"

Harry nodded, "Uh, Bone of the father, unknowingly given, you will renew your son—"

"Yes," Remus said, excitedly. "Exactly. Voldemort's resurrection ritual required the bones of his father." Remus shrugged, "Why not just go and destroy them, so he can never make use of that potion."

Harry looked at Remus with wide eyes. "We can do that?"

Sirius frowned, considering. "As clever as that is, aren't we risking changing so much that we just get surprised by Voldemort doing something we don't have foreknowledge of?"

Remus nodded, "Of course, but that's already the case, is it not? You're already changing things to the extent that you can't predict exactly what's going to happen. Now, I don't know much about these sort of dark rituals of course, but I imagine that if we make this specific avenue impossible for him, he will at least be delayed, and in the end I think that's all we can ask for."

"You mean we can't stop him from returning?" Harry asked.

Remus looked at him sadly. "I wish I could say yes with confidence, Harry, but the Dark Lord has delved deep into evil magics, more than any man alive. As long as his shade lingers, I have no doubt that he will find a way to return to strength again."

Sirius was nodding. "Then delaying is our best bet. With any hope we can change things so that, when he returns, we've got a whole army ready to face him." He turned to Harry. "And we'll prepare you, Harry. Don't you worry."

Remus sighed, "I truly wish, Harry, that I could tell you this is not your problem any more, but that prophecy…" He shook his head sadly. "Fate is a terrible thing."

"Speaking of which," said Harry. "We also know that Voldemort will want to get his hands on the prophecy, don't we? Why don't we just go and get it first, and remove it?"

"Brilliant idea, Harry," Sirius said brightly.

Remus nodded, "I don't see why not."

Harry and Sirius grinned at each other. Harry felt a sense of hope, something he'd struggled to find for a while now.

"I do want to say, though," Remus said, looking hesitant, "all of this is best case scenario. Things could already have changed too much for some things to work. However, I do believe the advantage you carry with this knowledge should still be enough. Besides," he shrugged, the corner of his mouth quirking into a smile, "we have nothing left to loose at this point, knowing what we do." He turned to Sirius, "If Malfoy doesn't part with the diary, we can always raid his manor."

Harry's eyes widened, in awe.

Remus continued, "Nothing is off limits, if we're trying to prevent Voldemort from returning. While the ministry has its head in the sand, and Voldemort follows the same, predictable path to his return, we can be laying the ground for his defeat before anyone even realises what's happening."

"You're right." Sirius said. "We've been thinking too short-term."

"This is all well and good," said Harry, "but I'm at Hogwarts most of the time, and I'm now stuck at this camp all summer. What can I even do?"

Remus smiled at him. "That's exactly where you need to be, Harry. You need to keep learning, growing stronger and wiser. You can leave the planning to Sirius and I, but in the end the fight will come down to you."

It was almost exactly what Sirius had said to him the week before, and Harry was beginning to comprehend the reality of the task before him. It always seemed so far off, this imaginary duel with Voldemort that would end one of their lives; but actually, Harry had already faced him multiple times already, barely escaping with his life each time. And being honest, Harry knew he would never defeat Voldemort like that. He would run out of luck eventually. No, he had to make use of the time he'd been accidentally gifted with. He had to somehow grow strong in the coming years, strong enough to take on Voldemort, and win.