James' first morning back

James decided he would play his dream straight. He'd in a way promised his son he'd live up to his commitments, however dire they were. And the fewer people that knew he was dreaming the future, the better.

The Erumpent in the corner was all of the information he and Harry seemed to come up with. His best guess was that information was somehow being fed them while they were truly asleep. Given the nature of the communication, it wouldn't surprise James if Harry was able to have a foreshadowing of the day ahead, but he didn't see how Harry could be passing the information to James.

As what Remus and Lily would have called a tentative hypothesis, he decided he was getting information from a Harry a little ahead in time of when he woke up. If that was the case, he was probably subtly changing Harry's immediate future the way Harry was undoubtedly profoundly changing his. That felt satisfying, because you couldn't prove James wrong. He thought those were the best kind of theories, though Remus and Lily, again, disagreed.

Thus it was that after his morning ablutions, James immediately took his journal down with him to breakfast. He could spell it easily so it couldn't be read over his shoulder. He wouldn't read it, but think about Lily exclusively, if he noticed Dumbles looking at him.

He resolved to keep a poker face, but by the time Evans and his concerned, in-the-know friends arrived, he had anything but. He was, in fact, wondering if marrying Lily and having a child would really be worth it.

The first thing Harry had written for him to find was detailed instructions on using Muffliato. Apparently, he'd already been through it with Evans on using Snivelus' spell. If anyone questioned him (he cast it immediately) he'd simply say he'd never heard that Snape (working his way from Snivelus to Mr Snape, as per Harry's demand) had a counter to it.

"Evans. Diggory. You two are in the know, I'm given to understand. ?you might as well budge in." He waved them over, and to his surprise, neither baulked.

He turned to Moony and Pads. "How long 'til Pete comes down?"

"Almost an hour, Jim. You know Pete," Padfoot said, looking him over very carefully.

"Evans and Diggory, you're relatively objective observers. What did I do yesterday at dinner? If I look upset, it won't be because I want to curse the messenger."

Evans looked at Alice, who looked back at her. Finally, Evans started.

"'You apologised to Severus. For everything you'd ever done to him. Publicly and loudly."

James' shoulders slumped. Reading it in a journal was one thing. Having it told to you was another.

"Look," he said, looking Evans squarely in the eye. "Whatever I said, I need to give you, of all people, some context."

"Are you taking it back? That would be a great look for you, Potter."

"No, it fits with plans my ... well, my other self made. But he doesn't know everything that's happened."

"Are you claiming you have another self?"

"Pretty much. We pass information to each other in a limited way, but that's the size of it."

"Did this come from that amulet? Because Sirius Black came to us for help about it, which is a first."

"Look, there are levels of information that people have. Me and my ... other self, we see the big picture. People like you and Alice and Remus and Sirius get to see another layer of the onion. The people I hope to work with, namely Snape, Narcissa Malfoy, Peter and Regulus will get to know another layer out, and I won't explain myself at all to anyone else if I can avoid it."

"Do you still need to study with us, then?" Alice asked.

"Not really, not when I'm me. He's worse at everything but Herbology, though I hate to admit he's far past me in Defense. Basically post-NEWTS there. He's already had his OWLs and he didn't do well at all."

Evans looked miffed at that. "So you're still pushing that tent psychic thing where you know the future? What's going to be on our OWLs for Charms, then?"

"It's not usually that specific, and it's not me that had the OWLs, and they won't be the same as ours, to boot."

Evans rolled her beautiful eyes at that.

James made up his mind. "Look, let's just eat breakfast quickly and not talk. Skip our first class, go to a Room I know is secure, and I'll tell you - well, not everything, but practically everything I know."

Alice rolled her eyes and looked at James as if he were an escaped mental patient. Then Evans spoke up.

"Okay. But I'm warning you, it's just to hear you out before you give that necklace to someone else to hold and go to St Mungos. For better or worse, I seem to be the only person you'll listen to lately, so let's do it."


Lily Evans hoped she hadn't contributed to the sad destruction of James Potter, which was clearly ongoing.

He was pacing back and forth in front of a blank wall, muttering "I need Harry's room," over and over, not looking at anyone or anything but his feet.

However, she suddenly heard Alice, Lupin and Black all exclaim in shock. She turned around to see a door had appeared in the wall. But not any door!

This one had five deadbolt locks on it, from the top to the bottom, and a cat flap. If someone named Harry lived at Hogwarts, confined in this room, he was clearly extremely dangerous. But how had Potter found him?

"We can't go in there, you lunatic!" she exclaimed, instantly regretting her choice of words, given Potter's condition. But fortunately, he just smiled tolerantly.

"It's empty, there'll only be us, Marauder's Honour."

With that, he undid all the locks and went inside. Seeing no better course of action, his companions followed him in. The room was tiny, with faded, peeling wallpaper and broken toys filling all the corners. The single item of furniture was a broken-down, broken-springed bed with stained sheets and a single threadbare blanket. The only window had iron bars across it.

"The ladies get the bed, and we'll box up some of the broken toys to make chairs for the gents," Potter said, smiling like ... well ... a lunatic.

He cast spells silently and made good on his statement. He examined them, critically, then conjured crates around the cardboard boxes, which were old, used and precarious. "Have a seat, everyone. No amenities, I'm afraid. In Harry's room, you get water, even, no more than once a day. If you feel the need to use the loo, either wait until I'm good and ready to open the door, or use that pot over there."

With that, he waved and a curtain parted showing a large, and now that the curtain was open, smelly pot. Lily shuddered.

Lupin and Black sat on the makeshift stools with poor grace, Potter with a happy smile. As for Alice and Lily - well, at least the blanket was clean, and there were level places on the bed to sit.

"If you're feeling sorry for Harry? Don't!" Potter said, suddenly. "These are premier accommodations for Mr Potter. It was a little over five years ago he was given the luxury of sleeping here. His old accommodation used to be under the stairs, but with a little imagination ..." He waved his hand at the wall to the left of the window. Suddenly a small cupboard door, also padlocked, appeared.

"It's not very gentlemanly, but I think Evans should do the honours," Potter said. He stared at her until she realised he wanted her to open the door. Well, this was all for the mental well-being of her year mate. Whose parents were very good on muggle-born rights, and if what Severus suspected was true, werewolf rights as well. She owed it to them, at least, to humour Potter until he could get help.

She carefully unlocked the locks and pulled open the rather stiff door. There was a thin blanket, stained dark brown with what looked like blood. On the wall were several crayon strokes, marking the passing of days or years, and she could barely make out "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME" below them. Completing the picture, up on the wall was pinned a scrawled crayon sign reading "HARRYS ROOM."

Lily's stomach heaved.

"How do you like it, Evans?" Potter asked, idiotically. She staggered back to the bed and pulled herself to a seat.

"Everyone," Potter began. "I really shouldn't call this Harry's Room. It's technically Dudley Dursley's Second Bedroom Which We Let the Freak Sleep In So His Freak Kind Will Leave Us in Peace." But that's too much of a mouthful, and we wouldn't possibly have fit in Harry's actual Room."

"Dursley?" Lily exclaimed. "That's Petunia's boyfriend! But his name's not Dudley, it's Vernon."

"I'm well aware," Potter said, still smiling in an unhealthy way. "In fact, it's pretty hard to miss Old Vernon, come to that."

Was Potter Muggle-baiting? It went against everything she'd seen and heard about him, but the one time she'd met Vernon, she'd been sorely tempted, and Potter famously had far less self-control than she did. Lily shivered, because he clearly had met Vernon or would not be insinuating he was as large as a barn, which he really was.

At that, Potter moved his crate next to the wall and indicated that Lupin and Black should follow suit. They both started to talk at the same time, and Potter put his finger over his lips.

"All in good time, my dear Marauders. I just didn't want any of you falling out of your comfortable chairs on me." He looked over at Alice and Lily. "Girls, if you wouldn't mind, it might be better if you were leaning against the wall, too, And maybe leaning on each other for support."

Alice clearly had adopted Lily's in for a pence in for a pound attitude, so they acceded to Potter's wishes. He nodded approvingly.

"On Halloween night, 1981, Tom Riddle, a half-blood who calls himself Lord Voldemort to disguise his humble status, went to kill fifteen-month Harry James Potter. One of his most loyal minions, Severus Tobias Snape, had informed him there was a prophecy at the Department of Mysteries that said that the boy would be able to destroy him. Being a sensible Dark Lord, Voldemort decided to preempt that, after the fashion of King Herod. He went personally to kill Harry, James and Lily Potter, and sent his trusted inner circle to do the same to Frank, Alice and Neville Francis Longbottom. The Longbottom child was also fifteen months old."

"And to explain to Siri and Remi what was written in my journal, in French, and what an ironic joke is it that Harry didn't know how to spell it secure?" Potter said, looking at them seriously.

"Narcissa Malfoy wasn't involved, but her husband Lucius was. He kept watch outside, then fled like the coward he is when things went tits up. Regulus Black wasn't involved. He'd already been killed by his Dark Lord. Self-defence, by the way. Reggie really had figured out a way to help kill Voldemort for good. I say for good, because the man's a necromancer, it's deuced hard to make sure of them." Black looked at Potter angrily.

Potter switched his stare to Lupin. "As for little Peter? Well, James and Lily had their house put under a Fidelius. They were advised not to live in Potter Manor, and I say 'advised' when I should probably say 'compelled.' Helpful Albus Dumbledore 'suggested' they go to Godric's Hollow to a little cottage he gave them to hide in. Damned generous of the man. He also 'suggested' they use little Peter as the Secret Keeper for the Fidelius, instead of Siri - Black family, you know - or Remus - dark creatures are always tempted." Remus looked at him disbelievingly, but Potter just nodded.

"Of course, one of us could have been the Secret Keeper, and as we weren't going to be out and about, we would have been secure. But Dumbles was 'suggesting' rather forcefully by that point, I doubt we could have decided what we wanted for tiffin by that point, let alone how to keep ourselves alive."

"And thus," he continued, "naturally, it fell to little Peter, although we put the word out that Sirius Black would be our keeper when we talked with Dumbles' famous Order of the Passive Spectators. Which it was already known leaked like a sieve. And, miraculously, Snivelus had a change of heart just in time to hear all our plans - fortuitous timing is really Dumbles' speciality. Some might have said that given there was a mole in the Order, and that Peter had had the Dark Lord's brand on his arm for over a year by that point, which Dumbles has no excuse for missing, that he was a poor choice, but that's the reasoning of lesser figures, not the savants like Dumbles."

"That, Remus, is why Peter doesn't get to know anything I don't want him to get to know. Before you say anything, I know leaving him out of things will only drive him to make his decision for the Dark earlier. But once we start winning, that will override any resentment he feels. It wasn't resentment of us that turned him, it was sheer, bone-deep fear. And I will keep him in the loop for some of it, but it will be carefully decided beforehand."

"He;'s already really mad at you, Jim," Sirius piped up. "He says the word out at Hogwarts is you've taken us out of the battle to defend the lower years."

"The proof will be in the pudding, Pads," Potter said.

"And this brings us to you, Lily," he said, less maniacally and more tenderly. "I don't know why, I don't know how, but when I first saw you waiting on the train, I knew there wouldn't ever be anyone like you for me. Can you accept that much?"

Lily didn't want to accept anything, but she nodded anyway.

"I talked with Petunia before we boarded, even. I saw she was with you and your parents, and I wanted to know all about you. I asked who the boy with you was, and she said he was a brute who'd used magic to hit her with a tree, proving that you can't trust Magicals."

Sirius decided to interject. "My family was already talking him up. Apparently, Reggie looked up to him, a bit. He was really good at dark spells - curses to hexes, you name it. Already working on inventing his own, even eleven years of age."

Remus added "That didn't sit well with Sirius - his family used him as target practice for curses and hexes already. He was going to hate Snape and his crowd, come what may."

"But that's nowhere near all, or even a lot of it, Lily," James said, more quietly. "I have an invisibility cloak. The best I've ever even heard or read about. After he got sorted into Slytherin, to much applause, I followed him. I slipped into the Slytherin common room and hid in the corner while Slughorn welcomed them to his House. And for my sins, I was also there afterwards, looking for a chance to slip out. People like Malfoy and Mulciber and Avery were teasing him about you. I was already head over heels for you, Lily. Want to guess what Snape said about you?"

Lily's eyes were probably wide as she shook her head, but Potter continued, ruthlessly.

"He said you were a mudblood slag that he would take as a mistress once society was restored to its traditions. He offered you to his friends once that happened. And there you were, laughing with him, talking with him, taking his side. I could feel so much pain in my chest. It was unbearable."

Noticing Lily was about to interrupt him, he held up a finger. "You don't need to defend him by pointing out that they were older boys, in Slytherin, and he was a half-blood Prince who didn't even carry the family name. I will spot you all that, and ask you one question. Assuming the Hat did me dirty and pushed me into Slytherin, how do you think I would have reacted to pressure from them?"

The answer was, shockingly, obvious to Lily.

"What was I even thinking," she muttered.

"Finally," said Alice. "Look, I can see Potter was coming on too strong, sometimes. But every single friend you had except Snape was warning you about Snape for years, and you just brushed us off."

"This is why I am cursing Harry's name a little. But once started, detente should be followed through. But we'll need to brainstorm a lot. Harry's great at generating ideas and noble goals, but he depends on what amounts to his Lily Evans - a girl named Hermione Granger - to make things work in reality. From what I've read in my journal, Snape actually had perfectly rational and valid objections to Harry's whole plan. Objections I don't know how to answer. Which is one reason I wanted to draw you in."

"Why me?" asked Alice,

"Well, Evans would be badly outnumbered without you. Also, she's not an expert on the social aspects of Hogwarts. Not that you are, exactly, but you're way better than her."

Alice looked shocked. "Did you just admit Lily was imperfect?" She turned to look at Lily. "You're right - he's not in his right mind."

Lily, however, had had time to think things through.

"James," she began, unexpectedly. "Do you really think we'll be married and have a child, no matter what?"

He nodded. "It's at least as likely as a prophecy, probably moreso. It could be anything we try to do to avoid it just makes it happen quicker."

"And me and Frank?" Alice asked.

"I'm banking on us being able to avoid what happened to you and Frank, later, but if the prophecy has power, then Neville being born is probably fated."

"So, this room?" Lilly asked.

"Is where Petunia and Vernon keep him, now. From fifteen months until his eleventh birthday, he was in there," Potter replied, pointing to "Harry's Room."

"There are blood stains on that blanket in there, James," Lily said,

"From little Dudley. Harry's not allowed to fight back. If he does, he gets the back of Vernon's hand. If he baulks at slaving for the Dursleys, Petunia hits him with a skillet."

Lily closed her eyes.

"Why aren't we helping?" Remus demanded.

"Dumbles, Bagnold and Crouch put Sirius away for life without a trial or even an interrogation," James said, simply. "Dumbles wants to control Harry and work the prophecy. Crouch wants the credit, and most of the Dark Lord's followers buy their way to freedom. Bagnold is afraid, and bribed. The Wizengamot goes along because they think it makes Lucius and Narcissa's boy the Black Heir."

"Remus is kept away by Dumbles. He says his protective enchantments keep dark creatures away. I guarantee you there'll never be another werewolf student at Hogwarts, unless Dumbles gets you killed, of course, and needs another spy," he said, looking at Lupin with a sad smile.

"The bad guys get my folks, and Lily's - make it look like illnesses and accidents so people won't know how focused on us they are. Their guy in the DoM - Augustus Rookwood - tells Neville's great uncle he's a Squib. Well, the great-uncle won't stand for it, so he tries to kill Neville or force some magic out of him, and just before Neville can die, it works - mostly."

"And I think to myself, what a wonderful world," James sang.

"What's his name?" demanded Alice.

"Algie," said James.

"If we're going after Rookwood, let's put the fear of the Lord - not their Lord - into Algie. Hint you think he was collaborating with Rookwood."

"Done," said James. "He disgusts me."

Lily had a funny thought, and laughed.

"Oh, what irony, James!" she said. He looked at her, surprised.

"Your other self is Harry, right? It couldn't be more obvious," she continued.

James nodded, looking at her admiringly, but then again, he usually did.

"Which means our dating is even more out of the question," she continued, triumphantly.

"Granted," said James, not off balance at all. "But I want dibs when this mess is cleared up."

Lily had to think for a while. If things didn't work out, if the prophecy talk was silly, they could always break up, and they wouldn't even be together for quite a while.

"Dibs," she agreed. Where Potter would have been dancing with joy before, he now just smiled and offered her his hand, which she shook.

"Alice," she said, "I think we'll have to tell people that I've given James some deadline to get his act together, grow up, and become a suitable boyfriend, and that in the meantime I've solemnly vowed not to date anyone else."

"More or less, just tell the truth?" Alice replied.

"More or less," Lily agreed. But then, she had a thought.

"You never told us how the Tom Riddle guy was stopped, Potter ... James. How did he kill us, kill our families, kill all those people, but wasn't able to kill Harry? He was a toddler!"

Lupin and Black nodded, as did Alice after pondering for a moment.

"That's a long story, and maybe one we won't get to. It's second class, Transfiguration for us. If us skipping History ever became an issue, you could easily say you were helping me - not even a lie," James said, smiling. "But it would be ungrateful of me to skip Transfiguration after Harry cried over his memory yesterday to Minnie."

"Since it's Astronomy today, we most certainly will get to it, Potter!" Lily said, fiercely.

"We'll see," temporised Potter. "There might be an easier way than storytelling. Dress warm after the last class of the day and we'll all meet up on the third floor near the Defense classroom."

And, with that, they all filed out of Dudley Dursley's Second Bedroom, every last one of them sighing in relief.

Chapter Notes:

What a Wonderful World was first recorded by Louis Armstrong and released in 1967 as a single. It topped the pop chart in the United Kingdom. but performed poorly in the United States because Larry Newton, the president of ABC Records, disliked the song and refused to promote it.

Also: a little foreshadowing for my readers who've borne with this odd little story so far (though I don't see any comments anymore, tsk tsk). This is a response to the Jilly meets Harmony challenge. Well, how on Earth is Lily going to meet Hermione? Exactly.

The Jily Meets Harmony Challenge!

Must include:
1. James/Lily and Harry/Hermione strictly.
2. James and Lily must be alive. Either by surviving Halloween, coming back to life, or their canon deaths never happening/being avoided. (Can include either Time Travel or a Canon Divergence event)
3. Sirius should also live and be free/exonerated.
4. Lily must at some point braid Hermione's hair.
5. James and Harry must at some point fly together
6. Harry cannot have a Boy Who Lived (Or Wrong Boy Who Lived) sibling.
7. No Jily bashing

Optional:
1. Line from James: "Are you sure you don't fancy Hermione?" [X]
2. Line from Lily: "You know, Harry is lucky to have you." [ ]
3. Line from Sirius: "I'm trying to decide which pair of you lovebirds is more [_]."
4. Preferably avoids common tropes (overdone bashing, love potions etc)

[In this work, common tropes are not avoided but not overdone]

Cover Art: James, Lily, Harry and Hermione are drawn by the author, informed by the drawing style of "Harry and Hermione" on the Draw So Cute YouTube channel.