Thursday, January 7, 1977
Sirius focused on the group standing in front of the Griffin leading to Dumbledore's office, trying to understand what they were saying, but all he could hear was the blood rushing through his ears. James' parents were talking to Remus' parents. Mrs. Lupin was holding Remus' hand as he just stared blankly down at the floor. On the other side of Remus, was James, who had his arm flung over Remus' shoulders and was talking to Lily.
What had he done?
Peter. Where was Peter?
Oh yeah, James had him tailing Snape.
Mrs. Potter turned to him and put a hand on his upper arm. She looked at him with disappointment written all over her face. Suddenly, the rushing sound stopped, and it was deathly quiet.
"What were you thinking, Sirius? Not only could you have gotten another boy killed, but you could also have ruined Remus' life."
Remus tensed even more, and Lily reached over and grabbed his hand, giving it a firm squeeze.
"I- I." Sirius stuttered, unable to say anything.
"You're lucky no one is pressing charges against you. Not only could the Snapes do so but the Lupins as well." Mr. Potter told him.
"I honestly didn't believe he would go. I was just trying to get him off of Remus' back." His voice sounded distant and broken.
"By sending him straight to Moony? How on Earth-"
"James. Quiet down. Let's not draw any more attention to the situation." Lily tried to quiet his angry outburst.
Mrs. Lupin fussed over Remus quietly, but his expression did not change. The immense guilt that coursed through Sirius' body was near unbearable. Remus looked up and caught Sirius' eye. What was he supposed to say? 'Sorry' just didn't feel like enough.
"Albus said we can take you lot to Hogsmeade for dinner. We'll talk more then. We can pick Peyer up along the way. Lily, would you like to join us?" Mr. Potter said, gesturing for them to move down the hall. Lily nodded her head and held onto Remus' hand as they made their way to the Entrance Hall.
They had nearly made it to the grand staircase when a cackle made them all stop in their tracks.
Mrs. Lupin, who had never been to Hogwarts before today, was startled. "What is that?"
"Peeves." The group said in unison, some groaned the name, while the marauders grinned at the thought of the mischievous poltergeist. Even Remus managed to crack a small smile.
Peeves appeared from up ahead, carrying what looked to be an ornate hourglass that was radiating magic.
"Well, well, what do we have here? A Merry Band of marauders marauding. You're missing one. No matter. Looky what I found!" The poltergeist squealed with glee showing off his new prized possession.
Peeves slowly started to circle them, a cunning little smile breaking across his face as he sped up. With inhumane speed that only a ghost, and a little bit of magic, could pull off he spun circles around the group, so fast Sirius was sure he was experiencing what it was like to be inside a tornado.
The effect was off-balancing. Lily stumbled into James, who caught her while Remus grabbed onto Sirius' upper arm. Sirius quickly wrapped his arm around Remus' back to help support him. It was only the day after the full moon, and it had been an emotional rollercoaster of a day for him, which probably didn't help the healing process.
"I think I'm going to be sick," Remus muttered.
As soon as the words left his mouth, Peeves made a sudden stop and threw the hourglass down right in the middle of them. Sirius watched, in slow motion, it seemed, as the hourglass shattered at their feet and a shockwave of magic blasted through the lot of them. He gripped Remus tighter.
When everything cleared, the hall where they stood was ravaged. Huge chunks of brick had been blasted from the walls in several places. Many of the portraits were destroyed and their occupants were nowhere to be found, while windows down the corridor had been shattered. Oddly, instead of an icy blast of January air, it was stiflingly hot and a warm breeze blew through the windows that did nothing to cool them down.
"What in Merlin's beard was that?" Exclaimed Mr. Lupin as he tried to reorient himself and his wife.
"This is much worse than when he blew up the bathrooms. All the bathrooms, that one time. You guys remember?" James pointed out and he wasn't wrong. Sirius made a sound of acknowledgement as well as Remus and Lily.
They slowly continued on until they reached the grand staircase. The destruction here was much worse. The castle was in near ruins and looked like it had been a part of a war zone, it made no sense. Could Peeves' prank have done this much damage?
"Wands out everyone." Mr. Lupin commanded quietly, using his left hand to guide his wife behind him as he pulled out his wand with his right. Everyone except Mrs. Lupin followed suit.
Sirius had still supported a good portion of Remus' weight up to this point but Remus straightened up as he pulled out his wand.
The group was silent taking in all of the destruction around them as they cautiously made their way to the Entrance Hall.
What they saw when they got to the first landing of the great staircase, which overlooked the Entrance Hall, made their hearts sink. The Entrance Hall and what they could see of the Great Hall had been decimated. There were huge chunks of the exterior walls missing, letting in a clear view of the outside, which from the looks of it, looked even worse than the Entrance Hall, if that were at all possible. Debris was everywhere, as well as… was that blood?
"Where is everyone?"
Sirius looked around. Mrs. Potter was right. This place was deserted, an odd concept since dinner should be starting soon, but there wasn't a soul in sight. The amount of blood and blast marks made Sirius' stomach churn angrily.
The room was deadly quiet and the tension ran high, so when a figure appeared through the Main Entrance door everyone started violently, aiming their wands at the person.
A man in completely black robes walked in, paying them no mind, clearly not anticipating anyone there. He made stiff movements, as if he were injured, and seemed to favor one leg over the other as he had a fairly decent limp as he walked in the direction of the dungeons. His chin-length black hair obscured a good portion of his face, however, if Sirius didn't know better he would think it was-
"Sev?" Lily whispered in disbelief, however it must have been loud enough in the eerie, quiet hall.
The man, who had just made it to the base of the stairs, stopped dead in his tracks, his gaze rising to lock onto Lily. It was very clearly Snape, however, something was very wrong. He looked to be in his 40s and not the teen who James had just rescued from Sirius' horribly thought-out plan the night before.
Lily started to make her way down the stairs stopping about a quarter of the way up, James following her every step. Remus and Sirius followed suit and Sirius was aware of the four adults making their way down the stairs behind him.
Lily went to open her mouth to say something when a familiar stern voice called from behind them, coming up the stairs leading to the dungeons.
"Severus! I just spoke with Andromeda yesterday and she assured me you would be in St. Mungo's for at least two more weeks, so imagine my surprise to see you here. What on Earth are you doing?" The voice stopped before its owner came into view but Sirius knew that voice anywhere. Professor McGonagall.
Snape looked up at them before holding Remus' gaze.
"I came to check on Lupin's potion. Unless Miss Granger successfully poisoned him during the last full moon." Snape's voice was a dry drawl, that seemed to suit him better than the quiet yet cocky way his younger self spoke.
James threw him a scathing look, while Lily popped her mouth open to say something but she was again cut off by the Transfiguration professor's voice who gave an exasperated sigh. Snape's eyes moved down to look at her from wherever she stood within his eyesight.
"Unfortunately, Remus is still alive. What a shame that must be for you." Professor McGonagall's voice was thick with sarcasm. "You know as well as I do Miss Granger is perfectly capable of making that potion while you are at St. Mungo's on. bed. rest. Stop being so hateful."
"I was under the impression that Miss Granger wasn't even on this continent for a couple of weeks this month," Snape said, his gaze flickering back to their group.
"Sirius is brewing the potion this month."
"Where?'' Snape snapped his head in her direction.
"The potions classroom of course."
"Absolutely not." Snape said dryly, his eyes flashed back up to meet Sirius'.
"Don't start Severus. What has your attention that you can't even look at me when I'm speak-" Her voice came to a sudden stop as she walked up next to him and looked up at their group of eight still standing in the same spot, all looking a bit dumbfounded.
"Heavens, what happened?" She exclaimed looking at the lot of them.
"Peeves pulled a prank, Minerva, and I assume that there was a serious mishap." Mr. Potter explained after a lengthy pause.
"Serious mishap?" Snape asked snidely.
"Severus. Stop." McGonagall warned.
"Considering everyone present I assume there was already another 'serious mishap' that you have dealt with today." Snape sneered as he glared at Sirius.
"Keep talking and I will pay Sirius to follow you around all day to make sure you are abiding by Andromeda's rules. In all honesty, he would most likely do it for free for the chance to annoy the living hell out of you."
Snape sneered at her but kept his mouth closed much to Sirius' amusement, however, in what world would Sirius willingly follow Snape around to make sure he was resting even to annoy him?
"Now, what to do with you lot? You obviously can't stay here, I swear this place is just being held up by magic at this point."
"Headquarters. Unless the Minister can cough up a secluded hotel. It would be the safest place for them."
"That's a disaster waiting to happen." McGonagall pressed her lips together in a thin line.
"What other choice do we have, Minerva? There are still people out there who would gladly take this opportunity to change certain events that have happened within the last two decades or so." Snape drawled.
She sighed and looked them over once again. "You're right. Take them to Headquarters, I need to go have a word with Kingsley. Which reminds me he called a meeting for tonight, I take it you'll be there unless you have plans to go back to the hospital."
Snape made a noise of agreement before he turned and started to head in the same direction that he had come from.
"Move it." He commanded.
"Severus," McGonagall called sternly.
"You're not a very pleasant fellow are you?" Mr. Lupin asked. Snape just ignored him.
They followed him through all of the debris, sidestepping huge missing pieces of the bridge, all the way to Hogsmeade, which was also in a state of ruin.
"What exactly happened?" James asked.
"Do you not understand the rules of time travel, Potter? I couldn't possibly be allowed to answer that. Now Mr. and Mrs. Potter, I trust you know the location of Grimmauld Place?" At their affirmations, he continued, "There is a park across the street which we apparate, try to aim for the wooded area surrounding the park. Groups of three."
Severus held his arm out to Lily, who cautiously gripped it, while James threw him a challenging look before also gripping his arm.
Mr. Potter moved to better support Remus and held his arm out to Sirius, while Mr. And Mrs. Lupin gripped Mrs. Potter's arm.
A succession of soft pops later, they were in the park that stood across from his childhood home. The one he had just left behind this summer to live with the Potters.
"There is nothing you can say to make me go in that hell hole."
Mrs. Potter opened her mouth to say something but was cut off by Snape.
"I have done things worse than the Imperius curse, I assure you." Snape sneered.
"Severus," Lily said aghast.
He gave her a hard stare before walking to stand at the entrance of the park across the street from the house. Then he turned to Sirius.
"You need to give your permission for these people to enter the house and you need to say the address when you do so."
Sirius looked up at the house confused. "Everyone here is welcome to 12 Grimmauld Place, except you." Sirius seethed and they watched as the townhouse revealed itself to them.
A quiet shocked gasp came from Mrs. Lupin, while Lily uttered a soft "wow."
"Unfortunately, your older self has already granted me permission and you are unable to withdraw it." Snape threw him a smirk as he made his way across the street to the front door, the others following close by.
He opened the door for them and as Sirius stepped inside his heart stopped, it was not at all as it had been. The dark wallpaper had been replaced with light colors and the once black-stained mahogany wood was all replaced with what appeared to be Oak. The dark and dreary home he had hated was now warm and inviting, reminding him of the Gryffindor common room and he was having a very hard time connecting the two. Voices and laughter came from down the hall in the direction of the dining room. It was not the stiff voices and dry laughter he was accustomed to but cheerful and teasing voices.
Bonus points that the troll foot umbrella stand was gone as well as the house-elf head collection.
Severus moved down the hall toward the dining room, their group following behind them. They walked into the room and the room fell quiet.
Sirius scanned the room taking in its occupants. Two redheaded men looked to be in their late twenties, each was sitting next to a woman about the same age; one was a blonde that Sirius was sure had to have some Veela ancestry, while the other had bright pink hair and looked like a splitting of his older cousin, Andromeda, possibly the little girl she had a few years ago. Then there was a black-haired man at the head of the table with his back to them.
"Severus, you escaped. Andromeda will be so pleased to hear, I'm sure." The man said jokingly as Snape came into his view.
However, when he noticed the group following Snape, he turned more fully to look at them. This man looked too much like Sirius to be a coincidence and he was the same age as Snape. While he still thought the man handsome, there was something different about the man that Sirius didn't recognize and couldn't quite put his finger on, something that hardened his features.
"Bloody hell, what happened? Never mind, don't answer that. I don't want to know. You brought them here?" The older version of himself asked.
"Well, they can't very well stay at Hogwarts at the moment." Severus drawled as he sat down heavily in one of the chairs.
"Mom's going to kill you, you know?" The pink haired girl said, shaking her head at Snape while the blonde, who Sirius noticed was pregnant once she stood up, rushed to Snape's side and cast a few spells that Sirius recognized from Madame Pomfrey and the healers at St. Mungo's.
"Did you at least take your potions today?" The woman asked in a very strong French accent.
Snape narrowed his eyes at her but didn't say anything. She swatted him on the head with her wand.
"Careful Severus, the pregnancy brings the Veela out more." Warned the redhead man that she had been sitting next to.
"You be careful, William." The blonde snapped.
"Bill, your wife is going to tear you to pieces, if you keep it up." The other redhead man said as he laughed along with the woman with the pink hair.
The front door slammed, cutting everyone off and startling several of the occupants in the dining room.
"You promised, Kingsley!" A male voice yelled, and he sounded furious. "You can't do that to her."
"Harry, I have no intention of making her take the stand but if the Wizengamot pushes the issue, I won't have a say." A tall black man with a deep voice was saying as he walked into the dining room.
Behind him was a boy who looked identical to James. This had to be the person who had been yelling because he looked like a man ready to wage war on the world. A redhead boy and girl trailed after him, looking incensed as well. Professor McGonagall snuck in behind them and stood, quietly, beside the door.
"You're the Minister, I'm sure you can come up with something. My testimony should be enough." The James look-alike argued back.
"I don't want her on that stand any more than you do. They are tearing into you for every detail, most of it not even pertaining to Draco. Could you imagine what they would do to her?"
"Then-"
"Harry James, take a breath and calm down. What happened?" The older Sirius questioned.
Harry shot a scathing look at the man trying to calm him down.
"The Wizengamot is trying to throw Harry's testimony of what happened at Malfoy Manor out of Malfoy's trial. Apparently, they say he is an unreliable source because he wasn't actually in the room while Hermione was being tortured and therefore cannot speak of Malfoy's actions at that time. But instead of focusing on Malfoy's actions, they're too focused on Hermione's torture." The redhead girl explained angrily.
"Kings." The older Sirius seethed.
"I promise I'm working on it, Sirius. Minerva, I have to apologize, today's been hectic. What did you want to talk about?" Kingsley turned to the Transfiguration professor still standing by the door, while pinching the bridge of his nose.
She looked as if she was holding her tongue against a good scolding. Instead of saying anything, she pointed at the group of eight time travelers that stood just behind Kingsley. He turned around to look at them, his eyes widened slightly as he dragged them across each of their faces.
"Oh, that's a problem." He muttered.
"Severus, you heathen." A woman stormed into the room. Now that was Andromeda, Sirius had no doubt about that. She looked exactly the same, with few signs of aging starting to settle in, her voice was the same, even the way she carried herself from the years of her Black upbringing.
Kingsley looked around the room, his eyes landing on Snape. "What are you doing out of St. Mungo's? Besides your healing, we were keeping you there for a specific reason."
"I apologize, I started to imagine killing every person who walked into my room to annoy me. One in particular." He casually drawled as he gave Andromeda a pointed stare. She walked up behind him and smacked him in the back of his head.
"We were keeping you there until your trial. Now if we don't get you back we will have to put you in a holding cell in Azkaban. I'm sure you will heal wonderfully there." Kingsley covered his face with his hands and then dragged them down his face. "What is happening today?"
"I can cover for him, for as long as I can. There are only a handful of healers who will even tend to him. Either his previous students who are terrified of him or he's run them off with his cheerful demeanor. I can just say he is refusing treatment from anyone but myself and rearrange my schedule a bit. No one will argue." Andromeda said as she handed Snape one uncorked potion to drink after another. Each one he examined thoroughly before drinking.
"And if someone finds out?" The older Sirius asked.
"We were a secret organization throughout two wars. I'm sure we can figure it out." Bill said nonchalantly, waving his hand around the room.
"But if the public finds out, it's not going to go over well. It will look like we are harboring a Death Eater."
"We are harboring a Death Eater, Sirius." Andromeda exclaimed. "He's branded and the entire UK knows he killed Albus."
"Mom!" The pink-haired woman exclaimed. When Andromeda turned to look at her she nodded to Sirius and his group who looked distraught at the scene unraveling in front of them.
"Merlin's beard." Andromeda whispered as she collapsed in the chair next to Snape.
"Ok, there is too much going on. Let's handle this in segments." Kingsley commanded as he nodded to the newcomers who were slowly starting to gather into the room, among them five more redheads, including who Sirius assumed were the parents of all the redheads.
"First things first, I called this meeting for a reason, however, I did so intentionally while Remus and Hermione were in Australia, yet somehow Remus is still here." Kingsley studied Remus for a minute.
The older Sirius pointed his wand at Remus, casting a mufflito on him. "Problem solved."
Kingsley heaved a heavy sigh before continuing. He opened the case that he had laid on the table when he first arrived. He pulled out three scrolls, putting them to one side before pulling out three more scrolls and putting them to the other side. He closed his case and sat it on the ground.
"I promised myself I wouldn't meddle with this process but as they say curiosity killed the cat." He gave a heavy sigh. "These are Remus' results and these are Hermione's results." He waved a hand over its respective set of scrolls.
"However, we all know-" He pursed his lips and looked over at the time travelers, including Remus who seemed to be focusing hard on trying to make out what Kingsley was saying. "Most of us are aware of the Remus and Hermione situation. So I was curious and had the experts run them together." Sirius furrowed his eyebrow as Kingsley produced another scroll from his robes putting it in between the two sets.
"This is their compatibility results. The experts told me it was the highest they have seen thus far. They hadn't initially run them together because of their age difference. Now, I have to choose. So, I decided I'm not doing this alone, I'm putting it to a vote." He said, looking around the room. "Should I give them the new results or pick one of the originals for each of them?"
He hesitantly put his hand over the single scroll. Immediately, the older Sirius, Harry, and the two redheads who had come in with Harry raised their hands.
"You can't argue with the best friends now can you?" Andromeda's daughter asked as she raised her hand as well and others followed suit until everyone, save the time travelers and Snape, were raising their hands.
"Severus, it could be unanimous," Kingsley said.
"Why not? I'm sure I'll enjoy the agony our self-deprecating werewolf will put himself through." Snape said, holding up his hand.
"Ok. I'll finalize this," Kingsley said as he threw the other six scrolls into the fire.
The older Sirius removed the mufflito on Remus who looked at Lily, James, and Sirius questioningly as Kingsley spoke with Snape and Andromeda. Sirius wasn't sure why there were compatibility results but Remus had been a stickler about not dating because of his condition. He wasn't sure how Remus would take the news. He shook his head and Lily and James followed suit.
"Ok, that's settled. Now what to do with you lot?" Kingsley said, clapping his hands together bringing their attention back to them. Sirius had missed what had been decided with Snape.
"I'm sure once the Department of Time is back on their feet, they will have an idea." One of the newer redhead men said. He held himself very professionally.
"That could take months. The Department of Time was destroyed during the battle at the Ministry." The older Sirius said, tilting his head back.
"I could speak with them and see if they have a solution, however, if there is nothing to do then they will have to stay here. Their presence here will not alter time like it would if they had gone back in time, but they will have to Obliviated before returning. Thirty minutes in this place and they already have entirely too much knowledge." Kingsley said.
"What does O- obl- What does that mean?" Mrs. Lupin asked her husband quietly.
"Obliviated. They will alter our memories, most likely removing our entire visit here, so will not remember anything." Mr. Lupin explained.
"Sirius- The older Sirius will assign rooms for everyone." Kingsley looked at his watch and closed his eyes. "Now if there are no more bombs anyone would like to throw at me. I need to get to the office for a bit."
"First things first, they'll need clothes and toiletries and whatnot. So, who wants to go shopping?" The older Sirius asked. All of the younger women raised their hands and with a nudge from a few of them, the younger men raised their hands as well.
"Harry, you have my vault number." Sirius wasn't sure why his older self had said anything, he knew his vault number.
"I can pitch in too," Harry said.
"The Ministry has an emergency vault. Fleur should be able to access it with my permission." Kingsley said as he opened his case and started writing a note before handing it to the pregnant blonde.
"The girls are pretty good with disguising people if any of you would like to go." The older Sirius said as he stood up and stretched. "I'm going to rearrange the rooms. You lot have fun."
"Who's first?" Andromeda's daughter asked.
Sorry, I know it's late but I technically have a half hour until midnight so, I'm in the clear.
I have been so anxious about this chapter because I think time travel can be difficult to write with multiple people involved. So I hope I kept the POV clear and it makes sense. I also didn't plan to go outside of Remus and Hermione's POV but the vote is supposed to be kept secret from them and we couldn't have Remus possibly remembering it, now could we?
As always thank you for the reviews, favorites, and follows! I hope you all enjoy this chapter.
-Jade