Sorry if that last chapter wasn't entirely perfect, I have to get back into the swing of things! But I'm also going to update more so hopefully you guys will keep enjoying and keep reading!
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"Ready?" Lily asked nervously, as Harry finished chewing his last bite of dinner. He paused, before gulping down the rest of his pumpkin juice.
"Yeah, let's go."
Together, Harry, Lily, and Remus all swung their legs over the benches and began to walk out of the Great Hall. Lily twisted her hair around her finger anxiously as they walked.
"Lily!" The trio turned to see James walking towards them. He looked frozen, the tips of his hair stood on end and his glasses were steamed up. He ripped them from his face and furiously rubbed the glass between his thumb and forefinger with his shirt.
"Oh, James — " Lily started, but James quickly grabbed her hand and tried to pull her away from Harry and Remus.
"James, let go of me," Lily said, trying to pry his fingers off.
"C'mon," James growled as Lily resisted.
"James, no!" Lily cried, twisting her arm out of his grasp. "I'm not some puppet you can drag wherever and whenever you feel!"
James face softened, and he looked down at his feet. His shoulders shook slightly. Lily sighed and gently placed her hand in his.
"Let's go have some food before they clear up dinner," Lily said softly. She gave an apologetic look before going back into the Great Hall.
"So…" Remus sighed, glancing up at Harry, who was glaring at the closing doors. "Shall we wait for Lily back at the common room?"
"No," Harry mumbled. "It's fine. Let's go to the Room of Requirement."
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"Ouch," Remus winced as Harry undid the bandaging around his burnt arm. "Have you seen Madam Thompson?"
"No," Harry said gruffly, trying to keep the pained expression off his face. "I don't want her asking questions."
"Well, someone should have a look at it, you'll regret it more if it gets infected."
"Lily already helped me with it," Harry sighed, waving his wand over the bandages so that they were clean once more and wrapping them around his arm again.
"That's why I was going to explain things to her, but with the way James is acting I doubt I'll get the chance."
"It might be better if she doesn't know," Remus said quietly. "The fewer who know, the better."
Harry nodded solemnly.
"But you were able to brew the potion successfully!" Remus gave an encouraging smile. "Excellent! We're one step closer to getting you back home."
Harry sighed.
"To be honest Remus, there was a point when I didn't know whether I wanted to go home or not. I felt like this was even more like home than my real home was. But now… Now with how James is acting…"
"James is going through a lot, you and I both know that," Remus said. "He needs time to figure out himself. Everything is different for him now. It's like having the rug ripped from under his feet."
"That doesn't mean he can treat everyone like this," Harry frowned.
"No, no it doesn't. But it does give us the opportunity to be extraordinary friends and momentarily overlook his mistakes and encourage positive growth."
The two sat in silence, the grandfather clock ticking away. The light in the fire place flickered gently, causing nostalgia of winter's days on the Burrow to wash over Harry.
"I'm guessing you haven't tried to use the potion yet?" Remus asked awkwardly.
"Well no, I burned my arm pretty badly so I thought I'd save that adventure for a different time," Harry grinned, gesturing to his bandaged arm. Remus grinned back.
"Do you want to?"
Harry's smile faltered. He hadn't realized how real the possibility was. The potion was sitting there, ready to be used, and yet it hadn't even crossed his mind to actually follow through.
"I actually don't have the Floo powder, it's back in our dormitory," Harry ruffled his hair, feeling deflated.
"Oh that's alright," Remus said with a smile. "We can try it some other time."
He tried to sound happy, but Harry could sense the disappointment in his voice and it felt like ants crawling down his neck.
"No, let's do, I'll go and get it." Harry stood up and began walking back out into the hall. "I'll be back soon."
Before Remus could say anything, he was gone. He scratched his head and allowed his gaze to wander around the room. It was remarkable how familiar it all felt; in many ways it was quite similar to the Gryffindor common room.
Remus stood and stretched, wincing slightly as a scratch on his back was irritated by his uniform shirt. He couldn't remember how it had appeared, but he was familiar with falling unconscious one night perfectly well and waking up the next morning feeling as if he had fallen off a broomstick.
In the faint glow of the fire, Remus slowly approached one of the bookcases with interest. He selected a book, Stone to Sand and Back Again: the effects of time travel on the elements and organic matter, and began flipping through the pages. Despite his interest in the topic, the words swirled together and he couldn't parse them apart.
'It was remarkable that Harry had found what he had', Remus frowned. 'If I had to start researching from scratch, I would have never gotten as far as he had.'
He put the book back on the shelf and gently pulled out a second one — Déjà Vu and You — and sunk into one of the cushiony velveteen sofas.
Remus jumped at the sound of the door opening and Harry shuffling into the room carrying a small purple pouch.
"Here," Remus said, taking the pouch from Harry and heading towards one of the cupboards. He took out a stone mixing bowl as well as one of the several jars of pearly liquid. Carefully, he unscrewed the lid and let the white potion slide slowly into the bowl where it swirled around on itself, twisting and shining.
Harry peered over Remus's shoulder as he took a small silver spoon and stirred in several delicate spoonfuls of Floo powder. The liquid thickened and went from white to deep emerald, though it still seemed to glow from its luster.
Remus walked over to the fireplace and put out the flames. Harry slowly kneeled down next to Remus as he placed the black stone bowl in the center of the fireplace.
"So uhm, what should we do?" Harry asked uncertainly.
"Well… Theoretically, after we light the fire, you should be able to just walk through it, and end up… Somewhere…" Remus frowned.
"Somewhere?" Harry said, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, the way it works, is that you will end up somewhere in the future, in whatever fireplace you're attempting to contact. You need to make sure you're contacting a fireplace that still exists in the future, because if it doesn't I'm not entirely sure what would happen to you…" Remus trailed off as they both stared at each other.
"These odds don't sound too good, Remus." Harry said awkwardly.
"Well, when you say where you want to go, you can try giving an exact date," Remus suggested.
"Would that work?"
"I have no idea, Harry, I've never attempted to time travel before and this whole thing is experimental anyways, the chances of it working at all are slim to none," Remus sighed.
"Maybe we should do a test run then," Harry got up and opened his bookbag, taking out a piece of parchment and a quill. "Let's send a message to the future, maybe we'll get a response."
"That's not a bad idea," Remus nodded. "If we keep the connection open long enough for them to respond that is."
"Do you have any idea how long the connection will last?"
"I'm guessing until the potion gets entirely burned up, but we can try it out and see."
Harry nodded and dipped his quill into a bottle of ink, holding it readily over the parchment.
"Uhm, what should I say?"
Remus shrugged. "What would you say if you could say anything to the people you left behind?"
Harry paused. Then, quickly, yet carefully, he scribbled across the parchment.
I'll be back soon.
He tore off the corner of the parchment he had written on, then glancing up at Remus, who nodded and took out his wand.
"Incendio," Remus said, a burst of flames erupting from the end of his wand, and catching light on the potion. The bowl burst into deep purple flames with such force that both Harry and Remus jumped backwards.
"Quick!" Remus cried as the flames ate away at the potion.
"The Burrow, June 30th, 1997!"
