Ahhhhh! I forgot REVIEW REPLIES because I was too excited trying to get a new chapter out to you guys. So here are they are now!
MSuprnatural: I already talked to you privately about your points, and hopefully you see in this past chapter a different side of him slightly. I'm going to try and add in some more calmer-James time so that he doesn't just come off as being an extremely angry person but yeah. We'll seee. And yes, Remus was a little obvious about it. But he was flustered in the situation and couldn't be very tactful when he was more concerned with helping Harry, so I forgive him haha
Amethyst Raindrops 16: Awh, you are too nice! I am able to update and write so quickly because I neglect other important things that I should be getting done. It's all for you guys!
PotterPenGirl is omg: yes, I've updated, enjoy!
The Four Founders of Hogwarts: Welcome to the story! I saw all of your reviews on the other chapters and you've worked your way up to what we're currently on. Let me know what you think of everything, and sorry I forgot my review replies on the last chapter but you are awesome for reminding me!
Also special thanks to a few guest reviewers, keep the messages coming!
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"This way," Remus said urgently as the ran down the corridor. Lily almost ran into Remus when he stopped suddenly in front of an empty wall.
"What—?" Lily began but Remus just began pacing quickly.
"What are you doing —" Lily asked, when suddenly a huge oak door began carving itself out of the stone wall. Lily took several steps back in amazement, but Remus ran forward and pushed open the door.
"He's in here," he called holding open the door.
Lily entered the room in wonder, taken aback by the beautiful room. However, she felt her heart fall when she spotted the blonde boy on the ground.
"Harry!" Lily cried, running over to him. She stopped in her tracks when she spotted his arm.
"What happened," she gasped, kneeling down to look closer at it.
"It actually looks better than it did before, I can move my fingers now," Harry said with a pained smile as he slowly opened and closed his hand.
"Harry, you need to go to St. Mungo's," Lily said firmly shaking her head. "Nothing that I have is going to help this. How did this even happen?"
"Maybe we should talk about it after his arm is fixed, I'm afraid he's going to get worse," Remus said worriedly.
"If I know what caused it, I'll be better able to treat it," Lily responded, and then turned back to Harry. "How did this happen?"
"We… we were trying to time travel. I was trying to time travel," Harry sighed.
Lily stared.
"You were trying to what?"
"Lily, please," Harry groaned as his arm burned and ached. "Do you have any of that stuff you gave me before to help my arm?"
"Yes, sorry," Lily quickly reached into the box she had been carrying and uncorked the essence of dittany. "I don't know how much this is going to help, you've really hurt yourself."
Lily carefully poured the remainder of the potion onto the blackened skin. It began to shift: the bruising and swelling began to go down and the burn started to mend itself once more. Lily gently set the vial back into her box, before looking at Harry's arm again.
"How much can you move your arm?" Lily asked. Harry attempted to lift it upwards but immediately grimaced as sharp daggers erupted along it.
"Uhm, I can give you pain medication, but Harry, I really don't think this is something that can heal on its own, you need to go to St. Mungos."
"I can't," Harry breathed, trying to fight the black spots invading his vision. "Do you really think… They could… Help me anyways?"
"He's right, Lily, time travel injuries aren't exactly common…" Remus said nervously.
"Yes, but they certainly know more than I do. Dittany can only do so much," Lily said shaking her head helplessly. "Your fingers are pale and off color, your bloods not circulating well."
She picked up his hand, causing Harry to wince, and began massaging his fingers. They felt very cold.
"Can you feel my hands?" Lily asked as she moved Harry's fingers up and down.
"Yes," Harry said through closed teeth.
"Remus, can you get him a pain relieving potion," Lily asked nodding towards her box. Remus retrieved the soothing blue potion.
"You only need a sip of it," Lily said as Remus helped Harry sit up. The peaceful warmth of the potion immediately washed over Harry, and the pain was replaced entirely.
"It won't last forever," Lily warned.
"And it doesn't mean your arms been fixed either," she said, gently pushing Harry back and summoning some pillows from the couches for him to rest his head on.
"Now, please explain to me, why exactly were you attempting to do something so foolish as time travel? Is this how you hurt your arm before?"
"Yes," Harry sighed, nestling his head into the cushions. "I was brewing the potion to do it."
"Where did you find a potion like that?"
"Remus gave it to me."
"Remus?" Lily said raising an eyebrow.
"I, er, I invented it," Remus admitted.
"So, not only were you trying to do something incredibly dangerous, you tried to do it experimentally. Did you even test it before you reached into it yourself?"
"Well yeah, of course," Harry said. "We tried throwing parchment in there. But there was no way to know if it was working so I just…"
"Got impatient? Impulsive?" Lily suggested.
"Both," Harry confessed.
"Well, that was incredibly foolish of you. I hope you don't lose your arm because of this. You really should go to St. Mungo's, even if they can't actually do anything, you'd have better luck with them than with me."
"I already feel loads better," Harry responded, and it was true.
"Yes, that's because you had the pain relieving potion, when that wears off you won't be feeling loads better." Lily sighed and looked at Harry's hand again; it looked much better than before, his fingers looked pink. She carefully pressed along his arm, avoiding directly touching the burned area.
"Well, I don't think it's broken or anything. I'm just concerned that whatever you were exposed to from that potion may have poisoned you or cursed you."
"It's fine, Lily, really," Harry said.
"Why did you do this to yourself, Harry?" She asked, looking down at his disfigured arm.
"I… I was trying to go back in time to save James's parents," Harry blurted out. Remus looked taken aback, but Lily's face softened.
"Harry…" She sighed. She leaned forward and pulled him into a hug.
"James said we might been related, they could have been my family too, and I never got to meet them," Harry said, his words catching in his throat.
"That's so incredibly kind and incredibly foolish of you," Lily said, letting him go. "It would mean the world to James if he knew you had tried to do that for him."
"Still trying," Harry mumbled. "We just need to fix the potion."
"I don't know if experimenting more with this potion is such a great idea," Lily said cautiously.
"What if you just look through what Remus has already, maybe you can see what's wrong with it so that it does work," Harry suggested. "You're great at potions."
"He's right, you can just check it," Remus said, going along with the story. "I mean, it won't harm anyone for you to read through it and make some adjustments on parchment."
Lily sighed.
"If I agree to go through it, do you promise not to attempt to use again until after I've made it safer? And if I decide it's not safe that you'll drop this all together?"
Harry nodded. Lily sighed again.
"You realize that it's going to be impossible for me to make it safe enough that I'll be willing to let you use it, right?"
"I have faith in you," Harry grinned.
Lily shook her head and took out some new bandages that she wrapped around Harry's tender arm.
"James was asking what had happened, I told him he should talk to you about it," Remus said as Lily worked.
"I would be careful about telling him," Lily said. "Although I think he'd be very happy to know you were doing something so kind, I think you need to stress how dangerous it is and how unlikely you will be successful. I would hate for him to really get his hopes up or for him to start doing something so dangerous…"
"I'll tell him," Harry sighed. The tension between father and son could have been sensed by anyone in the past few days. They hadn't spoken at all, or even made eye contact.
'My time here is short, and I should be spending it well.' Harry thought as Lily secured the bandage. 'Just like with Peter. What's important is spending as much positive time as I can with him. With everyone.'
"There," Lily said. She packed up her medical supplies and then helped Harry stand up. "How do you feel?"
"Fine," Harry said. Lily and Remus shared a glance.
"I really don't know how long that's going to last," Lily said honestly.
"I hope it's a long while," Remus added in. "It's not going to be nice when it wears off."
"I'll be fine," Harry said. Lily rolled her eyes.
"Let me know when it stops working, then we'll see if you really are fine."
o0o0o0o
Ron's eyes fluttered open to the noise of hushed conversation beside his bed. His mother, father, and Madam Pomfrey all swam into view.
"Oh, sorry dear, didn't mean to wake you," Mrs. Weasley said gently, leaning over to give him a kiss on the top of the head.
Ron turned his head and saw his sister in the bed beside his, and Hermione next to hers, both still fast asleep.
"How are you feeling, Ron?" Madam Pomfrey asked as she held out her hand and moved it from his head, to his toes, and back again.
"Alright," he said honestly. "Hungry."
"Yes, I would expect so," the mediwitch said. "Well, from what I understand, you all took a bit of a fall and you were unconscious for some time. The potions Ms. Granger gave you were beneficial, I'm just going to give you something for your head and you should be fine and able to leave the hospital wing."
"What about Hermione and Ginny?" Ron asked, sitting himself up.
"They're both perfectly fine, just needed some rest as well." Madam Pomfrey left to go contact the kitchens and have some food brought up for everyone.
"How are Fred and George?" Ron said suddenly, realizing he hadn't see them yet.
"They're in the Gryffindor common room," Mrs. Weasley answered. "You all can move up there too now that Madam Pomfrey's cleared you."
"Wait, what time is it?" Hermione yawned, sitting up.
"It's three in the afternoon, dear."
"No wonder I'm starved," Ron said.
"Of course we wake up to Ron complaining about food," Ginny groaned, pulling her pillow over her head.
Madam Pomfrey came back over to the group, a few house elves trailing behind her, helping to carry over their lunches.
"Don't eat too quickly, now," Madam Pomfrey warned. "Don't want to make yourselves ill."
Ron immediately began shoveling food in his mouth making Ginny wrinkle her nose.
"Seriously, Ronald?" Hermione said, though she couldn't help laughing. Ginny's face changed from one of disgust to one of humor as well as they all began to laugh at Ron, who had gotten sauce all down his front in his rush to eat.
"It's funny how natural at home I feel when I see Ron gulping down enough food for ten people," Ginny giggled.