2 Time Travel For Beginners

Day: One

Albus Dumbledore prided himself on not being easily surprised. Yet, he'd also been fond of the saying that pride cometh before the fall. He was arse over teakettle at the moment.

"So, Professor Binns dusted your class with time sand, sending you to the past, which coincidentally allows you to be in the same period as your parents." Dumbledore eyed the young man speculatively. He was dark haired and with thin wire rimmed glasses, bearing a shocking resemblance to one of his more troublesome sixth years.

Harry paused and nodded. "That is about it. It's a tad more complicated but I'm probably not supposed to tell you anything about the future and considering this isn't that far back in the past…well saying too much would make meddling very easy."

"Ah I see," Dumbledore crossed his hands and tried to look very wise. "If you don't mind me asking what year do you hail from? I must be prepared for when my History of Magic Professor decides to go off his nut and pelt another class."

"1996," Harry paused and leaned back in his chair, giving the headmaster a surveying look. "Now I see why you weren't confused or surprised when you arrived on the scene." He did have a question though, "You wouldn't try and stop it?" he asked.

"Oh Merlin no. Poor Binns does need to vent from time to time, and in truth these sorts of time travels can be excellent learning experiences...although problematic in your case. If I could clear it with the board of governors I'd want every year to experience it, but I don't think the ministry would ever approve."

"Nor the board of governors, I heard Lucius Malfoy wasn't pleased."

"Dear me, that irritable boy becomes a school governor, I'd hoped I'd seen the last of him when he graduated two years ago," said Dumbledore with a sigh. But the man didn't look too surprised.

"Still," Dumbledore's voice was quiet as he examined Harry from behind his spectacles. "I've never had a case of a student arriving at a point so very near their present. And ironically arriving when they are in the same year as their parents…you must have an insatiable knack for trouble," commented the headmaster, his eyes twinkling wildly.

"I'm afraid so," agreed Harry.

Dumbledore smiled, feeling rather at ease with the young man. It wasn't often that a student felt comfortable in the headmaster's office. Even the Marauders tried to look slightly repentant in his presence. Harry exuded nothing but a casual comfort, also the boy was surprisingly familiar with the room. Harry had even known where Dumbledore kept his supply of extra lemon drops, and the boy had helped himself to a few as he'd explained the current situation. All this lead Dumbledore to believe that Harry had been there quite often, and probably not always for matters of discipline. He found himself liking the young time traveler who had introduced himself only as Harry. Although if Dumbledore was a good judge, and he thought he was, the Potter was obvious.

"Well professor, what do you suggest?" Harry asked.

"Hmmm," the headmaster hummed to himself and he considered the situation. "Are you in the same house as your parents? Or parent as the case may be?"

"Yes," stated Harry.

"Now a trickier question. You mentioned meddling in time, and since you know the rule I can gather that you've considered the possibility of altering something. If I let you join your housemates, do you think you can avoid the temptation?" Dumbledore looked at Harry with stern eyes, for an instant they lost their sparkle.

Harry placed his hands behind his back. Could he change things? It wouldn't be that hard, even if he just placed a seed of doubt in people's minds about Peter's loyalty he could possibly change things for the better. But what would that mean? It would leave the world he knew unrecognizable. Without his parents death, his being hailed the 'boy-who-lived', would the wizarding world have managed to endure more years of war with Voldemort?

Before, when he was younger, Harry might have thought it didn't matter. Like any orphan he had always wanted his parents back. And he once might have fiddled with time, might have thought that he was right do so. But now, after seeing all that had been lost in the war with Voldemort, he didn't think that his happiness mattered more than others. Moody had only last summer shown him the group photo of the original Order of the Phoenix. It hadn't been difficult to see that they had been losing, members cut down ever week. But then the Potters had sacrificed everything to give the wizarding world a little more than a decade of peace.

And it had given Harry time. Ever since his latest fight with Voldemort had sent the wizard into a coma, Harry had learned how precious borrowed time could be. It was time for him to prepare, time for him to become ready. The prophecy would come to pass, but with these little bits of borrowed peace, they could all heal and prepare.

"No, I won't change anything," Harry said solemnly. "At least not purposefully," he amended.

Dumbledore had grown still while Harry had thought. The headmaster could see the strain on the young man before him. He looked down in his lap, forcing himself not to ask the questions that he desperately wanted to. Somehow this boy seemed far too old. Perhaps the headmaster only thought so because it was so easy to compare Harry with James Potter. The pair looked very alike, but Albus could never imagine the prankster he knew to behave with such maturity.

"If you think so," said Dumbledore slowly, "Than I see no reason why you shouldn't join your house and year. Perhaps it will give you a chance to have a little fun, I daresay you need it."

"That's what you told me, to think of this as a little vacation," Harry said.

"Well, I'm very wise and have doubtlessly grown more so." Dumbledore's twinkling eyes made Harry laugh. "Or have I perhaps gotten a little madder in my old age?" he inquired.

"No more than is needed," commented Harry somewhat mysteriously.

"Good, at least I don't seem to be boring," the old man said with a cheerfulness.

"No, never that," agreed Harry. While he and the headmaster had their disagreements over the years, he'd admit that Dumbledore was certainly an interesting character.

"Now you're a Gryffindor aren't you?" Dumbledore didn't wait for an answer "I'll call Professor McGonagall up to fetch you. While time travelers do sometimes pop up it has been Hogwart's tradition to keep that fact rather quiet. I'll introduce you as a transfer student who is arriving a little late. Thankfully you've only missed the first day so it likely won't cause much stir at all. Time sand is a little tricky so you have no idea how long you'll be here, we'll just come up with a good explanation when you disappear again. Perhaps a little forgetfulness spell to smooth any disruption. In the mean time act naturally and don't purposefully meddle with time."

"So just not…purposefully?" Harry was still a little nervous about how this charade would occur.

"Time travel has been studied my boy. As long as you don't run around telling people about the future, well things tend to take care of themselves. I even read a paper once which stated that all time travelers were meant to travel, and hence if they didn't travel history would not be as we know it. So I shan't tell you to be too careful. If you were meant to do something, then you've already done it." Dumbledore leaned back in his chair after this comment.

Harry raised his eyebrows. "If you say so," he allowed dismissively.

"That's the spirit, don't worry about things so much. Enjoy you lessons, and consider how wonderful it will be knowing your grades don't matter." He paused and lifted a hand to stroke his long beard. "That's hardly a thing for a headmaster to say," considered Albus pensively.

A knock sounded on the door behind Harry.

"Oh and Harry, to keep things simple I'd suggest sticking to your real history as much as possible. You should be able to keep that straight for a few weeks. And if in doubt, quality education can also be found at Spellwicks Academy. It's a smaller school, which doesn't really exist although a few visitors to Hogwarts have claimed to go there," Dumbledore winked. "Come In, " he said loudly.

Harry nodded at the headmaster as a brunette witch entered the room. She was tall and thin with a slightly harsh jaw line, her eyes were neatly wrinkled already. And while her hair was just becoming streaked with silver, Harry knew it would become even more so in a few decades. Minerva Mcgonagall stood before Harry looking not much different than she would almost twenty years in the future.

"Ah yes, Minerva this is Harry Tempus he's a recent transfer from Spellwicks Academy and already sorted into Gryffindor. Perhaps you could see if the sixth year prefects would lend a hand showing him around."

Harry nodded amicably at his introduction. Trust Dumbledore to choose a last name that practically screamed time traveler. Still Mcgonagall seemed to pay it no mind. "Yes Headmaster," she said politely before leading him out.

The two exited the revolving spiral staircase in silence, but once exiting into the corridor Mcgonagall spoke without looking in Harry's direction.

"It's lucky you've only missed the first day Mr. Tempus," she said primly, "I trust it wasn't possible for you to have arrived at the same time as the other students." The transfiguration professor continued to cut a steady line through the halls as she spoke.

Harry slightly enjoyed his head of House's subtle dressing down. "I'm afraid not professor," he said managing to sound contrite. "Merlin knows I had no say in the matter."

"Well, as I said, it is lucky you are only one day late. I believe we will be able to find the prefects of your year at breakfast. If you'll follow me to the Great Hall."

Harry nodded and swiftly followed in the strict professor's wake, somehow he didn't seem at all worried. Even though he knew full well what introduction was about to occur.

Now that her opinion had been stated, Mcgonagall seemed content to return to her previous silence. The halls became more crowded the closer they got to the Great Hall. Students of all years seemed to be staggering toward their breakfasts, bleary eyed and half asleep. Harry found himself subconsciously looking for familiar faces. He didn't recognize anyone, and perhaps it was better that way.

Harry found himself wondering what he wanted to get out of these couple of weeks. It wasn't as if he was going to have a great deal of time, he couldn't master some magical skill or find a way to defeat Voldemort. And despite the headmaster's advice of making this a vacation, Harry knew the trip wouldn't exactly be relaxing. He'd have to keep on his toes and make sure not to reveal anything about the future. Not to mention Voldemort was alive and well, already entering the height of his power. Harry didn't envy the headaches he would likely be getting.

So what sort of thing could he get out of this odd coincidence. What could he gain from this chance of meeting the parents he had never known.

It didn't take him long to decide, it came to him instantly.

He wanted to know them.

When he was little and growing up at the Dursleys he'd given up any hope of learning about his parents. They had been a subject just as taboo as any of Harry's 'unnaturalness'. But, for the last few years he'd slowly been gaining more facts about them. But it had all been information second hand,from his father's friends. The only first hand knowledge was, disturbingly enough, from the horrors the dementors revealed.

For once he wanted to know something, to know one thing about his parents that no one had to tell him. He knew it would be futile to imagine he could become best friends, he would only be allowed a week or two with them. But to sit and have a conversation with them, to actually know something about them that he knew was real. Everyone wanted to tell him his parents were wonders, his father a hero his mother an angel. That was all well and good, but he wanted to know the truth. They had been people once. He'd make the most of this time, even if he only learned one new thing.

Padfoot was still trying to figure out if Prongs was playing some sort of prank on him. Inter-marauder pranking wasn't unusual. It was never very nasty, not like the stuff they set on the Slytherins, but it usually was funny. And Sirius couldn't for the life of him discover the humor in whatever joke Prongs had decided to play.

It had started off a normal day. Or relatively at least, normal was a shifting thing when you friends were pranksters. Sirius had missed dinner the night before, and certain difficulties hadn't made it impossible for him to visit the kitchen, hence he'd awoken this morning more hungry than usual. Other events had conspired so that Sirius had headed down to the Great Hall alone. Peter seemed dead to the world and refused to wake up. Remus had been dragged in to settle some third year quarrel. James was being his usual self and was spending time trying to make his hair stand up in some appealing way. It had long become a losing battle but try telling the Quidditch star that.

Sirius had simply been too hungry to wait. Still he wasn't anti-social. He'd been chatting up a few girls when suddenly, he'd swear on his title as a marauder, James had appeared at the table. He literally meant appeared. He'd even complimented his best mate on a well played prank, only to have James act as if someone had hit him in the gut. He'd stated quite clearly, in an un-Jamesy way, that he needed to see Dumbledore.

Then, not five minute ago, James had waltzed into the Great Hall and was acting as if he had never been there to begin with. It must be a joke, but Sirius didn't understand how it was funny.

So, Sirius continued staring at James with a thoughtful glance, staring quite attentively in fact, until Remus, free of his Prefect duties, had seen fit to comment on it.

"Uh Padfoot, something wrong with the food?" he asked by way of starting a conversation.

Sirius spared one glance at Remus, shook his head in the negative before promptly staring at James again. He did shovel a spoon of eggs into his mouth without losing eye contact.

"James do you have any clue why Padfoot is so enamored with you this morning?" the werewolf asked.

James shrugged as he chewed on a piece of toast. "Don't really know, he was acting all wonky asking how I apparated in Hogwarts and then why I dashed off. I told him I used the door like anyone else but he still seems to think I apparated into breakfast." James yawned after the explanation. It was too early. He was too tired to wonder what new weirdness his best mate had conjured.

Remus shook his head, "You can't apparate into Hogwarts," he decreed.

"I know," grunted Sirius. "That's why I want to know how he did it." After a short pause Padfoot asked, "You aren't having me on, you really didn't apparate in here and run off to Dumbledore?"

James shook his head, "Course not, if I figured something like that out I'd tell you." James grinned at his friend before reaching out for a glass of juice. His eyes flickered off for a moment as he watched a red haired witch take a drink from her own drink.

"Well, Merlin, James I could have sworn I saw you. I must have been delusional with hunger." At this comment Sirius consumed another helping of eggs.

Remus snorted. "Delusional perhaps, but not from hunger."

"Oh hum Ree-mus," moaned Sirius with a full mouth.

Peter stumbled up to the table, his hair still mussed from sleep, his tie askew. "Couldn't you have woken me," he complained in a light manner.

"Tried," James said, shrugging before helping himself to another piece of bacon. "You told us to leave you alone."

Peter sat down with a confused expression, "I did?" He easily let the matter drop and settled down at his own place. Peter reached for the stack of toast and some marmalade. He pushed down his fair hair, trying to see his reflection in a silver pitcher.

Now that all the marauders were gathered around the table, the four closed ranks as it were. Sirius turned, easily ignoring the girls he had been talking to earlier. All four followed a similar movement, turning inward, forming a solid group. Perhaps they had become friends out of necessity, being the only Gryffindor boys in their year. But through whatever way, they were very close. They knew each other's secrets and sore spots. All and all they were closer than brothers. Which was perhaps why they were such effective pranksters. No one would ever betray their little group, and thusly no teacher ever had the slightest bit of proof.

Not that such a little thing as the burden of proof stopped their professors from dishing out punishment.

And speaking of pranks.

"So, how'd it go?" Peter asked glancing in Sirius's direction. He spoke softly but the other boys shushed him just the same. It was etiquette not to mention pranking in the Great Hall, not within easy hearing range of the Professors.

Still, Sirius was rather proud of this little trick and glanced up at the staff table casually. Macgonagall, by far the professor hardest on the four boys, was not in her customary spot. He turned to Peter with a grin and winked. The round boy also smiled.

Yawning dramatically, he began his tale with a solemn whispered voice. "Let's just say that the night of trailing my brother paid off. I managed to get into the Slytherin Common rooms last night. I think our slimy year mates will be entertaining. It's hardly my best, but it works as a good greeting for the snakes."

Remus shook his head and narrowed his eyes. "I can't believe you went through with that, I thought we all agreed that it was simply too dangerous. And alone, what if you had been caught?" The young werewolf tried to preach logic to his friend but Sirius shrugged and looked annoyed.

James looked toward the Slytherin table, at the moment none of the male sixth year Slytherins were there. It was still a little early but it was strange that none of them had made an appearance yet.

Sirius however was still intent on Remus. "Well, Peter was the only one who was willing to help, and he's not the most quiet bloke so I had him wait up in the common room for me. He at least had the true Marauder spirit."

Peter seemed quite proud of this and faced the other two with his chin pointed upward, a slushy smile on his face.

"It's not that we weren't interested in pranking the Slytherin house," appeased James. Of the four Remus and Sirius were the most polar opposite. It was times like these that Remus's caution and reason ran odds with Sirius's recklessness and desire for fun. Still, James knew full well that after this previous summer Sirius felt a strong desire to strike back at Slytherins, so he spoke softly and tried not to let his ire show.

"You know they'll assume it was us," James stated simply. "Isn't it a little early in the year to annoy one-fourth of the school?"

"But they're just the Slytherins, no one else likes them," argued Sirius.

James didn't know how to argue that. "Look, just Remus is right. It wasn't safe, you know most of the top years are probably already aligned with you-know-who. You might not have made it out."

"I can handle myself," argued Sirius.

"I highly doubt that Mr. Black, unless the summer has wrought some impressive changes," spoke a new voice from above. Professor Mcgonagall loomed down on them like the figure of death. All four boys had the sinking suspicion that the firm transfiguration professor had heard all of their previous conversation.

Peter was the first to recover. "Eh, good morning professor," he squeaked in a somewhat nervous tone.

"Good morning Mr. Pettigrew," she responded. But she didn't look in his direction, her eyes narrowed in on another member of their group. "Mr. Lupin could I speak to you for a moment. Mr..." she looked at her elbow only to see no one there. She looked over her shoulder at a boy who had stopped a few paces behind. "Mr. Tempus," she called sharply.

The Marauders all turned to follow her eyeline and spotted a stranger, although for a stranger he looked oddly familiar. Three faces quickly turned to stare at an equally confused James Potter. If James didn't know any better, his twin had just entered the Great Hall. It was clear that his friends agreed. The boy had the same short black hiar, sticking up in the back and just as untamable, the same solid jaw and glasses. His frame was perhaps a little more wiry than their friend, but the similarities were disarming. The boy also seemed to share another prongsy-trait, he had fallen a few steps behind Professor McGonagall and was eyeing a pretty red haired witch with a meaningful expression.

He quickly snapped out of his thoughts when Mcgonagall called his name.

"Mr Lupin, I'd like you to meet Harry Tempus, Mr. Tempus this is Remus Lupin. He is one of the prefects for your year. Harry Tempus is a new transfer student, he will be joining Gryffindor in your year. Please help him find his classes as well as the common room and your dormitory."

"Um, yes professor," Remus responded politely. Behind him muttering broke out from his friends. Suddenly the James clone was evaluated a little more closely.

James was silent as he examined the new Mr. Tempus. Looking at this Harry fellow a little more closely, he decided that the resemblance wasn't that great. Perhaps it was Harry's posture or the way his expression flickered into a odd, unrecognizable expression. There was also an unkempt quality about Harry. His glasses were a cheap muggle pair, his robes looked a little short and slightly uneven, almost as if someone without much skill had attempted to enlarge them. While their colorings might be almost disturbingly similar, it was clear that Harry didn't take as much time with his appearance, and was thus seriously lacking.

James wouldn't have known that the rest of his friends were thinking along opposite lines of thought.

Remus had also noted the ill-kept nature. Perhaps it was because his own robes were second hand that he noticed another trait that James hadn't picked up on. Harry didn't seem to care. Uniforms were supposed to be the great equalizers. But it wasn't difficult to see who had to make do with second hand and who were given robes tailor made to suit them. And despite this, Harry seemed to hold his head high with a sense of self importance. Rather like James in that sense. Harry stood smiling a nodding in greeting as if he didn't care who was looking, and indeed expected the looks. Very like James indeed.

Sirius was a little more relieved that indeed he hadn't hallucinated this morning's event. Still he frowned at the thought of another dorm mate. The dorm room he shared with his friends was his home, the only refuge he'd had these last few years. He didn't like the idea of a stranger invading their place. Also he was rather curious how someone could look so identical to his best mate. Sirius had spent enough of his summers and holidays with the Potters to know that the elderly Mr. Potter didn't have any family. It must be a coincidence, not matter how unlikely that seemed.

Peter was astounded and honestly very curious about how anyone could look exactly like James. They had the same nose, the same hair. If he didn't know better he'd have said that the boy was James. His eyes flickered to his friends and it seemed they were thinking along the same things. Except Sirius was frowning, about what Peter didn't know. Peter decided to frown too.

"Miss Evans," Mcgonagall called down the table, "I hope you will also help Mr. Tempus should Mr. Lupin be occupied."

Lily Evans looked up from her breakfast. At first her look was all business, until she managed to actually see the student in question. Surprise quickly became the dominant expression, her face as open as a book. Still, she recovered quickly, "Of course Professor, I'll do my best."

Harry grinned at her before turning back to Remus. Professor Mcgonagall had already turned toward the staff table.

"Mind if I sit down," he asked Remus. The werewolf opened his mouth and was about to speak when another presence made itself known.

"Yeah, sit," Sirius stated shrugging, he had other thoughts on his mind. "So it was you right, I mean you were the one that appeared this morning, how did you do that," he interrogated quickly.

"Oh yeah, sorry about that," Harry apologized. He took a seat to Remus's right, almost directly across from Sirius. "You sort of surprised me. The portkey was supposed to take me to Dumbledore's office…but somehow I ended up down here." Harry's face took on a tinge of confusion, but smiled ruefully all the same.

"Portkey, that explains it," Sirius paused and turned to Remus, "Does that explain it?"

"I suppose it could, but I've never heard of a portkey working in Hogwarts," Remus said pensively.

"It just has to have the approval of the headmaster," assured Harry.

They were silent for a moment and Harry reached for a piece of toast, chewing it while the others continued to stare at him. He took in their gazes with a practiced ease, something that the werewolf noted.

"So…why do you look like James?" Peter asked, his squeaky voice. Peter could always be counted upon to ask the obvious.

Harry's eyes narrowed a bit but quashed the homicidal urge to tackle the rat. Looking at the curious four, he decided his course of action with an inner grin.

"Who's James," he asked with a confused tone.

"Uh, me," replied said Marauder.

Harry scrunched his eyes and tilted his head. "Hmm, well, there really isn't that much of a resemblance," he answered with a shrug.

"Not that much!" Peter said incredulously. "You could be brothers."

Or Father and Son, Harry couldn't help but think. "Maybe we're distantly related," he said aloud. "My godfather told me once that practically everyone in the wizarding world is somehow related to everyone else. Least the purebloods are," he said with a shrug.

"Are you a pureblood," Sirius asked with some distaste for the word.

"Half, My dad's family was. My Mum was a muggle born. But they do say I look like my Dad." Harry couldn't avoid a casual glance at his father while he said this. Pictures couldn't quite capture it. Oh there were some definite differences but somehow the similarities seemed to stand out more.

Sirius seemed to relax somewhat. Despite being a pureblood himself, the heir to the Black family was somewhat of a reverse bigot, he distrusted purebloods on principal. Well, except for James.

"So, why are you starting Hogwarts now," Remus asked. He alone seemed to have captured the use of past tense when describing his parent. The werewolf was starting to put together a bit of who Harry Tempus was.

Harry shrugged, "I always wanted to go here. My parents did. It was just more convenient for my Aunt and Uncle to have me go to Spellwicks."

"Spellwicks?" Peter questioned. Both James and Sirius had also cocked their heads in confusion.

"Spellwicks Academy," Harry nodded. "It's a small school in the south. Really more of a tutoring sort of a place then a school. Trains you up for OWLS and NEWTS, but like I said it's pretty small. I only had two other people in my year."

"I think I've heard of it," James cocked his head as he tried to remember. Remus also nodded his head, he had the vaguest feeling he'd read something about it once.

The werewolf shook himself, well perhaps he'd remember another time. "This must be quite the culture shock," he said warmly.

Harry however grinned, "Welcome change really. We didn't even have a Quidditch team."

Remus a Peter seemed to groan a bit while James and Sirius dropped their mouths in shock.

"No Quidditch!" James said, his voice surprisingly squeaky.

"Real tragedy I know, but there simply weren't enough people for one team, let alone having teams to play against. Also," Harry wrinkled his nose in distaste, "most of the people there tend to take their studies rather seriously."

"You poor poor boy," Sirius said solemnly. He seemed to have quickly adjusted to Harry's presence. Indeed, Harry seemed to have easily positioned the conversation in a manner that placed the Marauders at ease.

" But studies are important..." Remus's protest died on his lips, both James and Sirius's gazes were enough to boil water.

"Why'd you get sent there?" James asked, some horror in his voice.

"Well it was closer than Hogwarts, my Aunt and Uncle thought it seemed like a better school. It took them awhile, but I got some good OWLs scores so I convinced them to let me come here," answered Harry. Really his ability to spin a web of lies was surprising even himself. Still, he did have a tendency to keep secrets, perhaps it wasn't surprising that he was such a good liar.

"You know it is really too bad that Harry here wasn't with us when we where younger. Can you imagine the fun we'd have had mixing the teachers up. You and James could have flip flopped all the time." Sirius's eyes were misty with the thought of all the missed opportunities for pranking.

Harry couldn't help but grin at the look of his godfather's face. Trust Sirius to only think about pranks.

The Great Hall was rapidly losing students and Remus looked at his watch. "We better hurry and get to class," the prefect lectured his friends. "We have transfiguration first thing and if we're late to Mcgonagall's class she'll give us a week of detentions."

"A week, that sounds a little harsh?" Harry commented.

Remus looked a little embarrassed. "Yeah well I think she's still a little sore about something James and Sirius did at the end of the year."

The two pranksters in question looked very innocent when Moony glanced their way. "Don't know what you're taking about," James said with a soft voice.

"Oh come on, lets just not be late." Remus turned towards Harry, "You are taking transfiguration aren't you?"

"Yep," Harry answered with a grin. He'd been particularly proud, and surprised, when he'd received an outstanding in that class. Still it was a good thing, as he needed that NEWT if he were to become an Auror.

"That's good. What other classes are you taking," Remus asked. "I don't mean to pry but if I'm showing you around..." Remus grabbed Peter's robes as everyone began to leave, dragging the boy away. Peter snagged one more piece of toast and jam before following along.

"Potions, Defense against the Dark Arts, Care of Magical Creatures, Charms, and Herbology," Harry rattled off the list.

"Good, I'm taking the same classes. Well, Ancient Runes as well..."

"Geek," snorted Sirius from behind them. He and James feel in to step behind Remus. They never could understand why he took his prefect duties so seriously. Still, Tempus seemed like a good bloke, if perhaps a little too studious. His class list was a little on the heavy side for a NEWT year class. Most students dropped down to four or five total after their OWLs. Trust Remus to be even worse and take seven, that's right seven, Newt level classes.

But Sirius's mutter didn't seem to merit much attention, Remus ignored him out of habit. "It's really very practical," he argued to Harry, "particularly if you ever want to work towards spell construction, or even learning more complicated spells."

Remus continued rattling off some of the high points in learning ancient runes, Harry only partially listened, he vividly remembered Hermione reciting a similar list in their third year.

They had exited the Great Hall and were about to climb the stairs toward the second floor when suddenly, shooting from Harry's left, a murky yellow spell shot in his direction. Without even thinking Harry quickly erected a shield charm, reflecting the spell back to where it had come.

It had come from a direction that led to the dudgeons, and it wasn't difficult to see who had sent it. A group of boys with green and silver ties stood poised there, glaring with hard cold eyes. But, it was a little difficult to take them entirely seriously considering they had all grown uni-brows and a few were sporting more hair on their faces than was on their heads, they looked like werewolves from black and white muggle horror movies.

"I know it was you Potter," called a somewhat familiar voice. The face the voice belonged to was almost entirely hidden behind thick, rather greasy, black hair.

Harry had turned, his wand raised, an excellent fully formed blue shield separating him from the Slythrins. It was then that Harry remembered he wasn't a Potter.

"Excuse me?" he asked politely, an edge of warning in his voice.

The black hairy face stepped forward, fists clenched. From behind him other scowling faces came forward as well. Snape didn't seem to be the leader of these boys, he was merely the maddest and had been the first to shoot off a curse.

"Snape," Remus's voice intruded. His voice was an attempt at intervention, but there was a definite lack of force behind the words.

"Stay out of this, this is between me and Potter!" the future Potions Master fumed. The other Slytherins seemed more than happy to let their house mate tackle the Marauders. In true Slytherin fashion, they much rather have someone else be fighting their battles.

"Then maybe you should talk to me," James, who had been watching the event from beside Sirius stepped forward and stood beside Harry.

If the hair didn't hide Snape's expression, Harry figured a look of utter disgust must have crossed the Slytherin's face. "Merlin, don't tell me your parents found another way to multiple," scorn dripped from his every word.

Harry could sense the situation devolving. James practically radiated rage. He'd seen this sort of scene in a pensieve once. The enmity between the two was so extreme that it didn't take much to enrage either party. However, Harry had been on the receiving end of a barrage of insults from an adult Severus Snape. His current standards were below average, certainly not enough to produce James's level of rage.

"What's the matter Snivellous, finally take a good look in the mirror and not like what you see? Bout time." James mocking comment and smirk were not helping matters. Harry knew first hand that Severus Snape was not the sort of person who could take a joke.

And he was right. "Damn you, I'm not taking your pranking shite anymore," the enraged ball of fur yelled. Behind him the Slytherins grinned happily. "Sectemsapra!" Snape yelled.

Harry responded quickly, he had more than enough power to spare and he poured it into his shield. The shield's shape and color shifted slightly. It became more sliver than blue, arching wider and into a sharper V. Snape's spell bordered on Dark Magic a more powerful shield than a simple Protego was needed to block it.

But Harry had been hit with worse. The shield reacted as it was supposed to. The magic absorbed the red spell Snape had sent in James's direction. With a silent twist of his wand, Harry managed to disarm the angry Slytherin.

Snape now stood before them without a wand, the hair blocked his face hiding his expression.

James swung an arm around Harry's shoulder. "Not so tough now, eh Snivellous," mocked James.

Sirius had joined them, "Not so powerful are we slimy little snake?" Sirius cuffed Harry on the shoulder, grinning with obvious pleasure.

"I think we should teach him a lesson, no dueling in the corridors right mates," stated James. He dark haired boy lifted his wand, one of his favorite spells on his lips...only to have his wand ripped from his hand. Sirius's wand quickly followed suit.

"What the– " James shot a glance at the other Slytherins, but he couldn't see a wand in any of their hands. Anyway, it wasn't Slytherin's style to come to the aide of a fallen dorm mate.

Instead both Sirius and James were forced to look closer to home.

Harry Tempus still stood by their side. His expression slightly harsh, his green eyes standing out more than before. Three wands were clutched in his left hand, Snape's and their own.

"Tempus?" Sirius asked, an angry edge to his voice.

But Harry merely shrugged away from him. He was filled with disgust at the scene unfolding, he'd been disgusted that day in the pensieve when he'd witnessed something similar. He wasn't about to play a role in it. It had felt good for a moment to have his father and godfather surround him proudly, but he wasn't going to be party to any bullying. He'd been on the receiving end enough to hate that sort of pastime. He shot a glance at Remus, but the young prefect merely avoided his eyes and looked downward.

"What's your deal mate," Sirius asked, a harder edge to his voice.

James too felt the edges of annoyance. Here they had almost been attacked by Slytherins and some new kid, from their own house, had taken their wands. There was a distinct feeling of anger boiling in James's gut. Who did this Tempus kid think he was?

Both Sirius and James managed their fiercest glares, but Harry didn't budge.

"Look maybe you don't understand," Sirius said, his voice was warmer but still with a slight edge. "These are Slytherins nasty little dark toe-rags. They'd curse you as soon as look at you, a bunch of muggle hating tossers."

Whatever reaction Sirius had been hoping for, he didn't get it. Harry's stance didn't change. Indeed the glances he shot James and Sirius left little doubt what he thought of their behavior.

"Where you the ones that cursed them first," Harry asked calmly. He nodded his head toward Snape and the others, the uni-brows and furry faces not seeming quite so funny.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Sirius answered.

James could have cursed, Sirius's tone left little doubt who the culprit was.

Harry paused for a moment, he looked in Snape's direction, only the Slytherin's eyes were visable, cold and calculating. Harry didn't like the Potions Master, but how much of the man's future attitude was created by his current treatment.

And his father...who and what was James Potter. Harry's palm opened and he dropped the wands to the floor, allowing the wooden rods to clatter about the stone tiles. Their owners scurried to their feet, stumbling after the rolling wands.

But Harry wasn't paying attention anymore, he's already turned and was climbing the stairs. Harry knew it wasn't 'constant vigilance' to turn your back on someone who might very well wish you harm. But Harry couldn't help but hope his father and godfather weren't so bad as to curse someone from the back. "Transfiguration, right?" Harry said with a nod toward Remus.

"Uh yeah," the werewolf responded. He quickly turned to keep up with Harry. He shot a look back at his friends only to see the three, Sirius, James and Peter, still standing at the bottom of the steps. Either too stunned or mad to respond yet. The Slytherins had already left.

"We'll be late," Harry looked down at his watch before looking back up.

"Right," Remus nodded. The prefect's mouth felt dry. Many times he'd wanted to stop his friends from fighting with the Slytherins, he just didn't possess the confidence to go against the only friends he had ever had. He wondered if Harry Tempus knew what he was getting into. He turned and watched as the other boy steadily climbed the stairs, no looking back at the glares from below.

Remus sighed, he knew full well he wouldn't be able to help the situation. Perhaps he could talk Lily into...he hated to shirk the burden that Mcgongall had set on him, but he knew where his loyalties lay.

Harry and Remus entered the class room.

"Umm here we are," Remus said with a shrug. "I'm just gonna..." Remus nodded towards the door and quickly ducked away.

Harry nodded knowingly. It seemed his plans to know his parents had already taken a dive. Harry quickly settled into a seat near the window and looked out tiredly. He'd only wanted to learn one thing right? Well he'd learned a summer certainly hadn't improved his father's behavior. Harry knew on some level that was unfair for him to expect this James Potter to be his father. This boy was sixteen, he'd led a pampered life and spent his time planning pranks and mooning over girls. It was a youth far removed from Harry's own.

"I thought Remus was supposed to show you around," a female voice said to his left.

Harry turned to see Lily take a seat at his left, she settled her book bag at her feet. Harry could easily tell that she was the academic sort, her bag seemed to burst with books. She had already begun taking out books, parchment and quills. Once her things were settled she turned towards him with an upraised eyebrow.

"Oh well, I think I insulted some of his friends," Harry acknowledged.

Lily leaned back in her chair, she accessed him with critical eyes. "To your credit I'm sure," she said with a smile. "Those boy are such...such," she shook her hands in the air, unable to find words to convey her frustration.

She coughed and raised her chin. "Well don't worry I'll show you around," she flipped her hair after she spoke. Harry had the feeling that she enjoyed being prefect.

"Thanks," he replied.

Lily turned to gaze at him curiously. "You must have done well on your OWLs to make it into NEWT level Transfiguration, half our class couldn't or didn't," her speech was somewhat clipped and professional Harry noticed. Oddly it was comforting. His mother's voice always brought to mind screams, perhaps that was what happened when dementors were how you got to know your parents.

"Do you like Transfiguration," Harry asked. His own tone mimicked hers, despite the fact that he was honestly curious. Even with Sirius's stories, Lily Potter was very much of an unknown to him.

She scrunched her nose thoughtfully, "Hmm, not my favorite. But it is terribly useful. I suppose I prefer Charms. Transfiguration takes one thing and turns it into another, Charms just seems to make stuff happen." She smiled softly, as if remembering something.

"Like 'real' magic," Harry questioned her logic.

Lily grinned, "Exactly... I'm a muggle born," she stated the last part somewhat defensively, "And I suppose just when I was a little girl and thought about magic, I just thought more of Charms and such."

Harry nodded. "I thought magic was card tricks and such. I saw a magic show on the telly when I was little once, my Aunt pitched a fit when she saw what my cousin and I were watching, she shut it off and then my Cousin had an even larger tantrum." Harry reminisced about his own childhood. It wasn't something he did often. Disliking the past he was more likely to live in the present. He noticed Lily's curious eyes, "Oh, my Aunt isn't fond of magic, I think she finds it unnatural or something."

Lily shook her head, "Oh I know. My sister thinks witches and wizards are like the characters in movies, like the witch in the Wizard of Oz." Lily was opening up slightly. She fiddled with her quill as she spoke. "I tried to show her some of things I can do, you know during Christmas break when we're allowed. But she just made me so mad. I finally just changed her tea cup into a frog, that's all she thinks magic is."

Harry leaned back amused at this story, he wished he knew more about the strange relationship these two sisters shared. "She doesn't like magic?" he wondered aloud.

Lily rolled her eyes, "She would if she knew how wonderful it can be. I suppose the bad is just easier to see sometimes. She found one of my school books about Magical creatures once, and of course she had to read about only the scary creatures first. I tried showing her unicorns and kneazles and such, she's convinced we're all monsters." Lily seemed somewhat sad as she said this. In a moment she shook her red hair, almost as if to shake off the emotion. She turned back to him with shining green eyes. "But oh well. It doesn't matter much."

If only you knew, Harry thought.

Harry looked up as the Marauders traisped in. If looks could kill. Peter it seemed hadn't made it into Transfiguration, the three remaining boys settled in the back. Sirius and James in particular were looking at Harry as he was a particularly disgusting zit, one which they'd enjoy squeezing out of existance.

Lily's eyes widened, "You certainly did get on their bad side, what did you do?"

Harry opened his mouth to answer, but quickly shut it when Mcgonagall entered. The strict Professor gazed at her somewhat small class before sliding the door shut with a snap.

"Well I'm proud of those of you who decided to continue onto NEWT level Transfiguration. These next few years will not be easy and if you are doubting your conviction I ask that you consider changing classes. We will be working with human transfiguration, not something to be meddled with lightly."

Harry began to zone out when he realized that this speech was almost identical to the one he had received at the beginning of the year. Considering that his time line was over two months ahead of this one Harry had a feeling that he might be in store for quite a bit of repetition. Of course all the teachers wouldn't be the same and the curriculum must have changed some in twenty years...not that any of this mattered. In a week of so he'd bee swept back to his own timeline.

Harry glanced sideways in Lily's direction. Despite her comment that she enjoyed Charms more, his mother's attention was fully on Professor Mcgonagall. The professor's claim that human transfiguration was both difficult and dangerous only seemed to excite the red head.

"Today we will begin taking notes on some of the dangers of human transfiguration–

Harry stared out the window. Maybe he should try and become an animagi. Had his father accomplished it already? He thought he remembered Sirius saying that they had finally accomplished it in their fifth year, not long before OWLS. Harry's gaze shifted back to the three Marauders, he didn't mind Peter's absence. They were prats, but they couldn't be all bad. Not if they had taken such a risk to help out a friend.

Transfiguration passed slowly. Harry finally pulled out some parchment and proceeded to doodle on it while Mcgonagall went on and on about how a poorly done human transfiguration could result in death. She added a few horror stories about a few people who had never been able to un-transfigure something, including one wizard who was stuck with a pencil as finger. Harry had laughed at that, he simply hadn't been able to help it. The head of Gryffindor house had given him a very stiff look.

Still, despite Harry's sense of humor, most of the class exited with rather pale expressions. One hufflepuff girl seemed a little green after hearing about a wizard who become half a tiger, apparently the wrong half, and had eaten his entire family.

Harry was still wondering if having a pencil for a finger was such a tragedy. You'd never have to worry about finding something to write with. Although he wondered if it hurt to sharpen?

"That was enlightening," a voice said by his side.

Harry turned to watched as Lily followed beside him, lugging her heavy bag of books. "Yeah I guess," he replied.

"You should have at least pretended to listen," the girl stated with a high and mighty look.

"I listened," Harry argued. Not today per se, but he had listened to Mcgonagall's fearful lecture once before.

"Sure, what other classes do you have?" she asked.

Harry once again rattled off the list. He supposed he should be glad that Lily seemed happy enough to help him out. Remus has disappeared moments after class had finished. Not that he really needed someone to show him around, but his sudden appearance would seem less unusual if he had a tour guide with him.

Lily pursed her lips thoughtfully. "I have most of those classes. Not Care of Magical Creatures, I'm taking Arithmancy instead, and ancient Runes. And of course the additional seminar in History of Magic," she trailed off. "Hence the heavy bag," she said with a shrug.

Harry grinned and tapped the canvas bag with his wand. The simple featherlight charm made Lily stop in her tracks.

"I can't believe I didn't think of that," she muttered. She swept some of the red hair off her face and smiled up at him.

"Don't thank me. One day I thought my back was going to break from the weight of my bag and one of my friends just says to me, 'there is this thing called magic Harry,' and then she tapped my bag just like that," Harry's impression of Hermione was spot on. Lily didn't know that but Harry's falsetto voice made her giggle.

"I suppose in the muggle world you just get used to such things as having heavy bags," Lily said pensively once she had stopped laughing.

"That's the thing, Hermione is a muggle born and she thought of it before me and my other friend did," explained Harry.

"Hmmm, I suppose we're just dense then," she said with a shrug. She smiled up at her eyes teasing.

Harry laughed and nudged her playfully. "Speak for yourself." He lifted his chest, lifting his hand he made an attempt to slick his hair back like Malfoy.

Lily snorted.

His mother had just snorted. Harry found himself feeling more and more comfortable with the red head. His mother was somewhat like Hermione, bookish and strict about classes. But she was also somewhat silly now that she had relaxed some. She didn't seem worried about giggling foolishly in the hallway. Her thick red hair swung about and she laughed.

Harry noticed that she didn't wear make-up. She was still pretty, but it wasn't a made-up glamourous sort of image. She was nice, perhaps a little opinionated. If his father had been a disappointment, his mother was a wonderful surprise.

"Oh we have, Herbology next," Lily commented. Harry continued to follow her. "It's a good class. Of course now we're dealing with more dangerous plants. We actually already had one class yesterday, so I suppose you'll have to ask Professor Pod about it."

Harry paused and frowned wondering where Professor Sprout was.

"We have more independent work this year. Some sort of project I think. He's..." Lily paused trying to think of a way to explain Professor Pod. "Well he'd a little forgetful. We were supposed to go other the syllabus in class but we ended up discussing the plants he saw while visiting Egypt this summer."

Harry grinned, "Sounds like a nice guy."

"He's the head of Hufflepuff," Lily replied as if that settled the matter. Perhaps it did.

The two cut across the grounds. The weather was still somewhat warm, it wouldn't be long though before they would need their outer cloaks before crossing to Herbology. But the day was currently beautiful, sun streaked the green grass of the Hogwart's lawn. Harry found himself subconsciously glancing towards Hagrid's hut. The gamekeeper wasn't about. It was somewhat disheartening to know that the friendly half giant wouldn't be teaching Care of Magical Creatures.

It wasn't long before Lily lead him to greenhouse five. It was the last of the green houses and was known for housing some of the most dangerous plants.

A few other students had gathered. One girl was gazing enraptured at a large purple flower that seemed to snoring.

"Alice," Lily greeted. The red head sidled up beside the blonde.

"O hello," the blonde greeted without turning, "How was Transfiguration?" Finally she turned to look at Lily and seemed to choke. Harry's reaction wasn't much different, although he hid it better.

Unaware of Harry's consternation, Lily ignored him and patted her friend's back roughly, Alice pushed her away. "Lily have you lost your mind?" the blonde asked.

Harry was thinking she should be asking him that. Looking at Alice Longbottom, or whatever her name was now, was almost like looking at Neville in drag. He'd thought they looked similar, the same round face and open eyes, but to see Alice when she was sane and the same age as her son...well like him and his father the similarities were disarming.

"Huh?" Lily answered. She looked at her best friend in confusion.

"What are you doing hanging out with James Potter?" Alice shot Harry a look that implied a deep sense of dislike.

Lily whipped her head around looking nervously, as if James Potter was about to leap out from behind a bush. "Huh?" she asked again, this time her own eyes mirroring confusion.

Alice nodded her head in Harry's direction and Lily sighed. "Don't startle me like that. This isn't James, this is Harry Tempus. Although I agree they do look scarily similar."

Once again Lily's eyes landed on him, Alice's as well. Both of the ladies seemed to be catalog his appearance. Harry grinned nervously.

"You aren't related are you?" Alice asked.

"Not that I know of," Harry lied.

"Harry's far to nice to be related to James Potter," Lily declared.

Without knowing why Harry found himself coloring somewhat. Compliments made him uncomfortable, but hearing his mother's firm statement of fact somehow seemed to overpower even his well controlled emotions.

Alice shrugged, "Well, it will be nice that he and Black seem to have dropped Herbology. Last year they made such a mess with those Flobbsters, you remember?"

Lily grimaced.

Alice smiled and turned to Harry, "James Potter is usually pretty good at his studies, but seems to have trouble whenever he's paired with Lily." Alice's brown eyes, so like her son's, teased Lily warmly.

"Alice," Lily groaned, "He doesn't like me, I'm just the only girl who has ever turned him down. I think he takes it as a challenge," Lily seemed to be bemoan her fate. She dug into her bag pulling out 1001 Magical Herbs and Funguses, her NEWT text for Herbology. "Anyway, at least I had the good taste to turn him down," she shot a withering look at her friend.

Alice cringed, "I was a third year," she said, the tone of her voice implied that the excuse had been used many times.

"If I had to endure another week of you telling me how cute he was and how good at quidditch I'd have had you committed," Lily stated.

Harry grinned. His dad had dated Neville's mom...well that was something new.

"I was young and impressionable," Alice stated, once again her excuse seemed more habit than convincing.

The Herbolgy doors opened and Remus Lupin entered. He seemed to be the only one among the Marauders who had decided to continue advanced Herbology. He looked around, seeming somewhat out of his depth when he wasn't surrounded by his friends. He spotted Harry and seemed to cringe. Harry knew that his future professor had always been slightly embarrassed to follow his friends, doing so more out of extreme loyalty rather than logic.

"Remus," Harry greeted loudly. He nodded in the prefects direction.

Seemingly against his will Remus slowly approached the three other Gryffindors. "Hello, Lily, Alice, um..Harry," he greeted politely.

"Remus," Alice said warmly.

Remus glanced at Lily. She wasn't looking at him too coldly, he'd expected sub-zero temperatures considering he'd practically abandoned Harry onto her.

The four stood silently watching as more students entered. No more Gryffindors but a fair few Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws and Slytherins. Harry found he didn't have to wonder long about the house interaction. Not much had changed from his time. The five Slytherins in the class seemed content to only associate with themselves and the Ravenclaws, they kept a good distance from the Gryffindors. There seemed to be more Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws in Harry's opinion. Maybe it was just the class, but either way there seemed to be an abundance of blue and yellow ties.

"Are there more people in the other houses?" Harry asked aloud. He vaguely recalled some similar distribution in Transfiguration as well.

"Yes," Lily answered softly. "What with everything going on..." Lily's dark tone left little doubt about what she was speaking, "well in the last eight years or so Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw Houses have had larger populations than Slytherin or Gryffindor."

"I read an article in the Quibbler attributing it to mold growing on the Sorting hat," Alice said with a laugh.

Still Harry face crinkled in thought, "That's odd..." he commented.

"Not really," Remus added. "In the last eleven years most victims of 'unnatural' deaths came from either Gryffindor or Slytherin."

Harry's eyes narrowed. Arthur Weasley had always said that they couldn't understand what the world had been like during Voldemort's first reign. It was hard to believe that it would impact sorting. But Harry knew full well that the Sorting Hat tended to listen to whoever's head it rested on. It wasn't impossible for the terror surrounding Voldemort to impact the viewpoints of even eleven year-olds.

Harry was about to ask more, but suddenly a rather chubby man emerged from behind a bush. He was very tall and very fat, dressed in a green robe it wasn't surprising that he had blended in with the flora. His hair was gray and stood up in scattered tufts. The man was looking on the ground and muttering to himself before looking upward, he smiled as if suddenly noticing the collection of students before him.

"Oh hello," he greeted warmly. "Time for class?" the man asked, rather than looking at his watch he looked up at the sun. "Few more minutes I suppose," he stated. He looked among the students eagerly, his eyes landed on Harry and grinned.

"Excellent , excellent," he said. Professor Pod, as that was who Harry took this man to be, walked with a slight limp. It made him walk with a constant shuffle, and he shuffled toward Harry with interest.

"Mr. Tempus I presume, excellent, excellent. Professor Dumbledore mentioned you'd be joining my class. Well I trust you'll be okay. I'm certain your fellow Gryffidors will give you a hand if you need it."

"Yes Professor," Lily answered.

"Excellent, Lily, Excellent. Do you have a green thumb Harry, isn't that an excellent muggle saying."

Harry found himself staring at he man, he was downright peculiar. He wasn't very Sprout-like.

"Professor I was telling Harry that we're going to work on independent projects this year," Lily offered.

Professor Pod was staring at Harry's forehead. "That looks like it hurt," he muttered.

Harry quickly rearranged his hair to cover the lighting bolt scar that had become visible.

"Professor," Lily reminded.

"Oh yes, individual projects. I thought I have you try and cultivate some rare species. I have a list from some of the Herbology Magazines of some the rarer plants today. We should start a little preserve here. I thought I'd have you all pick one and work on it this year. I really must find that list."

At this professor Pod turned to the rest of the class.

"Class!" he called aloud, "Whoever finds a long list of plant names will get to pick their project first! Check in the mulch, I've been mulching."

Soon the entire class was doing just that. A few students had dropped onto their hands and knees and were looking under plants. The Slytherins refused to do this and were looking without becoming filthy. Harry had to bat back a vivid green vine that was trying to twist around his wrist. Recognizing the Devil's snare he cast a warming charm and the plant backed away. He decided to move on to another place anyway.

By the end of class no one had found the list, although three students had been poisoned by a pretty pink flower, another had been partially digested by a plant that resembled a dead tree, and two others had accidentally disturbed baby mandrakes and were sleeping next to a pile of manure.

Harry had a feeling that this was how Herbology class usually went.

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