(a Harry Potter fanfiction by Giesbrecht)

The distribution of this story is for personal use only. Any other form of distribution is prohibited without the consent of the author.

Chapter 1--

"Messing with Time"

(A/N: Anybody who knows where I got the "Somebody Else's Problem" Charm deserves a Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster. Or I can whack them with a lemon wrapped around a gold brick, its much the same thing.)

Disclaimer:  This is Rowling's world with my odd little additions.  I own nothing.

It was Sirius' idea. Of course it was. Ideas like that don't come to sane people. They come to Sirius. And it was most definitely his idea.        

It started when Remus did an extra-credit essay for Professor Binns, chronicling the effects of time-altering artifacts and spells in different historical instances. His three best friends always insisted that Remus did NOT need to do any sort of extra-credit essay, as he never failed to have excellent grades, but Remus felt guilty when he missed a day once a month and he therefore did quite a few extra-credit essays. For this essay, he chose a very obscure event in the eighth century when a warlock accidentally invented a complex charm that sent a person through time. It was meant to be a charm to keep chickens from aging, but some things just don't turn out the way they're supposed to. Sirius immediately latched onto the idea of recreating the charm. He thought it was brilliant, going back and forth through time for the fun of it. For instance, he said, one could go a year into the future, find out who would win the next World Cup, return to one's ordinary time, and use that knowledge to extensive gambling benefit. James, Peter, and Remus ignored him on this one: the charm was immensely difficult, and charms altogether were not Sirius' area of expertise. But he didn't give up. In the end, he borrowed James' Invisibility Cloak, snuck down to the library, stole a book from the Restricted Section on Rare and Dangerous Charms, and started studying. This was in the Marauders' second year.

By their fifth year, they'd all forgotten about this.

Except Sirius.

"Alright, Padfoot, what did you cook up this time?" James watched with some amusement as Sirius scampered about the Gryffindor common room,

arranging some very odd looking objects. He had been doing this for the last half-hour.

"I'll tell you in a minute," said Sirius, excited and quite breathless.

"Looks like some odd treasure hunt," observed Peter, "except we can all see where you're putting stuff, and its not even hidden."

"It’s a charm," said Remus, camped out in a corner with a good book, and knowing that whatever Sirius was up to, it was no good, and likely very dangerous.

            "Spot on!" exclaimed Sirius, standing in the center of the room and checking a detailed diagram that looked painstakingly copied. It was about three in the morning--no one but they were awake. "I think I've got it. No..." He picked up a small wooden carving and moved it an almost imperceptible distance. He squinted at it. "Yeah, I've got it."

"What," said James, "have you got?"

"The circle. Its ready. Which means we can go!" Sirius looked up, his face flushed.

            "Go? Where?" James wrinkled his brow.

Sirius grinned wickedly, and Peter took two steps back. "Why, my dear Prongs, the only place it is interesting to go: through time!"

            "Oh, c'mon!" said Peter, recovering. "You aren't s--"

            "Don't say it," said Remus. "He's bad enough as it is. And I do believe he is s--, er, I mean, he knows what he's doing. I mean, he means it."

            James grinned. "You mean he's serious." But before Sirius could say anything, he went on. "Do you honestly think this will work? Going through time?"

            "I followed the book to the letter!" said Sirius proudly. "Of course, its only succeeded once before, and that was when a chicken farmer was trying to get his chickens to live longer."

            "Is that where this is from?" James said, impressed. "Sirius, that was three years ago! You've been at this for three years?"

            "Yes, my dear Prongs, I have," admitted Sirius, not at all embarrassed. "Took me ages to figure it all out. And I'm sure it'll work. Did all the research and everything."

            "Sirius did research. There's a new one," said Remus, looking up from his book, interested in spite of himself. "May I ask why?"

            "I wanted to get it exactly right, that's why. This isn't just any Animagus spell or anything. This is time we're talking about!" Sirius flung out his arms, making an expansive gesture.

            "So... lets assume this works--" began James.

            "Which it will," put in Sirius.

            "--then, where--or should I say 'when'--do you want to go?"

            "Why, the only time in time worth going to: the future! Think of it: we can get all sorts of Quidditch scores to bet on, or find out what we'll do for a living someday, get answers to our NEWTs... who knows? We could even find out about some great catastrophe, avert it, and be made heroes! It'll be great!"

            Peter piped up then. "Couldn't that mess things up? You know, change things that shouldn't be changed?"

            "Since when were you the voice of reason in this group?" said Sirius. "The future hasn't been written, so, it doesn't matter if we change it."

            "Actually, Peter's got a point," said Remus. "It’s all over the history books. Somebody found out about a future event, tried to change it, and ended up in worse trouble. How do you think the Black Plague got started?"

            Sirius waved this off. "Oh, c'mon Remus! Where's your sense of fun?"

            James snorted. "Last time you said that, Peter had fins for a week."

            "No," said Sirius. "Last time I said that, Snapeykins developed an unreasoning fear of kippers.  C'mon, you three! I promise, if we mess things up, we'll go back in time and stop ourselves from doing this. How 'bout that?"

            "Only if you promise to listen to yourself if your future self comes back to warn you about doing this before you can do it," replied Remus. He paused. "Did that make sense?"

            "Not remotely," said Sirius. "But I promise anyway. So... Shall we try it?"

            James looked at Remus. "Why not?" he said. "Could be interesting."

            "James..."

            "Honestly, Moony, we won't try anything dangerous."

            Remus bit his lip. "We should use that 'Somebody Else's Problem Charm' before we go," he said.

            "That's the spirit!" said Sirius enthusiastically, "but why the charm?"

            "So we don't get accidentally noticed by anyone in the future unless we want to," said James. "Sounds like a great idea. And we should keep this first trip simple. No big 'let's change history' plans. Nothing we can really mess up."

            "So what time do we want to go to? How far?" said Sirius, as Remus administered Somebody Else's Problem charms. (The Somebody Else's Problem charm is stronger than the average distraction charm. It works best on people, and tricks the mind into totally ignoring, rather than simply not seeing, the charmed object, unless the mind is told specifically what to look (or listen) for and is aware of the charm. Very useful for group mischief.)

            "How about here, in about twenty-five years?" suggested Peter.

            "What good would that do?" asked Sirius. "Things don't change much here."

            "One of us might have kids here. Or maybe all of us will. It might be fun, and we can't hurt anything." said Peter.

            "We could at least teach a few of our trademark tricks to future students. Maybe spread nasty tales of teachers' pasts, especially if we know them as students." James smiled evilly. "Sounds like fun."

            "I suppose it does," said Remus, sounding tired. "When do we go?" he asked Sirius.

            "Now, if you like," said Sirius with a shrug. "Twenty-five years, did you say? That would be, what, 1995? And we can even return at the time we left, and we won't age a bit. Quite a charm, don't you think?" He gazed lovingly at his handiwork. James threw an arm about his shoulder.

            "Yes, Padfoot, quite a charm. Now let's get to it!"

            As Sirius prepared to finish the charm with an incantation, Peter stopped him. "But how do we get back to this time?" he asked.

            "Easy," said Sirius. "I say the incantation again."

            "Assuming you got the spell exactly right," said Remus.

            "Of course he has. He even did research," said James. "Nothing's going to go wrong."

            And Sirius said the incantation.

            The common room seemed to flicker a moment, but besides the sudden disappearance of Sirius' circle, and a rearrangement of the logs on the Common room fire, nothing seemed to change.

"Very impressive," said Remus sarcastically.  "Nice trick with the fire."

            "It should have worked..." said Sirius slowly.  "I'm sure it worked."

            "Of course it worked!" said James.  "Look!"  He pointed to a copy of the Daily Prophet, laying on a table.

            Peter picked it up.  "Wow..." he said, scanning the headlines.  "See the date?"

            Sirius looked over his shoulder and grinned.  "What d'you know... 3 October 1995!  Exactly twenty-five years!"  He passed the paper to James and Remus.

            "He's right," said James, grinning.  "We're in the future."

            "So where is everyone?"  said Peter.

            "In bed, like normal people are at 3 AM," replied Sirius.

            "How do you know its 3 AM?" Peter asked.

            "The charm probably sent us exactly twenty-five years into the future," said James, "not 'twenty-five years and some odd hours' or 'twenty-five years give or take a week.' Am I right, Padfoot?"

            "That you are, Prongs.  Which is why its also still October 3rd.  Or 4th, by now.  And we have time to take a nap before facing this brave new world."  Sirius stretched out in one of the squashy armchairs.  "Still comfortable!"

            "I was thinking that a corner might be better," said James.  "Someone might sit on you."

            "That doesn't mean they'll notice me," returned Sirius, folding his hands behind his head.

            "No, but I can't imagine it would be terribly comfortable," said James.  "Some whale-sized seventh-year might snap your bony self in half."

            "'Bony self'?  You should talk, Mr. I-Can-Hide-Behind-My-Broom-If-I-Turn-Sideways." said Sirius, but he got out of the chair.  After further discussion, they hid themselves in the secret passageway behind a mirror on the fourth floor and waited until morning.

*****

The Great Hall was already filling with students when the four drowsy Marauders snuck in for breakfast.  No one noticed the sudden disappearance of a plate of bacon and several pancakes.  Sirius also managed to nick a jug of pumpkin juice, and so they made quite a nice breakfast in the corner.  They watched the students with interest, guessing and joking about parentage.

            "How about that Hufflepuff?" said James, pointing to a small girl who was probably in her second year.  "Melinda Berkey and Calvin Saunders?"

            "Nah, not Saunders," said Sirius.  "I was thinking Sean Jacobs."

            "Berkey and Jacobs.  I just got the worst image in my head," said Remus.  "Though I'm positive that Ravenclaw is a relative of Ryan Adair."

            "Yeah, him and Agatha Kraybill,"  said James.  "Always thought they'd make a cute couple."

            "Sure, after Adair sent you into the lake for flirting with Kraybill," said Sirius.

            "He sent you right afterwards.  Nice splash you made,"  said James.

            "He didn't 'send' me anywhere," protested Sirius.  "I jumped."

            "To escape his left hook--" began Remus before he saw something that made his jaw drop.   Then he smiled.

            "Remus, what's up?" said James.  He followed Remus' gaze and nearly lost his lunch.  Or breakfast, as the case was.  Peter gasped. Sirius grinned.

            "Who'd have guessed... Wow, James, I'm impressed!"

            A boy of their own age had just entered the hall with two others.  He had untidy black hair, glasses, and was very much on the skinny end of things.  In other words, he bore an exact resemblance to James, except that his eyes were green, not grey.

            "Oh no..." croaked James, whose stomach had spontaneously decided to twist itself into small knots.

            "C'mon!" said Sirius, jumping up from their place and darting towards the Gryffindor table.  "This is too good to miss.  I'm going in for a closer look!"

            "Wait!  Come back!"  James was up in a moment, but Sirius was already standing right behind the look-alike boy, listening in on his conversation.  He beckoned to his friends.  Remus followed immediately, curious in his own right.  Peter and James exchanged glances, Peter shrugged, and they followed as well.

            "...no, Alicia's not on this year.  She says she's too busy studying for her NEWTs, so that's a Chaser and a Keeper we need," said the boy.  "You could try out, Ron.  You'd be brilliant."  The red-headed kid beside him, who was obviously a Weasley, shook his head.

            "And have Fred and George sabotoge me at every turn?  No thanks."

            "But you love Quidditch!"  put in a bushy-haired girl sitting across from them.  "I'm sure Fred and George will treat you all right if you're on the team.  C'mon, Harry, you're captain.  Tell him."

            "Harry?" mouthed James.  It wasn't a bad name, but didn't seem to be one he'd choose.

            "Hermione's right, Ron," said Harry.  "Fred and George would never miss out on a chance for the Cup.  You know that.  You've got to try out."

            "That'd be three Weasleys on a team!" added a smaller red-headed girl, also a Weasley.  "That'd be great!  Mum and Dad would be so proud."

            "There, see?  Even Ginny thinks you'll do well,"  said Harry.

            "I said it'd be great to have three Weasleys.  I didn't say he'd do well," said Ginny mischieviously.  When Ron shot her a look, she grinned and said, "Kidding, Ron.  You'd be a great Chaser, and you know it."

            "All right, all right," said Ron.  "If my own sister and the great Harry Potter think I should try out, I will.  But you know I haven't got a decent broom."

            Sirius grinned at James over Ron's head.  James didn't see it, as he was rather fascinated by the whole thing.  This was, indeed, a Potter who was good at Quidditch.  Team captain, even.  James started to think this was kind of cool.

"Know what, Sirius?" James said as they followed the Gryffindors out of the Hall.

            "Hm?"

            "When I have kids, I can go around bragging how Harry'll be a Quidditch captain, and if anybody doesn't believe me, I'll know for a fact they'll be proved wrong."

            "Hadn't thought of that," Sirius admitted.  "Now I'll know not to bet you on it.  By the way, who's the lucky young lady?"

            "I don't know, and I don't want to find out," said James, his expression turning sour.  "It would probably ruin the romance, knowing where its going."

            "That," said Remus, chuckling, "is a very good point.  Saying you're destined for each other would be one thing..."

            Sirius laughed out loud.  "I don't see how you two haven't figured it out already."

            "What do you mean by that, Padfoot?"

            Sirius gave James a great equivalent of a shocked expression.  "You mean you can't tell?  Spare me from the awful shock that Remus the Infinitely Intelligent and James the Extremely Talented missed it entirely!  I mean, come on!  Who else in Gryffindor has green eyes?"

            The other three Marauders froze in their tracks, staring at Sirius.

            "Not–" began Remus.

            "–Lily Evans!" finished James, Peter, and Sirius, who was grinning like an idiot.

            "Sirius, I don't think she even realizes I exist!" said James, incredulous.  Smart and well-liked, but patently unimpressed by dangerous hijinx, Lily Evans was a Gryffindor prefect with whom James and the other Marauders had absolutely nothing to do with.  She ignored them. They ignored her.  It was a very efficient system.

            "Perhaps not, but you can't ignore the eyes," said Sirius dangerously.

            "Carmen Arenas has green eyes: it could be her," suggested James, finding no other possible escape.

            "Carmen Arenas is four years younger than you, Jimmykins," said Sirius.

            "You went out with that first year, Mandy Bucket," said James.

            "Amanda Bouquet is very mature for her age," said Sirius defensively.

            "Yeah, and she has a very nice–" began Remus, but Sirius elbowed him.  "What?" said Remus, "You said it yourself: 'She has a great–'"

            "Will you two adolescents get your minds out of the gutter!" yelled James, exasperated.  "Everyone's going to class.  Do you want to follow, or snoop out more of the school?"

            "Why would we want to follow anybody?" said Peter.  "It'll just be our regular classes."

            "We can see who's teaching," explained James.

            "And make fun of them behind their backs," added Sirius brightly.  "Let's follow Harry.  That's bound to be most interesting."

            "By the way, Sirius," said Remus confidentially as they trailed the Gryffindor fifth years, "I was going to say 'she has a nice sense of humour.'"

            The first class they visited was only Transfiguration, where they were not surprised to find that McGonagall was not only teaching, but that it seemed they were on the very same lesson on October 4, 1995 as they would have been on October 4, 1970.  Remus actually considered taking notes until he noticed the dangerous gleam in James' eyes as he watched McGonagall go on about advanced interspecies transformations.

            "An idea, my dear Prongs?"  inquired Sirius, raising an eyebrow.

            "What else would it be, a haddock?" replied James, his gaze following McGonagall's every move.  "Remember, my fellow Marauders, what we wrote on the blackboard with Re-Appearing Chalk last year?"

            "Oh, you mean the one about "It takes more than-Mmph!"  Peter found himself suddenly muffled by Sirius' hand, but the other Marauders had already started sniggering with mirth at the memory.

            "Prongs," admonished Remus, "You know we never repeat the same prank twice.  McGonagall would recognize it."

            "The Scholarly Moony," said James, incredulous, "has forgotten a very important part of this adventure.  It's this: we're twenty-five years into the future!  Can you imagine the déja-vu she's going to get from this?"

            "Ah, but Remus has a point," put in Sirius.  "What if Harry's already pulled that prank, or one very like it?"

            James, for about the tenth time that day, flinched ever-so-slightly at the mention of Harry.  "I guess we'll just have to find out, won't we?"  He got up and set off resolutely for the front of the class.  But when he got there, he didn't write anything right away. Unable to avoid the temptation, he did a few extremely convincing McGonagall impressions behind her back first.  The other Marauders had quite a time covering their laughter.  McGonagall might get suspicious if she realised she was raising her voice to be heard over laughter that a spell was trying to keep her from noticing.  Finishing off the routine with a ghostly image of large cat-ears conjured to hover over McGonagall's head for a moment, James finally picked up a piece of chalk, faced the board, and wrote his comment with a flourish.  He turned and bowed, and marched off to the back of the room, removing any vestiges of the Somebody Else's Problem charm from obscuring the students' view of the board.

            "Bravo!  Bravo!  Brilliant!" applauded Sirius as James sat next to him, grinning.

            "Now, let the show begin," said Remus, leaning back with his hands behind his head, and they waited patiently for someone to notice what they'd done.

            There was a sudden choke from the other side of the room, courtesy of Dean Thomas, who promptly tried to disappear under his desk lest he laugh aloud.  Three other Gryffindors looked his way and saw his right hand still on top of the desk, pointing shakily at the board.  James watched Harry glance up at the board, clap a hand to his mouth, and jab Ron with an elbow to show him what was going on.  Remus started a countdown.

            "Five... four... three... two..."

            The class erupted into gales of laughter.  Dean had re-emerged from his refuge and had his head thrown back, laughing uncontrollably.  Ron was pounding his desk, and Harry had tears running down his cheeks, barely able to keep himself upright in his seat.  Lavender and Parvati had collapsed in hysterical giggles, Neville at first had a sort of wild, terrified grin on his face before he gave up on dignity and laughed himself silly.  Seamus had actually fallen out of his chair and didn't seem to mind at all that his books had fallen on top of him.  Only Hermione was scandalised, staring at the board with wide eyes, though it became evident that she, too, was trying not to laugh, her face turning an interesting shade of purple with the effort.

            At the commencement of such hysteria, McGonagall spun about to see what was going on.  She took one look at the board and gasped, then shut her mouth again, her lips becoming an impossibly thin line.  With a wave of her wand, she erased the offending statement from the board and turned a steely eye on her class, which had dissolved into uncontrollable hysteria.  The Marauders were quite glad when her withering gaze passed over them completely; they were still laughing too hard.

            "Enough of this!" she commanded, but no one heard her.

            "Stop this at once!"  They still didn't hear her.

            "I said, ENOUGH!"

            They heard her.  Neville gave out a nervous squeak of a giggle.  There was silence for about two seconds, at the end of which, every student in the room suddenly recalled what they'd been laughing about, and started laughing again.  After a moment, McGonagall reached the end of her rope and threatened detentions for a month on them all if they didn't quit.  It worked.

            "As amusing as such a statement must surely seem to you all," she said sternly, "such things are not to be tolerated in a classroom.  I advise the student who wrote it to admit his infraction immediately, and I may be merciful."

            But no one admitted it.  Now rather intimidated, the students kept quiet and glanced from person to person, silently asking the same question: who did it?  No one had left their seats.  McGonagall would have noticed.  After a few more threats, McGonagall acknowledged that the whole thing was pointless for the time being, and dismissed the class.  It was only much later when she realised why the comment had seemed so familiar.  Had Harry's godfather been teaching him old school tricks?

            The four Marauders followed the still-giggling class out of the castle, quickly realising that the next class was Care of Magical Creatures.  And they were positively dumbstruck when they saw who was teaching.

            "That isn't-"  started James.

            "Couldn't be-" stuttered Sirius.

            "What do you know?" said Remus.  "It's Hagrid!"

            "Can you imagine?  Hagrid teaching Care of Magical Creatures?"  said James in wonder.  "With his idea of harmless creatures, this ought to be more than interesting."

            "Hope he isn't trying to raise Augureys again," remarked Sirius.

            He wasn't, and in fact, the class was an extremely interesting one involving a treefull of clabberts.  The students had a lot of fun feeding them, though the Marauders saw that it was a class combined with the Slytherins, and that the Slytherins were doing quite a bit to disrupt things.  Especially a blonde boy whom they were all quite sure was the son of Lucius Malfoy.  "Seems you're not the only one with a carbon copy, James," remarked Sirius as he tugged ever-so-slightly on the tail of a clabbert that the younger Malfoy was trying to feed.  Surprised and enraged, the clabbert immediately attacked

Malfoy, nearly clawing his eyes out.  The Marauders laughed and the Gryffindors cheered as Malfoy wrestled with the clabbert, trying to extricate it from his face.  He eventually succeeded, throwing the little monkeyish creature halfway to the lake in his anger.  But when he started threatening Hagrid with his father's wrath, Hagrid just shot him a knowing look and said he always wondered what Malfoy would look like as a parakeet.  That shut Malfoy up instantly.

            "Wonder what that was about?" said Peter, seeing the suppressed rage in Malfoy's pale face, and the way the Gryffindors had started snickering.

            "No idea," said Sirius.  "But now Hagrid's got me curious.  What would a Malfoy look like as a parakeet?"

            After an excellent lunch, the highlight of the day promised to be Potions when the Marauders discovered who was teaching.  They entered the dungeon behind the Gryffindors and the Slytherins to find it quite empty.  Everyone took their seats and waited.  James noted that everyone was a minute or two early, and that several of the Gryffindors looked mildly apprehensive to be in the class.  "Must be a new teacher," observed Remus.  Sirius agreed.  "Freese never minded when we were late."

            The door creaked open.  Four Marauder jaws dropped to the ground as they all recognized the teacher.

            "Oh, no," said Peter.  "It can't be."

            "Ah, but it is," said Sirius in an odd voice.

            "Certainly didn't age well, did he?" remarked James, cocking his head to one side.  They stared at the elder Snape in disbelief.  He was even uglier than they remembered.

            "You would think," said Remus after a moment, "that they'd require all Hogwarts teachers to wash their hair once in a while."  James, Sirius, and Peter all looked at the observant werewolf for a minute before bursting into hysterics.

            They were rather less amused to see that Snape was most unfair towards the Gryffindors.  When Snape took five points from Gryffindor for a botched potion by (who else?) Neville, James came very close to dropping a dungbomb he had in his pocket into Snape's own cauldron.  Remus held him back.  "He'd probably blame it on a Gryffindor," he said.

            "Lousy git..." muttered Sirius, fingering his own stash of dungbombs.  "Don't see why Dumbledore would hire his kind."

            "Oh, don't worry," said James.  "We'll let him have it before we get back."

            "And let him have it good," Sirius agreed.  "Something so the whole school can view him in a completely new light."

            "Or a new wardrobe," James added.

            "Did I ever tell you that you two scare me?" said Remus.

            "Did you hear that, James?  We scare a werewolf!" exclaimed Sirius, looking quite pleased.

            "Are you kidding?" said James, "Sirius, you'd put a Chimaera off its lunch."

            Divination was last, but when the Marauders realized where the Gryffindor fifth-years were heading, they returned to the common room, slipping in after a gaggle of second-years.  They needed to do a serious bit of talking.

--Chapter 2--

"For in much Wisdom there is much Grief, and he that increaseth Knowledge increaseth Pain"  --Ecclesiastes 1:18, KJV

            Safely inside the Gryffindor common room, after a most unusual day, the Marauders staked out a deserted corner near the portrait hole to do a serious bit of talking.

            "For being a day in which we didn't actually do schoolwork, this has been most educational," said James.  "At least, I learned a lot."

            "Besides discovering that you'll eventually have a kid who looks just like you?  You could pass for identical twins!" said Sirius with an evil grin.

            "That is simply downright weird," said James, poking at the rug for emphasis.  He ran a hand through his hair and closed his eyes.  "He's Quidditch captain, even."

            "Harry isn't exactly like you, James," said Remus.  "Quieter, less mischievous."

            "I noticed that, too," said Sirius, looking distinctly disappointed. "Must be from his mother's side.  Pity.  Wonder if he's got any siblings.  Eh, Prongs?"

            "Like I'd know," snorted James.

            "I wonder if any other students are related to us," mused Peter, observing a few sixth-years discussing Arithmancy at one of the tables.

            "Neville's surname was Longbottom, Wormtail,"  said Sirius. 

            "He didn't seem a bit like Frank," said Remus.  "Frank's shy, but not mousy.  Perhaps heritage is the only reason he's in Gryffindor."

            "Or the Sorting Hat knows something we don't," said James.

            "You never know, do you?" said Sirius.  "Look at dear Peter here.  I could have sworn he'd end up in Hufflepuff."

            "Thanks a lot, Padfoot," said Peter sourly.

            "You know I only pick on those I love, Wormtail,"  said Sirius sweetly.

            "In which case, you have a very unhealthy crush on Snape," said James, grinning.  Sirius socked him in the shoulder, so James smacked him upside the skull. Sirius then launched himself at James, putting him in a headlock, accidentally catching Remus' robes, and earning him a kick in the knee out of Remus' indignation.  Thus ensued a long and spirited brawl that ended only when the Gryffindor fifth years entered the room.  The Marauders untangled themselves, realising then that in their zeal, they'd missed supper.  They didn't mind.  Not if the kitchens were still behind the painting of fruit in the dungeons.  They made good use of this knowledge, and when they returned, (after wreaking havoc in a girls' toilet, just for old times' sake) the Common Room was empty, save for (amazingly enough) Harry himself, doing homework by the fire.  They watched him in silence for a while.

            "So," said James, sticking his hands in his pockets, "What do you think would be the best way to tell him?"

            "Tell who what?" said Peter.

            "Harry," said James, "Tell him we're here.  Let him in on the charm."

            "Are you sure that's such a good idea?" asked Remus.  "We've been pretty harmless so far.  Actually having contact with a future person could cause a lot of problems."

            "No one came back in time to warn us not to do this," said Sirius.  "And I want to see the look on Harry's face when he figures out who we are.  It'll be priceless."

            "That it will," said James, though that was not the only reason why he wanted to introduce himself.  "So what would be the best way?  Write it on parchment and give it to him?"

            "Sounds good to me," said Sirius. 

            They actually stole some of Harry's own parchment and a spare quill to write the message.  That was one major advantage of the Somebody Else's Problem Charm: one could do things right under people's noses and they'd never notice until too late.  James tried several drafts before settling on his message, and the other three made various (and not always helpful) suggestions.  When they were all reasonably satisfied, James deposited the message on Harry's textbook.  Harry didn't pay it any mind it at first, and made to move it out of the way when he realized what it was.  This is what it said:

            Harry–

            First, do not do anything until you've finished reading this note.  Otherwise, everything will be ruined.

            Second, some old friends and family of yours have cast a very complex charm and are awaiting your opinion.  When you are finished reading this note, look up and to your right.  There are four new but strangely familiar fifth-years sitting in the armchair on your right.  One of them is waving.  They will explain everything, even if it takes all night.

            The Marauders watched with bated breath as Harry read the note twice over.  Then, looking thoroughly confused and trying to remember where he'd seen that handwriting before, he looked up and around at them.  Sirius waved furiously, and Harry nearly fell out of his chair from shock.  His mouth wagged soundlessly as his gaze shifted from one Marauder to the next, finally settling on James, who was turning pink.

            "Sorry for the surprise.  We can explain everything," he said hurridly.

            "You're­–" began Harry, but he didn't seem to be able to put in words what he was seeing.

            "James Potter," said James, by way of introduction. "And this is Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew."

            "I–I know–I mean,–I–I've met–" Harry stammered, took a breath, and tried another tack.  "How?"

            "Sirius," said Peter, as if this explained everything.  It would have, had he been addressing another Marauder, or indeed, anyone from their time at Hogwarts.

            "It’s a charm," said Sirius, shrugging.  "Sends you through time.  Spent three years researching it, and this is our first go.  Pretty cool, huh?"

            Harry stared at him open-mouthed for a few seconds before closing his eyes, collapsing into a chair, taking off his glasses, and covering his face with his hands.  "This is unbelievable.  Completely, totally..."

            "...ridiculous," finished James, sitting down across from him.  "Yeah, I know.  But that's Sirius for you.  To tell the truth, I'm surprised he could actually do it, you know? ... We just came to this time to see how Hogwarts would change in twenty-five years.  We weren't expecting you."

            "We were hoping..." began Remus before trailing off.  "Anyway, are you the only one?"

            "Only one what?" murmured Harry from behind his hands.

            "Only one here with a Marauder for a parent," explained Remus.  "Personally, I doubt it."

            Harry put his glasses back on and looked around at him all.  "No, I think I'm it," he said, his voice strangely thick.

            "Really?" said James, taken aback.  "You mean Sirius and Remus and Peter... why wouldn't they have families by now?"  Peter nodded his agreement emphatically.

            "It's... kind of a long story," said Harry, obviously unwilling to say more.  "How long have you been here?" he asked,  "Why haven't I noticed you?"

            "We've been here since early this morning," said James, "And you didn't notice because of something clever Remus dug up."

            "Of course it's clever," said Sirius. "Remus is that kind of guy."

            "Its known as a Somebody Else's Problem Charm," said Remus, sitting down next to James.  "The story is that someone got the idea from a Muggle science-fiction book, and the theory is not to make something invisible or inaudible, but to make people simply ignore it.  Its a kind of highly concentrated super-specific distraction charm.  You can't see us unless you know about the charm, or know where to look."

            "Oh," said Harry, more out of weariness than genuine understanding.

            "We've been following you around all day," said Peter.

            "Don't tell him that!" said Sirius, "It'll make him paranoid."

            "We have, though," admitted James with a shrug, "and sat in on some of your classes.  We saw McGonagall hasn't changed a bit."

            "No, probably not," agreed Harry.  "Wait.  Did one of you–"

            "Write on the blackboard?" said Sirius.  "That was James.  What did you think?"

            "You wrote that?" exclaimed Harry in astonishment, staring wide-eyed at James.

            James grinned.  "None other," he said proudly.  "I wonder if she recognized it."

            "I'd think it would be awfully hard to forget," said Harry, finally smiling himself.  "At least I won't for awhile.  I thought McGonagall was going to have a fit.  Where did you get it?"

            "Made it up himself, he did," said Sirius.  "He's done it before, of course, twenty-six years ago.  Got detention for a month, didn't you Prongs?"

            "It was worth every minute," said James fondly.  He paused, and looked at Harry curiously.  "You do know about our nicknames, don't you?"

            "Yeah, of course," said Harry.  "Sirius is Padfoot, Pr–I mean, Remus is Moony, and Peter..." he hesitated.  "Peter is Wormtail."

            "Exactly!" said Sirius.  "And do you know where we got those nicknames?"

            "Sure," said Harry.  "You're all Animagi.  Except for Remus."  Remus looked troubled until Harry said, "It’s alright.  I don't mind that you're a werewolf."

            "Yes, but, what were you about to call him?" said Sirius.

            "Nothing," said Harry quickly, realizing that he'd have to be careful not to break any news to these four in the wrong way.  A tempting thought occurred to him.  What would happen if he told them everything?  He could warn them!  He could change–change what?  Could he prevent his parent's death?  Wormtail's betrayal?  Sirius' imprisonment?  Voldemort's return?  But the only reason Voldemort fell the first time was because of his mother's sacrifice...  Confused, he decided to let the matter be for awhile.

            "Something wrong?" asked James.  He and the other Maruaders exchanged curious glances, noticing the flurry of emotions that had just fled across Harry's face.  He'd gone suddenly quiet.  But then he only shrugged, and smiled again.

            "Wait 'till I tell Ron and Hermione!" he said,  "You don't mind, do you?"

            "That redhead and the bookworm?  Not at all," said Sirius.

            "But not too many people," warned Remus.

            "Wouldn't want to cause too much of a stir," said James.  "It would be easier if you could introduce them to us somewhere private.  Otherwise, someone else might figure out the charm.  They'll see you, of course, and might notice who you're talking to."

            "Got it," said Harry.  "Wait here a minute: I'll get Ron, and I think Hermione's in the library."  He bounded up the dormitory stairs and disappeared from sight.  The Marauders watched him go.

            "Nice kid, Prongs," said Sirius.  James smacked him.

*****

            "But Harry, that's impossible!"  Hermione had to jog to keep up with her long-legged friend as they navigated the many halls of Hogwarts on the way to a deserted dungeon.  Harry had just finished telling her what was going on and they and Ron were meeting the Marauders in a room they knew of that was both private and generally forgotten.  "Travelling through time is immensely difficult!  There's no way any old fifth year could do it."

            "Since when was Sirius Black 'any old fifth year'?"  returned Harry.  "They all got away with becoming Animagi right under Dumbledore's nose, didn't they?"

            "Yes, but–" Hermione gestured futilely, trying to come up with another argument.  Truth be told, she didn't really doubt Harry, she just couldn't reconcile the idea of a Hogwarts student figuring out such complex spells on his own.

            "And you heard McGonagall and Flitwick say Sirius and my dad were some of the brightest kids ever to come to Hogwarts," Harry went on,  "And they made the Marauders' Map, for Pete's sake!"

            "Oh, Harry, I just don't know," said Hermione worridly.  "What if they found out about--about everything?  Imagine what would happen!"  Harry gave her a peculiar look, and she caught the meaning immediately.  "I guess you've already imagined, haven't you?"

            "You could say that," said Harry quietly.

            "Then you know you mustn't say anything," said Hermione.  "If they find out... we don't even know exactly why you lived, Harry.  If we change anything, it might turn out that you're dead and You-Know-Who is still around!"

            "What, he didn't come back last summer?" Harry said sarcastically.

            Hermione wrung her hands in frustration.  "You know what I mean.  I hate to be the one to agree with Fudge, but we did have thirteen years of peace, didn't we?  Who else would have died in the meantime if You-Know-Who hadn't fallen?"

            That caught Harry up.  Before he could answer, though, he saw Ron coming to meet them.  "I couldn't find the room," he called, glancing over his shoulder.  "Never been this way before."

            "Neither have I," said Harry, "but it can't be hard to find.  Listen, Ron, when we get there: don't say too much about what happened between now and twenty-five years ago, all right?"

            Ron laughed grimly. "You mean you don't want me to say, 'Hey Sirius, you know you're gonna spend twelve years in Azkaban'?"

            "Something like that," said Harry.  "Don't say anything to my dad, either.  Or to Peter–he's still their friend." Ron wrinkled his nose, cursing under his breath, and Hermione did her best not to show equal disgust.  "And remember not to call Remus 'Professor Lupin.'"

            "So long as you call your dad 'James' and not 'Dad'," said Ron with a grin.  "D'you think they know about your mum?"

            Hermione shook her head.  "How could they?  They're only fifteen, right, Harry?  You don't know who you're going to marry yet, do you Ron?"

            "Good point," said Ron as his ears went pink, and he let the matter drop.

            They walked on for a few minutes in silence, Harry trailing one hand on the stone wall.

            "D–I mean, James–said it would be somewhere here: a hidden door that looks like part of the wall."

            "How do you find it?" asked Ron.

            "By finding the handle," said Harry.  "Its invisible, but James said it would be waist-high and... Here!"  Harry pulled on what looked like air, and a door appeared out of nowhere, leading to a low, dusty room.  "Wait a sec, while I see what's going on."  He stepped inside.

            "Hey there!" said Sirius cheerily.  "We were beginning to wonder."  He and the other Marauders were seated in dusty wooden chairs.  Other than that, the room was empty  The only light came from shivering silver flames that Remus seemed to be cupping in his hands.  Harry realised where he'd seen that trick once before: as Professor Lupin, Remus had used those flames when the lights on the Hogwarts Express had gone out on the way to school two years before.

            "My friends are with me," said Harry, "How do I do this?"

            "Just tell them what to look for," said James.

            Harry took a good look around before turning to Ron and Hermione.  "Listen," he said, "I told you about the spell, and how it works.  All you have to do is know what to look for."

            They nodded.

            "When you go in, look to your left.  Sirius is on the left, Remus in next, then Peter, then James.  And Remus is lighting the room with a sort of flame in his hand, the same kind he used on the Hogwarts express when the Dementors came on.  Got it?"

            Harry stepped back, and was quite satisfied to hear the barely audible squeak Hermione let out when she saw the Marauders. 

            "Harry," said Hermione breathlessly, poking her head back out the door.  "You do look just like your dad!"

            Harry grinned at her.  "I know.  Weird, isn't it?"

            "I think it's pretty cool,"  said Ron.

            "'Cool' is an understatement," said Sirius.  "You should have seen James's face when we first saw you, Harry.  I believe the technical term for it is 'freaked out'."

            "Whereas the technical term for you in any situation," said James, "is 'completely out to lunch'."

            "And you're just jealous," Sirius shot back.

            "Excuse me," interrupted Hermione, "but where do we sit?"

            Sirius jabbed a thumb at James.  "D'you mind taking this one, Prongs?"

            James shrugged and waved his wand, conjuring up three more chairs to complete the circle they were sitting in.  He beckoned them forward.

            "How did you do that?" asked Hermione, staring at James as she took her chair.

            "Oh, you know," said James, waving a casual hand as if shooing a fly.  "Just a little bit of advanced transfiguration.  Come now, you haven't seen Dumbledore do something like that?"

            "I have–I just–You're only a fifth year!"

            James folded his hands and leaned in close towards the incredulous Gryffindor.  "My dear Hermione, I  have never allowed knowledge like that to hinder me in my life-long quest for mastering the most difficult and obscure spells," said James mock-seriously.

            "Besides, it’s not that hard," added Sirius.  James backhanded him.

            "I suppose you've heard all about us," said Remus.

            "Of course!" said Ron.  "My twin brothers practically idolize you.  The famous Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs.  They'd probably kill to meet you."

            "We're flattered," said Sirius, "but no human sacrificing, please."

            "It’s not good for our image," said James.

            "So you're just... doing this for the fun of it?" asked Hermione timidly, looking very hard at James.  She seemed to be trying to figure out some mystery about him.

            "More or less," said James with a shrug.

            "It’s an adventure, and a Marauder is always up for a good adventure," said Sirius.

            "Even," said Remus, looking as if he didn't know whether to be proud of the fact, or very ashamed, "if it's highly illegal."

            "Especially if it's highly illegal," corrected Sirius.

            They talked for a good while, laughing quite a bit as the Marauders told of their various escapades together.  They had only recently managed the Animagus spell and were still getting used to their new freedom.  Harry, Ron, and Hermione added a few good tales of their own, impressing even Sirius with the story of the flying Ford Anglia.  The only thing was, they had to keep catching themselves from telling too much.  It wasn't such a bad thing to let them know that Remus would someday be a professor, (James especially was highly amused) but there was so much else that was far too dangerous.  Sirius kept asking over and over who James was going to marry, even when James threatened to turn him into a hamster, but Harry held firm.  "Even if you guess, I'm not saying."

            "Spoilsport," muttered Sirius. 

            Remus decided diplomatically to change the subject.  "So, Harry, you play Quidditch?"

            "He's the captain," said Hermione.  "He plays seeker, and he's very good at it."

            "Really?" said James,  "I'm captain too, but my position is Chaser.  Too bad, I could teach you a few moves."

            "James, think.  You probably already HAVE taught him a few moves,"  said Sirius.

            "Oh, right," said James.

            "No, he hasn't," corrected Harry before he could stop himself.  He was very tempted to smack his forehead for making the blunder.

            "Why not?" said Sirius.

            "Its another long story," said Harry quickly in what he hoped was an offhand manner.  "A long story" had been his excuse for any slip-ups so far, and it seemed to pacify the Marauders for the time being.

            "What, did he suddenly become very afraid of heights?" guessed Remus.

            "No, he had a horrible accident on his broom ten years ago that explains not only why he no longer flies, but also why Harry is an only child,"  said Sirius knowledgably.

            "Sirius, that is very sick, and very wrong," said James.  "Which may be typical for you, but there are children in the room."

            "We're not any older than you are at the moment," said Harry with a slow and deadly grin.  "Besides, Sirius, you don't have any children at all, which, as far as you know, is due to the very reasons you just gave to James."

            "I think not," said Sirius indignantly.

            "Harry, why don't you just call James 'Dad'?"  piped up Peter.

            "Because that's more sick and wrong than Sirius' alleged broomstick accident," said Remus.

            "I did NOT have a broomstick accident!"  insisted Sirius.

            "You don't know that," said Ron slyly.  Sirius made a move to clobber him, but James held him back.

            Hermione tutted.  "Boys!"  she exclaimed, clearly annoyed.

            "You know, Sirius, maybe we should have brought Patricia along," said James.  "Then she and Hermione here could have gone off and discussed... I don't know, make-up."

            "If I had an interest in that sort of thing, maybe I would have been grateful," returned Hermione.  "Who's Patricia?"

            "Patricia Marsh, Sirius' girlfriend," said Peter simply.

            "She is not my girlfriend," said Sirius, "and if you continue to call her that, I will spike your pumpkin juice with a Frankness Draught from now 'til graduation.  It will be ever so interesting when you can no longer prevent yourself from keeping your fascinating private thoughts to yourself."

            James leaned over to Harry and said, "Personally, I think ol' Wormtail hit the nail on the head."  Harry and Hermione both nodded.

            Sirius looked James in the eye.  "Personally, I think you could do with a nosejob a la Padfoot."

            Remus smiled.  "Personally, I think you're all a bunch of great noisy gits."

            "Personally, I'd like to raid the kitchens.  I'm hungry," said Peter.

            Remus, Sirius, James, Harry, Ron, and Hermione all looked at him.  "Wormtail, that was neither clever, nor pertinent to the situation," said James.

            "It was what I was thinking," said Peter.

            They went on talking.  When midnight came, Remus performed a Somebody Else's Problem charm on Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and they all snuck quietly back up to Gryffindor Tower.  Harry had filled the Marauders in on their schedule the next day, and the Marauders themselves promised a day full of unprecedented fun and general mayhem, followed by some cooperative pranking between the two generations in the evening.  They all agreed that the best part would be pulling pranks that hadn't been seen at Hogwarts in decades and giving the staff a serious case of dèja-vu.

            Curled up in the corner of the fifth-years' dorm in Gryffindor Tower, James couldn't help but reflect on this "highly educational" day.  He found himself glancing continually over at Harry's bed.  He couldn't get over how much they were alike, down to the similar prescriptions in eyeglasses.  Remus was right, though, Harry wasn't as reckless as James, and he was definitely quieter, but with a little encouragement he had the same sense of humour.  But there were other differences.  Harry's eyes, for one, thought James.  Eye-color wasn't something James usually took note of, but who on earth had eyes that particular shade of green?  It was so unusual.  Did Harry really inherit it from his mother, the girl James would someday marry?  And there were times that Harry fell silent, and something seemed to burden him somehow.  Something's wrong here, thought James.  Something big has changed between my time and now, 'cause there's something about Harry that shouldn't be, something that he can't help and isn't about to tell us.  Almost like Remus, but not.  James sighed and decided not to worry about it at the moment.  It occurred to him just before he fell asleep that, come morning, he'd like to ask Harry where he got that odd thin scar on his forehead.

            Groaning, Sirius tried to stuff his pillow in his ears.  One of the Gryffindors was snoring heartily, and it was getting on his nerves.  Odd, he thought, usually it wouldn't bother him.  He realized he was tense, and even the Marauders' most daring adventures didn't make him this tense.  But this was different.  He had a feeling that this whole adventure was starting to turn a little weird; either that or it was about to turn weird.  His mum always said he had an affinity for the future--not true divination, but still helpful, though most of the time he couldn't tell if what he felt was something current or coming.  He realised he was thinking about how Harry, Ron, and Hermione had all been giving them surreptitious weird looks throughout the evening.  Especially Harry.  Sirius tried to chalk it all up to the strangeness of seeing one's own father at one's own age, but it didn't work.  It was almost as if Harry had never seen James before.  Ever.  Silly idea, thought Sirius, rolling over and sandwiching his head in the pillow, which drowned out the snoring somewhat.  He probably just never realized how much he looked like his dad.  They did look a lot alike, Sirius mused, except for the eyes, of course, and that scar.

            Remus, too, had trouble getting to sleep that night.  It wasn't the hard floor.  He was used to that sort of thing.  He was wondering why Harry kept avoiding their questions.  Sure, he'd filled them in on the basics of his life: his love of Quidditch, the classes he liked, the broom he owned, his favorite way of torturing his worst enemy.  Yet he seemed to pointedly avoid any inquiry about his background or home.  It takes a liar to spot one, thought Remus, and after spending a good bit of his life explaining away his monthly disappearances, he had a knack for picking up on other people's cover-ups.  And Harry was definitely covering something up.  He wondered vaguely if James or Peter or Sirius had noticed, but decided to wait until morning.  And there were always other ways of finding out about people.  Sirius might disagree, but those ways didn't even have to include going through a person's belongings.  He just had to ask the right questions in the right ways.  At least, thought Remus sleepily, he's not prejudiced against werewolves, but that was probably James' doing a long time ago.  He tried to think up some innocuous questions to ask in the morning, but only got as far as "where did you get that scar?" before he fell asleep.

            Peter watched his three best friends fall asleep one by one.  He knew Sirius and James and Remus would all just call him paranoid, but he could have sworn Harry, Ron, and Hermione ignored him.  Granted, most people usually ignored him, being as small and shy as he was, but these three had every reason to pay him some attention, being from the past and all.  Yet they seemed to avoid even looking at him, let alone speaking to him.  Well, of course, thought Peter, they're paying all that attention to James because he'll be Harry's dad someday, and Remus was one of their teachers.  And Sirius was... Sirius was Sirius, and therefore by definition impossible to ignore.  Oh, well, he thought.  Maybe I'm just imagining things.  He leaned back and put his hands behind his head.  Tomorrow would be fun.  This would be the first time they had ever had the chance to wreak havoc like they'd always imagined:  not only messing around in classes they didn't have to be in, but no one would ever guess they were at Hogwarts at all.  He couldn't wait to see what all seven of them together could cook up and didn't doubt that Harry could be as good as James at mischief.  He seemed pretty adept at wandering about at night undetected.  Peter yawned.  Perhaps a wild adventure had been where Harry had got that lightning scar of his.  What would cause that, he thought, before drifting off into sleep.

—Chapter 3—