Okay, okay. So it's not necessarily unique. But I adore time-travels and I've wanted to write this for such a long time you wouldn't believe it…
So here it is, a plot bunny that made me turn on the PC at 12:25am to write, just to make sure I wouldn't forget it.
Disclaimer: hello, I doubt anyone owns time-travels. If you own it, I bow down to you, coz you rock. The people you don't recognise belong to moi. The methods of travelling through time also belong to moi, because I haven't come across any other ideas like this, and I'm pretty sure they're mine. Also, I had no idea what Peter's middle name was so I made it up. James, Sirius and Lily's are all true to fanon, and Remus, Hermione, Ron, and Harry's are true to JK.
They're all in fifth year, and it's before Sirius gets killed. So there! XD
I hope you enjoy this, and don't ignore it coz it's `clichéd'!
Remember this: THIS IS NOT YOUR AVERAGE TIME-TRAVEL FIC!
R/R
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Chapter 1, Faulty Wiring
James Harold Potter looked at the wiring with a confused look on his face.
Professor Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, had set up the wiring all around school. It was enough to make everyone think the poor old sod had gone senile; after all, what did they need wiring for? It wasn't for electricity, as Lily put it, as electricity wasn't something magic folk needed, with all their `lumos'es. So therefore, they were all confused.
James headed back to the Gryffindor Common Room, where he told his three best friends, Remus John Lupin, Sirius Orion Black, and Peter Chris Pettigrew, the other members of the Marauders, about all the cables around the school that were plugged into sockets on the walls. They all agreed that Dumbledore must be thoroughly insane if he put up all the leads for no reason.
Later that same evening, the four boys decided to play a game of Truth or Dare. Except, of course, truths were void and dares were mandatory. Therefore, the game should really have been called Dare or Dare.
Sirius's third dare was to go and pull the plug out of one of the sockets in the hallway. He beamed at the thought of doing something mischievous, and headed out to find the nearest socket.
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Lily Marie Evans was walking back from the library when she felt something hit the middle of her back. She fell forwards onto the floor and dropped all her books, winded. She looked up to see a bubbling, hyper Sirius above her.
"What are you doing out so late?" she asked them.
Sirius grinned and bounced over to a plug, whilst chanting, "Dare or Dare!"
The boys grinned. Lily shook her head and frowned at them. "You shouldn't be touching that, you know. It could be dangerous, for all you know. It might blow you up. And it's not yours to touch, anyway."
Sirius shrugged. Lily frowned harder and reached out and grabbed hold of the wire. The other three boys grabbed onto her, trying to make her let go. Sirius chuckled, and yanked the plug out of the socket.
The school went pitch black, and a swirling blue light left the plug socket. It spiralled around until the five were facing a vortex.
They tried to move away from it, but they were all sucked in at pretty much the same time.
The caretaker, Argus Filch, stalked past at that point, just as the vortex shut and left no sign of it ever having been there. He frowned at the pulled-out plug, and shoved it back in the socket unceremoniously, and shuffled on, growling about miscreants at the same time.
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Harry James Potter was sitting in a chair in the Gryffindor Common Room, feeling that not everything was right. He turned to look at his best friends Ronald Bilius Weasley and Hermione Jane Granger; Ron was frowning at his tiny owl Pigwidgeon `Pig' and Hermione was studying, as usual.
Harry leant back and turned to look at Fred and George Weasley, who were working on their next pieces of art; Melting Hand Serum and Sour Nose Lengtheners. Harry made a mental note to not accept anything from the twins any time soon, unless he'd seen them prepare it themselves right in front of him.
The twins noticed him looking and called him over to have a look at what they were making. Harry grinned and hurried over, eager to help out.
---
Argus Filch walked through an area of the corridor. He could remember a period of time when Professor Dumbledore had littered the school with wires and cables. He still couldn't remember why, but a few days later they'd been taken down, and everything had been back to normal, which he was happy about.
He hurried on through the corridor, whistling to himself thoughtfully.
Just as he rounded the corner, a bright blue, spiralling vortex appeared in midair, and five fifteen-year-olds fell out of it.
Lily scrambled to her feet first, and she looked around. "Hey, we're at Hogwarts!"
"Where did all the cables go?" Sirius wondered aloud. "That's annoying."
"I think we'd better go to Professor Dumbledore," Lily announced. She headed the procession up to Dumbledore's office, and said quite clearly, "Jelly Beans."
The statue stayed motionless.
"I don't believe it!" Lily cried. "Professor Dumbledore just told me that password this morning! Why did he change it?"
Remus frowned, he'd been there also. The two of them were the Gryffindor Prefects.
Lily bit her lip, and started spouting out all the sweets she could think of.
A voice behind her chuckled, and said, "Sherbet Lemons. Now, I think you wanted to see me?"
Lily and the rest of them spun around speedily. Lily gasped when she saw Dumbledore. He had much whiter hair now; something that she'd definitely not noticed before.
The five followed Dumbledore inside and up to his room. "Now, I assume you wanted to see me?"
"Yes," Lily told him. "Professor Dumbledore, how come everything's changed? All the wiring and…everything!"
Dumbledore beamed at them. "I don't remember the last time someone talked to me about those wires…certainly over 20 years ago! It was a stupid idea on my part…Anyway, I don't believe I remember you. What are your names again?"
Remus frowned. "Professor Dumbledore, you just spoke to us this morning!"
Dumbledore shrugged. "Maybe I did…"
"Anyway, just so as you don't forget again," James said, taking charge as usual, "I'm James Potter, and these are Lily Evans, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew. We're all in Gryffindor."
"What year are you in?" Dumbledore asked, his eyes narrowing slightly.
"Fifth. Professor, why are you looking at us like that? It is November 12th, 1974, isn't it?"
"Well," Professor Dumbledore began, "you're certainly right about one thing. It is November 12th. But not 1974. I'm afraid you've been transported 20 years into the future."
All members of the quintet's jaws dropped at that.
"You mean…we're not in our own time?" Peter gasped out.
"Yes Peter," Dumbledore told him. He turned to look at James. "You all must have your appearances changed. There are too many people who could recognise you."
He muttered a spell and flicked his wand at James, first. James felt his hair grow shorter and flatten itself. A few pieces fell into his eyes briefly before they shortened, and James noticed they were blond, an interesting experience for him. His eyes fuzzed up and he realised he didn't need his glasses any more. He felt his body shrink slightly; he was growing slightly shorter, to Remus's height. He checked in the mirror, and saw his eyes were a bright, sparkling blue.
Then Dumbledore went on to Peter. Peter grew a little taller, slightly thinner (but not too much, he wasn't that chubby), and his eyes blurred until he realised he did need glasses. He grabbed James's and discovered that they were perfect for him. His hair flopped around his shoulders, a deep, deep red. In the mirror his eyes were dark brown.
Lily was next, and her image was changed greatly. Her elbow-length straight red hair shot down past her hips, curled into jet black corkscrews. Her eyes changed to a turquoise-y colour, and her body filled out a little. She noticed James watching her a little too attentively, and spat out, "Don't you dare." Truthfully, she didn't much mind James checking her out, as they were close friends and he wasn't that bad looking himself. But the fact he fancied her in a different body was rather yucky.
Sirius followed, and his description changed marginally. His black hair spiked up, and his eyes changed to a slightly darker grey, but that was pretty much it.
Remus's hair stayed the same length, and changed to a deep, deep brown, and his eyes went dark brown. He shot up a few inches, so he found that he was now taller than James. He looked in the mirror, and mentally decided his previous image was much more appealing.
Dumbledore nodded his approval, and handed them out new names.
Ten minutes later, Holly Burns, John Weaver, Simon Grey, Pete Smart, and Richard Law left the office having been `sorted' into Gryffindor. They headed to the Common Room laughing, and told the Fat Lady the new password (snuffles) that Dumbledore had told them.
As they entered, a few people looked up. Well, six people did.
Four of these six seemed to be related in some way. There were a pair of redheaded twins who were poring over a sheet of paper and muttering about what prank they should play on Snape next (the four Marauders beamed at this), a much younger redhead girl who was conversing quietly with a brunette with bushy hair who seemed to be in their year. Finally, there was a redhead boy who seemed about their age who was talking to a boy with black hair about as messy as James's was usually. The boy turned, and Lily noticed he had her normal eye colour, which she had never encountered on another soul before. He also had James's glasses, which were currently perched on Peter's nose.
The two older redhead boys marched over. "Hello, we're Fred…"
"…and George…" the other boy put in.
"…Weasley," the first boy finished grandly. "We haven't seen you around before." He seemed to be looking at Lily as he said this.
Lily raised both eyebrows and frowned at the twins. "I'm Holly Burns," she told him sternly. "We're transfer students from Durmstrang."
"I'm John Weaver," James said grandly.
"Richard Law."
"Simon Grey."
"Pete Smart," Peter finished.
James looked over towards the black haired boy and noticed that he was stuffing something into his pockets quickly. A very old sheet of parchment. He started wondering to himself what it was.
The other four kids hurried over. "Fred and George, are you pestering these new people?" the little redheaded girl said mock sternly.
The twins pretended to look outraged. "Of course not! We were offering to show Holly, John, Richard, Simon and Pete around the school! Why would we do a thing like that?"
"Because you're Fred and George, maybe?" the girl continued. She turned to the quintet. "Anyway, I'm Ginny, their little sister."
"I'm Ron, their brother," the other redhead put in then. "Whatever they offer you to eat, don't take it. They should only really offer it to people like Malfoy and Snape."
"Snape?" James asked. "Is he a student here?"
Fred started chuckling. "Do you think a student would annoy us that much? No, he's Potions Master and Head of Slytherin. You wonder why, the greasy git."
James looked surprised almost, yet delighted at the fact other people hated him. "How'd he manage to become a Professor here?"
"That's what we've been wondering. He could be a Death Eater, but Hermione here insists that he can't be." George patted the brunette on the shoulder. He went on. "Do you know him?"
"In a manner of words," Sirius said. "He made our lives miserable for a veeery long time. Thought we contributed to making his life a living hell, too."
"He makes Harry's life a misery, too." Fred imitated Snape's voice. "Harry Potter, ten points from Gryffindor being rude! Harry Potter, do you know what Sporkulus Whatsipktitkus is? Oh by the way, haha, ten points from Gryffindor for not knowing that Sporkulus Whatsipktitkus doesn't exist! That moron."
That sounded like Snape, all right, James thought. He turned to look at Harry. He had his hair, his glasses, his surname…was Harry his son?
"Hey, Harry is it?" Harry nodded. "Well, I'm…John…and I was wondering about, you know…"
"My scar?" Harry asked, sounding bored, wondering how this blond kid didn't know about it.
James's face contorted with confusion. "Actually, no," he went on. Harry's eyebrows lifted in surprise. "About your surname."
Harry's eyebrows vanished into his hair, he was so surprised. "What about my surname? Surely you've heard the story."
"Well, no. I was just wondering about whether you are related to anyone called…James Potter."
Harry's face seemed to pale a little. "Yeah," he said. "He's my dad."
"Is he nice?" James's mind grew very happy at the thought of him having a son with someone.
"I wouldn't know. He died when I was born. Voldemort killed him. And my mother, too. She died to save me."
James's mind blurred. He tried to speak. "Who…who was your mother?"
"Lily Potter," Harry replied. "I now live with the Dursleys; Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, and Pugsley Dudley, the fattest thing you've ever seen. Hagrid once gave him a pig's tail. That's probably the most momentous thing to ever happen to him."
Ugh, poor Harry, having to live with her sister Petunia…Lily's eyes widened. OH MY GOD! She screamed mentally. "Excuse me," she muttered, and turned and ran up the girls' staircase.
She flopped on the only bed in the Fifth Year Dorm that didn't have possessions littered around it and wished to be back in her own time. She'd wished she hadn't heard that.
She couldn't believe Harry was her son. Well, the eyes had proved it. But…she was married to James. She was dead, too, but firstly she was married to James. They may have been close friends, but they weren't that close…not close enough to be boyfriend and girlfriend, not close enough to…Her thoughts broke off. She couldn't say it. She couldn't say `have sex' because her mind had only just registered that it was going to be with James Potter, her best friend.
Funny way how fate happened, when she'd just been snapping at James for thinking her new form was pretty, whilst mentally thinking he wasn't that bad, either.
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James was thinking about Lily. He was thinking about how pretty she was…how smart she was…how nice she was…and most of all, how he'd been in love with her since he was thirteen.
They'd always been best friends, for as long as he could remember. They lived next door to each other. Since they were four, when his family had moved to Privet Drive. They had always been around each other. They played together, they shared ideas together, they vowed never to date together. Then they both broke that rule during their second year at Hogwarts, when he went out with Melanie Hawk, and she went out with Chris Jones. Then, the following year, puberty hit both of them. Lily started looking more and more beautiful, and he started harbouring feelings for her. They grew, until at the end of that year he realised that he wanted to hold her and kiss her and be with her together.
It may have been a crush for most of third year, but it most certainly wasn't at the end, and he knew it. And now he was told that he was going to marry her and have a son with her!
It was the best news he could think of.
He watched Lily get slightly tearful and race up the stairs to the girls' dorm. He cocked his head and frowned.
"What's up with Li…Hols?" Sirius asked, very nearly saying `Lils' instead.
James shrugged.
"Go and see what's making her upset, Johnny old boy. You're her best friend, she'll listen to you."
James sighed and nodded. He muttered a spell under his breath, and walked calmly up the girls' stairs, while the Weasleys, Harry, and the rest of the male Gryffindor population (but the Marauders) stared at him in awe.
James entered the Fifth Year Girls' Dorm and looked around for Lily. She was lying on the bed, looking no less beautiful than usual, even with her new image. He went over and sat next to her on the bed. She didn't look at him, so he started stroking her arms gently and mumbling soothing things to her.
Eventually she looked at him, and he saw tears start to run down her cheeks. "Jamie," she whispered.
"Yes, Lils?"
"I don't want to die."
At that, James looked at her in pain, and dragged her into a tight hug, knowing that he loved her, she could never know, and that she would probably never love him back, even though they were going to get married in the end.
"It's gonna be okay, Lilsie, I promise. It's gonna be okay."
They eventually drifted off to sleep, Lily in James's arms. Hermione came up, smiled at the two who were obviously very firmly attached to each other, and drew the curtains around them so that nobody else could see them. Then she got ready for bed and turned the lights out and went to sleep, not waiting for Parvati and Lavender to come up.
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I hope you enjoyed that. As I was writing it, it suddenly occurred to me that it was turning out to be much like a one-shot, and I had to find a break somewhere.
Anyway, I am quite aware that Lily and James couldn't stand each other, but I'm a firm L/J best-friends fanatic, and so they're friends in this one.
Harry will have no romantic partners, because I never see him as a boyfriend, and besides, I don't like H/Hr (I'd rather have R/Hr, but this is Portkey, and I know the rules…if you want to read the R/Hr version of this fic, go to the ff net website and search for Jersey Princess. There are some minor edits in the final few chapters and in this one). And Ginny is not dating anyone, as it's pre-Michael Corner (and I don't like D/G!).
lyl, please read and review, I hope you like it!
J xx
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