Thanks:
Caity, Amber Eyes, hazeleyedmarauder, DreamAngel.
Here is the next chapter, for all of you who thought Snape was got good last chapter!
Also, the story isn't really focused on the time the Marauders are in Harry's time, so I thought they really should go home now…they've kind-of outstayed their welcome, so take a moment to say goodbye to them in this time and read the chapter!
I have finally decided that apart from Lily and James, there will be no other romance in this story. It just didn't fit. I'm sorry for those of you hoping for other relationships.
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Chapter 4, Melting Hand Serum
Dumbledore tapped his hands on the table as the Marauders and Lily hugged the other six children to say goodbye. He'd found a way of sending them back to their own time, and they weren't liking the idea much at all.
Eventually, Lily and James let go of Harry and stepped towards Dumbledore, their fingers entwined with each other's. Dumbledore cast a memory spell on all of the 1970s kids. Then he slammed a plug into the wall unceremoniously. The sound of the prongs of the socket against the wall reverberated around the room and it rippled. A few seconds later the quintet was no longer there.
Dumbledore smiled ruefully and allowed the other kids on their way, hoping for the best.
---
It was a while later. The members of the sextet were still upset after what had happened. Their memories hadn't been wiped, so they still remembered everything about the Marauders' trip.
Harry went over to the twins one day. The boys were perfecting their Melting Hand Serum, and they asked him to try it out for them. He raised his eyebrow and told them to do it themselves.
Fred rolled his eyes and poured the mixture over his hand. It spread over his hand and it started liquidising; a process that looked rather painful.
The other three (Ron, Hermione and Ginny) entered the room. Fred looked up, and as he greeted them the hand pouring the mixture slipped.
The liquid missed his hand, and fell towards the floor. It landed, and began to seep outwards. It enveloped the sextet, and then started making their feet melt.
They were all really nervous; they really didn't all want to melt into nothingness. Just then, their wishing made a trapdoor appear in the floor. One of them opened it, and they all fell into the blackness.
Of course, they didn't land at all where they'd have expected to.
---
James walked along the corridor, thinking. He was sure there was a part of time he wasn't remembering. A part that explained why he suddenly had feelings for his best friend, Lily.
Just as he was contemplating asking her out on a date, two of his three male best friends, Remus and Sirius, appeared out of almost nowhere. They tried to cheer their friend up without succeeding, and then Sirius heard something.
"Hey, Moony, Prongs? Did you hear that?" His two friends shook their heads. He heard it again. He looked up, and yelped.
"Why is there a trapdoor in the ceiling?"
James looked up, and decided to investigate. He climbed up the boxes lying conveniently against the walls and opened up the trapdoor. He thought it was just another secret door they hadn't encountered before.
My, wasn't he in for a shock when six half-melted teenagers fell through and landed on Remus and Sirius.
All of the kids were unconscious, and within reason. James decided to take control over the situation, and the three of them levitated the sextet down to the Hospital Wing carefully.
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"Do you know where you are?" a soft voice asked.
Harry rubbed his forehead and scar, and looked around nervously. He couldn't see anything; his vision was blurred and he realised his glasses were missing.
The young woman, practically a girl, handed him back his glasses. He put them on and looked around to see the rest of his friends sitting around him, all on beds. He wondered where they were and what had happened.
Then it all came rushing back. Melting Hand Serum. He was going to kill the twins.
He shook his head as the question was repeated.
The girl smiled gently and said, "I'm Madam Pomfrey, and I'm the new nurse. This is the Hospital Wing."
Why is she calling herself the new nurse? Harry wondered mentally.
"You have some guests. I should think they'd like to see you. Are you up for any visitors?"
This was not the Madam Pomfrey Harry knew. The one he knew would have kicked the guests out and refused to let him out of the Hospital Wing for weeks afterwards. This one was different. Kinder. Younger.
He nodded in reply to her question and she left the room. She came back in with two boys and a girl. One of the boys had longish black hair and grey eyes, and the other had light brown hair and soft chocolate-y brown eyes. The girl had long red hair and emerald eyes.
Oh shit, the Marauders.
"Are you back here again?" Harry asked them. "And what's up with Madam Pomfrey? She's not usually like this."
Sirius's brow furrowed. "What do you mean, `back here'? We live here! And as for the nurse, how could you know her? She just moved here yesterday."
As he heard Sirius's words, the pit of Harry's stomach fell out through the bottom and he started breathing heavily, causing the Marauders to look worried; wondering if he was hyperventilating.
No, it can't be! It's impossible…isn't it? Well, there's only two ways to find out…
"What's the date?"
"13 March 1975," Remus replied. "Why?"
"I…fuck, we did it this time. You guys did it last…" He decided to try his second idea.
"Lily?"
The girl looked up in shock. "How do you know my name?"
Harry rolled his eyes. "That's unimportant. Anyway, have you asked out James yet?"
Lily's eyes widened. Sirius and Remus started laughing. "So it's true!" Sirius said between chuckles. "You are in love with him! Merlin, this is priceless!"
Lily frowned at Harry in great annoyance, fury, and shock. She didn't understand this half-melted boy at all.
Half-melted boy who, she realised, looked very much like James; if it weren't for the eyes he could be his twin.
The Melting Hand Serum had a rather interesting effect on Harry's vision. His eyes were bright blue, an almost impossible colour.
"Are you any relation to James?" she asked eventually.
Harry nodded his head lightly. "I'm a…close-yet-distant relative…"
Lily smiled warmly. "Okay. But don't tell him. We're going to have some fun…"
---
James wondered who the boy was who looked a little like him. He intrigued him somewhat greatly. He wanted to know whether he was a relative.
He decided to check up on the six kids that they'd levitated to the Hospital Wing, to see how they were. As he entered, he saw the only person awake was the boy who looked like him. He had bright blue eyes, a colour he'd never seen before.
"Hey, what's your name?"
"Harry Pot…sworth," Harry replied, an uneasy feeling in his stomach. He felt bad about lying to his father, even though the fifteen-year-old wasn't exactly that right then.
"Cool, I'm James Potter. You had some nasty fall. Why are you half melted?"
Harry chuckled. This boy had actually asked his name and about him, unlike the others earlier. "It'd take too long to explain," he told James. He looked over towards the others. Hermione and Ron were in the beds next to his, and the twins were opposite them. Ginny was in the bed next to Fred. They all looked pretty knocked-about; like they were in a bad fight or something.
Just then, Hermione (who was in the bed directly next to Harry) woke up, looked around, and yelled in shock, "HARRY JAMES POT-" She broke off as she saw James.
"James? Did you come back again?"
James's forehead creased up. "Huh? I haven't gone anywhere…"
"Hermione," Harry began slowly. "They haven't come back again."
"Really? Well how do you explain this?"
"We seem to have…the trapdoor seemed to have been a vortex."
"What do you mean?" she asked, starting to sound worried.
"Herms, they haven't come back…we have."
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See, the Melting Hand Serum in first chapter had a meaning after all! And it might even have a deeper meaning…I dunno, though.
Anyway, please review and tell me what you think!
Ly,
J xx
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