Disclaimer - I own nothing but the plot and even vast portions of that have been inspired by other works, most notably "Back to the Future" staring the, then adorable, still inspirational Michael J. Fox. Thanks again to my Beta Katia.
Chapter 3 - Meet the Parents
Hermione was still looking at him with a stunned and horrified look on her face, but she hadn't spoken a word since Harry's revelation. She didn't get a chance to, either, at all that day. Just as she started to recover her colour and opened her mouth to ask a question a loud nock echoed through the still largely empty house.
The two teens looked at each other startled and then looked towards the front room where they could see, quite clearly through the open kitchen door, James Potter with his nose pressed against their front window.
`I was right Lil, some people have moved in.'
Harry and Hermione looked at each other in shock; they were completely unprepared to face his parents just yet.
`Quick Harry over here,' she yanked him out of line of sight for the window and hurriedly tapped his glasses with her wand. She then directed her wand at him and twiddled it in a circular motion. He felt his hair grow quickly past his ears and chin til it was brushing his collar. The hair on his face too began to sprout til he was sporting what would be the equivalent of five day growth on a fully grown wizard but what would have taken him months to grow.
`Hermione! What are you doing?' He demanded, pushing her wand away from his face before she did anything else.
`Honestly Harry, I'm changing your appearance. If you face your father with the same haircut and glasses they'll see the resemblance immediately. All I've done is disillusion your glasses, so they can't be seen, grow your hair out and give you a bit of a beard. You still look like your Dad but at least now the resemblance won't be uncanny, and it's all natural so no-one would think you're disguised.'
`Oh' said Harry feeling a bit thick, `Well, we'd better get out there or they'll get suspicious.'
`Honestly Harry, it'd be more suspicious if we weren't at least a little cautious around an unknown witch or wizard. You've got to remember that things now are even more dangerous than they were in our time; people here have been living under the threat of Tom Riddle for years now. Frankly I'm surprised that you're parents have come to see us so quickly.'
`I suppose they want to know straight away whether they need to be wary of their new neighbours or not.'
Hermione shrugged but did not disagree, and the two teens made their way to the front door with exaggerated caution. They reached the door and flung it open, wands drawn, only to be faced by James and Lilly Potter standing in a similar stance. Wands drawn the two witches and wizards faced each other; none of them blinked or drew breath for the longest time. Suddenly a burst of light erupted from James wand but Hermione was quicker throwing out a silent Protego in time to harmlessly deflect the spell.
`A shield spell,' James muttered to Lilly, `I think that means they're ok Lil, what do you think?'
`I said so from the start, this is hardly the sort of house that Death Eaters would live in.'
`Death Eaters look just like everyone else,' Hermione muttered grimly acting the part of a person that does not know who to trust and has just been attacked by a stranger in her own home. Harry privately thought she was doing a brilliant job of acting wary of the two people they knew for certain that they could trust.
James grinned and lowered his wand, `We're no Death Eaters.'
Lilly lowered her wand as well; it was a necessary act of trust. If they were going to be neighbours they were going to have to learn to trust each other, and since James and Lilly had been the first one's to attack they both felt that they should likewise be the one's to heal the breach.
Hermione lowered her wand slowly and hesitantly and Harry copied her movements, he was too overcome by seeing his parents to think of what was the appropriate way to act, so he settled instead for just copying Hermione.
`Well, you can't be too careful I suppose. We won't have to worry about you attacking us again will we?'
James' grin widened, `not unless you attack us first.' He held out his hand, `James Potter, and this is my wife Lilly.'
Harry shook his father's proffered hand and swallowed the lump in his throat, `Harvey Porter and my wife Hermiah.'
`I suggest we all make an oath, so we can get passed the distrust and become good neighbours,' Lilly said sensing the reluctance and hesitancy in Harry as he shook his father's hand but attributing it to a different cause.
`What kind of oath?' asked Hermione, managing to inject a healthy amount of suspicion into her voice.
Lilly raised her wand and intoned seriously, `I swear on my magic to never harm Harvey or Hermiah Porter, nor shall I ever aid or abet any plan to do so and furthermore I swear to do all in my power to thwart any such plans I ever learn of.'
Hermione straightened her shoulders and repeated the spell substituting James and Lilly Potters names. James eyeballed Harry for a moment and Harry did his best to look back at his father with suspicion. Finally James seemed to come to a conclusion and he too repeated the vow, Harry sighed with relief and repeated the vow after all of the others. Once that had been done they all looked at each other soberly until James finally laughed and broke the tension.
`Welcome to the neighbourhood!'
They all smiled at each other, James and Lilly genuinely relieved that they had nothing to fear from their new neighbours and Harry and Hermione glad that they had been able to earn the trust of his parents so quickly.
`Well, come in then and have a cup of tea with us, we were just finishing breakfast.' Hermione invited them warmly
`Thank you, that would be lovely,' replied Lilly smiling graciously.
The Potters entered the house and walked through to the kitchen, after their shopping the day before, there were boxes everywhere and the work that the house needed was glaringly obvious. James looked around as he walked through the living room and into the kitchen.
`Have you got anyone coming to help you get settled,' he asked, still looking around as though making a mental inventory of everything that needed to be done.
`Ah, not exactly,' replied Harry, he ran a hand through his hair trying to think of something to say, but he had forgotten how much longer it was now and was distracted when his hand became tangled in his long unruly hair, `sorry, haven't had a chance to brush this mop yet today. I better go do that quickly.' He shot an apologetic glance at Hermione and almost ran from the room.
`You'll have to excuse my Husband,' he heard Hermione say as he made his way through the living room, `he's not at his best first thing in the morning.'
Once Harry had reached the safety of the bathroom he shut the door and lent against it breathing deeply. The past two days had been very traumatic for him and they weren't getting any easier. He had found out that it was Snape's betrayal that cost his parents their lives, he had watched as Snape had killed Professor Dumbledore only to learn moments later that Snape really was on the right side after all, he had then travelled back through time with Hermione, they had set themselves up as Husband and wife (and shared a bed for the night) and now he was expected to sit and share a cup of tea with his dead parents like nothing was wrong.
Harry lent heavily against the basin and took a couple of deep breaths trying to calm down, he could do this, he had to. If his parents were going to survive they were going to have to learn to trust him and for them to trust him, he had to become their friend. He splashed water on his face and then dried it off with a blast of warm air from his wand. Then looked up at his own reflection but did not recognise the man that looked back at him.
The extra weight that the length gave his hair meant it could not stick up in all directions as it had done when it was short, and now fell in a straight sheet to his shoulders (albeit a tangled sheet) and the "five day growth" gave him a rugged and dangerous look that was only made more pronounced by the scar that was now clearly visible on his forehead through the part in his hair. Remembering the reason for excusing himself Harry found the hair brush Hermione had left in the room from the night before and brushed his hair.
Amazingly enough, Harry found that the action was strangely calming and by the time he was done he felt calm enough to return to the kitchen.
He walked through the living room in the direction of the kitchen and arrived in time to hear the end of their, apparently sad, tale.
Hermione caught sight of him before either James or Lilly did and finished her tale with a flourish, `so, while my family is still alive, unlike poor Harvey who, as I said, is orphaned, they still won't be coming to help as they don't approve of my marrying so early in life.'
Harry sat down and gave Hermione a smile. Lilly and James both glanced at him but did not make a fuss over his entrance.
`My family are Muggles too,' Lilly was saying now sympathetically, `they don't really understand why we wanted to get married so soon after high-school either, but they're Catholic, so I think they'd prefer that to me living in sin at any rate.'
`Well, my parents are Church of England but they've never been particularly ... strict about it. Still I would have thought they'd feel the same as your parents but, apparently not.'
`We couldn't let them stand in the way of true love though, could we love?' asked Harry trying to ease the conversational burden from Hermione's shoulders. She'd been so wonderful ever since they'd got here, keeping him from doing many things that were stupid or suspicious, or both.
James grinned at Harry, glad that the younger man seemed to have finally shaken off whatever had been bothering him since their arrival, `I couldn't agree more Harvey. So Hermiah was saying that you did go to Hogwarts I don't remember seeing you there.'
Harry swallowed bracing himself for the first test, `Well, I think we were in our fifth year when you were finishing up. I remember you and Lilly were head boy and girl I think, weren't you?' Harry was suddenly uncertain, desperately trying to remember what year it was now and what year his parents had graduated. Now that the words were out of his mouth he felt a sudden pang of panic shoot through him, he had no idea how old his parents were at the moment or what year they had graduated high-school.
But James was nodding, `Ok, so that would mean you've only just graduated. Wow, you guys did get married young... not that we can talk I suppose, we were only a year older than you are now when we got married.'
Harry smiled relieved, `Yeah that's right, but we were never prefects or anything, and we were in Hufflepuff, so I'm not surprised you don't remember us from school.'
`You do look familiar though,' Lilly said looking at him speculatively.
Harry laughed trying to ease his own sense of foreboding more than anything else, `Well, I think you did deduct points from me once.'
She frowned and opened her mouth to speak but James beat her too it, `I'm surprised she even recognises you at all then,' then he laughed, `the number of people she deducted points from that year!'
They all laughed and Harry felt some of his tension lift, hopefully now that was established they could avoid further awkwardness.
`Well, since you guys are effectively on your own, perhaps you'd like some help,' said James smiling at them kindly. `Lil's and I did heaps of work to our place when we first moved in. I could show you a great spell for getting the floorboards looking great.'
Lilly was nodding enthusiastically, `Oh absolutely, I know some wonderful spells for the garden Hermiah. We could have it looking beautiful again in no time.'
Hermione frowned and looked at Harry as though trying to decipher his thoughts on the matter, `Oh, we wouldn't want to be a bother...' she hedged uncertainly.
`Don't be silly, it'll be fun.'
`Yeah, get some of your mates over and we'll all have a working bee!' said James getting enthusiastic about the idea.
`Oh well, we were kind of loners at school...' Hermione hedged, again unsure how to respond.
`Yeah we really kept to ourselves; we didn't have loads of friends like I remember you guys having.'
James frowned briefly but then brightened, `oh well, we'll get some of our friends over and we'll have a working bee.'
Hermione opened her mouth again but James spoke first, cutting her off again, `and don't say no Hermiah, friends help each other, so let us help you.' Hermione looked at Harry helplessly and he shrugged.
`Ok, great,' Hermione smiled brightly but Harry saw the panic creeping in at the edges of her eyes, `So what do you think we should do first?'
`We've got some friends coming over today anyway, so we'll go home and wait for them to arrive,' Lilly said brightly, `That'll give you two a chance to decide what you want to work on first, and we'll be back in about an hour or so with the reinforcements and we'll go from there. How does that sound.'
`Great!' said Harry enthusiastically but his enthusiasm was really for the opportunity they'd just been given to have a half hours breathing space. They needed time to get their story straight and prepare to face the people that his parents would be bringing back with them.
`All right, well we'll see you in about an hour then.' James said.
The two Potters bustled towards the door and Harry and Hermione saw them out. They stood smiling at the door way until the Potters had reached the edge of the yard, then they shut the door and the panic that Hermione had been suppressing burst forth.
`Oh, of all the reckless... foolish... why on earth would Dumbledore suggest this Harry? How on earth could he think this would be a good idea? The first rule...' she sputtered turning on him, `What is the first rule of time travel?'
`Um...' Harry racked his brain but could not think of anything.
`YOU MUST NOT BE SEEN! And now... now, we're going to have a party! A PARTY!' she practically screeched at him, `and you just know who's going to be in that party don't you Harry?' she was hysterical and beyond rational thought, but the creeping dread in Harry's brain helped him to answer with a forced sense of calm.
`Remus,'
`Yes, and?
`Sirius,'
`AND?'
`Pettigrew.'
Harry spat the word as though it left a foul taste in his mouth but Hermione didn't notice.
`Yes Pettigrew and we HAVE to treat him normally Harry, we cannot... cannot... allow any sense of spite, anger or distaste to even enter our minds. We have to act as though he is just the friend of our new friends and not betray any kind of bitterness at all.'
`I rather think that will be harder for me than it will for you Hermione.'
`I KNOW! And it will be hard enough for me... Oh, Harry... how are you going to do it?'
Harry shook his head and shrugged in one motion, `I just have to that's all, I just have to keep telling myself that I've never met him before and remind myself that the part he plays is vital... if this is going to work my parents need to trust him to be the secret keeper, and he needs to betray them. We can't do anything that might change that.'
Hermione looked at him and bit her lip, Harry thought she might burst into tears at any moment, but instead she flung her arms around him in a crushing hug.
`Oh, Harry,' she whispered her voice choked with the tears Harry had known she would shed, `I wish I could help somehow...'
`Don't be ridiculous Hermione;' he told her, tightening his grip on her, `you've been amazing ever since we got here. I probably would have blown this a million times already if I hadn't had your help.'
Hermione pulled back from the hug slightly to look him in the eye, `Really?'
Harry nodded, `really,' she hugged him tightly again, `look it'll be ok, surely you've seen that movie "Back to the Future" right?' She nodded her wild hair crashing up and down into his face, he smoothed it back and continued `Well he interacted with his parents heaps in that movie, and changed their lives for the better and nothing disastrous happened.'
Hermione looked at him incredulously, `That's a movie Harry.'
`The point is still valid though, they don't know who we are, and if we're careful they never will. It'll be okay, really.' Hermione nodded, then let go of him and walked briskly to the other side of the room.
`Right, well, we'd better hurry up and get our story straight and then I suppose we'd better put together a list of what we want done around here.' Harry nodded in agreement and motioned for her to continue. `Ok so I told them basically that your parents were Muggles but they died a few years ago in a car accident, I figured since that's what you believed til you were eleven,' she said this with a growl as though still angry with the Dursleys about it, `it wouldn't be hard for you to remember. I also told them that though my parents were alive they were also Muggles who didn't like the idea of us marrying so young and had basically disowned me.'
`Right and I came up with the bit about us being in Hufflepuff a few years behind them. If we're both Muggle-borns in Hufflepuff it shouldn't surprise them too much that we didn't have any friends, with all the pureblood mania that's been around for the last few years.'
`Exactly,' Hermione agreed, `Well done on coming up with that by the way.'
`My part was minute compared to yours.'
`Yes but you had a lot more to deal with emotionally.' She looked at him then and Harry dropped his eyes to the floor not able to withstand her scrutiny, `How are you coping with seeing them?' asked Hermione next, her voice soft.
`Ok I guess,' said Harry, shrugging, `it was a little touch and go there to start with, but I think I'll be ok with it now.'
Hermione nodded her business like demeanour returning, `Right, well I think we've got our story straight now, shall we sit down and make up that list now of chores now?'
Harry nodded, glad to have the difficult part of the conversation over with, `Sure, but let's go and sit down, I never got to finish my breakfast.'
They returned to the kitchen and spent the remainder of their hour alone debating what they needed done to the house first. Hermione was all for unpacking their purchases from the day before and getting the house set up but Harry was adamant that it would arouse suspicion if they did anything other than treat the house as though it would be their home for a good many years to come.
`Besides,' he pointed out reasonably, `Do you really want to spend the next two years living in a house with floors like this?' he asked pointing at the wooden boards which were not just dusty and worn but also swollen and stained in places.
`Alright, fine,' said Hermione, capitulating at last, `You boys can do the floors and then, if there is time, start unpacking a few things. Lilly and I will work on clearing out the garden and maybe washing the windows and whoever is done first can take care of making dinner.'
No sooner had they settled this then there was a loud nock at the door again, `We should really see about getting a door-bell,' Hermione called over her shoulder as she hurried to answer the door. She flung it open and was greeted by a sea of smiling faces.
`James, Lilly... and ... friends,' Hermione said looking flustered at the sight of so many people.
`We heard that you were hosting a work in exchange for food day?' Sirius asked from the back of the group.
Harry nearly did a double take seeing him, the way Harry remembered Sirius was older, worn and far more sedate. This Sirius, young and never having been to Azkaban, reminded Harry of nothing so much as a black haired Ron, light-hearted, funny and thinking only of his stomach. The thought made him grin as he motioned the group inside. Peter Pettigrew was there, he noticed, but amongst so many other people he was small, insignificant and easy to overlook. McGonagall's overheard description from his third year came back to him, and he now understood the full justice of her description.
`Yeah absolutely, a working bee in exchange for dinner and lunch,' He gestured around himself at the rooms that were still empty but for the people, the boxes and the dust, `as you can see there is a fair bit that needs to be done.' A lot of good natured grins resulted from his words, `We were thinking that the first things we wanted to get sorted are the floors and the dust and once that's done we can get started with unpacking.'
They sorted themselves into groups, Sirius volunteered to sort out the wards, which he described as woefully inadequate, Lilly and Hermione went to work in the garden, while Remus and Peter did the rooms downstairs and Harry led James upstairs to get started on the rooms up there. When they got to the top of the stairs James indicated to the one closed door, `Is this your bedroom?' he asked, `cause we should probably do that one first, you'll be glad of it by the end of the day, trust me.'
Harry smiled and nodded, `Sure ok,' but James' hand hesitated on the door knob.
`Ah, do you want to just pop in there quickly first and make sure there's nothing that would offend my delicate sensibilities?'
Harry blushed, he knew there was nothing in the room of the kind James was referring to but, just the same, thought it would probably be a good idea to have a quick look around and make sure there was nothing in there to give away their secret.
`I'll just have a quick look,' Harry mumbled trying to slip past James and into the bedroom, his face on fire.
James just laughed and clapped him on the back, `No need to be embarrassed Harvey, I'm a married man too... I've got a fair idea of what you're getting up to with that pretty wife of yours.'
Harry just about choked on his own tongue, but he tried to play it off, `Yeah, of course...' he stammered extricating himself from the moment of manly bonding and hiding in the room. Once safely behind the closed door, Harry paused, leaning against it for a moment to catch his breath. If he didn't die from embarrassment it would be a miracle, he just hoped James wouldn't want to share details of his own personal life with him.
Recovering his composure, he did a quick whip round on the room and stashed away anything that might be incriminating. He was so focused on hiding things that might reveal they were from the future, or not who they said they were that when Harry finally let his father into the room he realised (primarily from James' loud laughter) that the sheets on the bed were still a tangled mess.
`Good job hiding the evidence there, Harvey!' said James indicating the mussed sheets with much amusement. They were only like that because two people had slept there, they had each left at separate times and neither had bothered to pull the blankets back up. But that was certainly not what it looked like.
Harry's face flamed again, he was never going to be able to look Hermione in the eye again after this but at least he'd been right about them sharing the bed. James was unlikely to have any suspicions after this that he and Hermione were a married couple, and all without them having to kiss or anything. Harry's stomach plunged at the thought, without noticing that it wasn't an unpleasant sensation, and he gulped. James had already moved on and was starting to shrink down the few items in the room to prepare the way to do the floors. Harry pushed the strange sensations and odd thoughts from his mind and focused on the task at hand.
Once the room had been cleared, James set about teaching Harry how to do the floor sanding spell which basically caused a beam of air from the wand to act as a sander.
`Be careful not to point it at anything fleshy though,' James cautioned him sagely, `trust me, it's very painful and leads to a lengthy stay in St Mungo's.'
Harry laughed at this but headed the advice nevertheless. James was amazed though when Harry confessed he could not perform spells wordlessly and spent some time teaching him a trick he knew to make wordless spell casting easy. Within half an hour his father had managed to teach him what Snape hadn't been able to in an entire year, and Harry was casting all sorts of spells wordlessly.
`That's a great trick, where did you learn that?'
James brushed off the compliment, `My dad taught it to me, I'm not really supposed to tell anyone except my kids when they're old enough, but... we have the vow, I can trust you with it can't I?'
Harry nodded, feeling an unexpected hotness behind his eyes, `Of course.'
James nodded satisfied and then the two men started to work.
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