The Sands of Time

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

"That means the-"

"-Marauders are here too!" John finished excitedly. Maybe this trip was worthwhile, after all.

~*~

"Why are there two more people here?"

"Shhh! You'll wake them up!"

"Ow! Don't punch me! I've got a cut there. Moony was in a bad mood last night."

"Yeah, lucky we got there before-"

"Maybe we can ask Frank what they're doing here."

"They're sleeping, isn't it obvious, Wormtail? And besides, Frank already went for breakfast."

The voices drew closer, bickering among themselves in whispers and gradually working their way into John's dreams. John groaned as he came back to consciousness, and pulled his pillow over his head to block out his cousins' annoying voices as they tried to rudely wake him up-wait, were those really his cousins' voices? It didn't sound like them. He had been having a very strange dream, about going into the past and changing his name to John and-suddenly he remembered. He was in the past. The realization hit him like one of Fred's Bludgers, and he sat bolt upright in bed and ripped open the hangings.

Standing in front of him with his mouth open was a tall boy with messy black hair, hazel eyes that were wide in surprise and round glasses like the ones John's father had. In fact, if John hadn't known better, he would have said this boy was his father's long lost twin, except that this boy was missing the green eyes and famous scar. The boy was holding his wand in the air, where it was levitating a bucket of water that he had clearly been planning to dump on John's unsuspecting head. As the boy stared at John in surprise and disappointment that his prank had been foiled, and John stared at the boy in shock, realizing this was his namesake and the grandfather he had never known, a bark of laughter sounded from next to Fred's bed, drawing their attention and snapping John out his reverie.

A very good looking boy with long black hair was standing next to Fred's bed where he was also levitating a bucket of water, though he wasn't paying attention to it as he laughed at the messy haired boy's expression. Standing a short distance away was a smaller boy with mousy brown hair and watery blue eyes who glanced between the boys uncertainly as he chewed his nails.

"Nice job Prongs," the long black haired boy gasped in between laughs.

"Shut up Padfoot, it's not like you pranked the other one any better," the messy haired boy muttered as he vanished his bucket with a casual flick of his wand.

"I'm going to. Watch the master at work!" he said confidently, turning back to Fred's bed. His eyes widened in surprise as he saw Fred standing in front of him. Before the other boy could react, Fred smirked, then quickly reached up and pushed the bucket so that it fell on the boy's head, drenching him in icy water that splashed on the floor. The boy froze comically, the upside down bucket over his head and water pooling at his feet as the dormitory rang with laughter. John high-fived Fred and they both watched as the dark haired boy let out a stream of muffled swear words and struggled to get the small bucket off his head.

"Oh he got you, Padfoot," the messy haired boy said, clutching his stomach as he guffawed with laughter. The dark haired boy finally threw off the bucket and shook his head like a wet dog, sending drops of water everywhere and muttering under his breath. The messy haired boy walked over to John and Fred, grinning.

"I'm James Potter, by the way," he said. He glanced at the scowling dark haired boy. The other boy's gray eyes narrowed as he glared at John and Fred and he pushed his sopping hair out of his face.

"Sirius Black."

"C'mon Padfoot, you have to admit it was funny," James said, snickering at Sirius' dark face. Sirius reluctantly grinned, then stared expectantly at John and Fred.

"I'm John Po-Parker," John said as Sirius flicked his wand to dry himself and the floor. James raised his eyebrows and his mouth twitched.

"Your name is Po-Parker?"

"No! Just Parker," John said, feeling his face redden. Fortunately, Fred decided to introduce himself at that point, drawing attention away from John.

"And I'm Fred Westley."

James nodded at him, and jerked his thumb at the smaller boy in the corner of the room, who was looking anxiously at his watch.

"He's Peter Pettigrew," he said. Peter looked up at the sound of his name and began chewing his lip when he found everyone staring at him.

"What's up Wormtail? You look like you're going to wet yourself." Sirius smirked.

"Breakfast ends in ten minutes," Peter squeaked as he flushed in embarrassment.

"So tell us," Sirius said to John and Fred as they began walking to the Great Hall, "Where did you two come from?"

"Oh. Well, er, we were living in this village-" Fred said.

"-in the middle of nowhere. No fun, strict rules-" John interjected, making a face.

"-and there were some attacks recently, so our parents decided to send us here so we would be safer," Fred finished, as Sirius and James grimaced sympathetically.

"Are you two brothers or something?" James asked.

"No, cousins. And we've got more-our family is huge. There are six more of us around in the castle somewhere."

"Are any of them girls?" Sirius asked a little too enthusiastically for John and Fred's liking.

"Forget about it," John snapped. "My sister and cousins aren't going to date anyone." James snickered at Sirius' crestfallen face as the boys walked through the doors of the Great Hall. John and Fred quickly saw a distinctive group of red heads at the Gryffindor table and headed over to them with James, Sirius, and Peter following. John slid into a seat next to Al as James casually pushed a frightened looking first year out of the next seat and sat there himself.

"Potter!" The boys looked up to see Lily Evans across the table with Laura, Rose, Roxanne, and Dominique around her.

"Evans!" James said, his hand jumping to his already messy hair. "Want to-"

"Potter, you can't just push that first year away! He got there before you! What, do you think you have to make room for your inflated head?" Her green eyes blazed as she glared at James and the Westleys and Parkers watched interestedly.

Sirius barked with laughter as James stuttered under her glare. Al glanced at them uneasily.

"Er, class starts in five minutes," Al said, trying to break the tension. Lily wordlessly swung her bag on her shoulder and stalked away, after sending James another dirty look.

"Why does she hate you so much?" Laura asked James as she finished her toast.

"She doesn't. She really fancies me, but she's just in denial," James assured her. He stared at the large group of cousins, and then looked at John and Fred, eyebrows raised questioningly.

"Yep, that's them," Fred said though a mouthful of scrambled eggs.

"What about us?" Dominique asked suspiciously. Sirius did a double take and stared at her, mouth slightly open. She smiled at him and tossed her sheet of hair, making James poke Sirius to get him to start breathing again as John and Fred glared at Sirius. Rose frowned as her eyes flickered from James to Sirius, and then whispered something to Dominique, who looked horrified and immediately looked away from Sirius. When Professor McGonagall came to the table a moment later with their schedules, Dominique grabbed hers and hurried away. Laura shrugged and followed her, along with Roxanne and Rose.

"You lot better get to class soon," Rose called over her shoulder.

"What was that all about?" Sirius demanded, turning to the other boys. Fred shrugged and took another bite of his pancake.

"She doesn't like you, obviously. And she already has a boyfriend," he said nonchalantly.

"Let's go to class now," Peter suggested, and James, Sirius, John, and Fred snatched a few pieces of toast to eat as they went to their first class, Potions.

"Now, Potions is easy," Sirius told John and Fred as they sauntered to the dungeons several minutes late. "All you have to do is flatter ol' Sluggy like Evans does, and you'll be fine."

"Sluggy?"

"Slughorn, the professor. You'll see him in a bit."

"Hey," John said, turning to look at James, Fred, and Peter. "Why do you three call yourselves Prongs, Padfoot and Wormtail?" He knew these were the names on the Marauder's Map, but his father had never explained the meaning behind the nicknames. In fact, his father rarely told him anything about the war. He and his cousins had gleaned any information they knew about it from Extendable Ears.

The three boys glanced at each other before James spoke.

"Well, Sirius is Padfoot because he can walk really quietly, so he can prank unsuspecting people. And Peter is Wormtail because he, er, likes worms, played with them a lot as a kid. I'm Prongs since there was this prank we pulled once where I jinxed all the forks at the Slytherin table," James said awkwardly, not meeting John's eyes. As James finished speaking, the boys found themselves outside the door to the classroom, and they went inside. The dungeon was already a haze of multicolored smoke with students feverishly stirring their cauldrons and squinting at the directions on the board.

"You're late boys!" A large, short man said reprovingly. "I'm Professor Slughorn, Dumbledore explained your circumstances," he added to John and Fred. "We're making the Swelling Solution today, but this is stronger than the ones we have previously done. I assume you studied Potions where you came from, but if you need additional help, don't hesitate to ask. Well, get working!" he said, handing spare textbooks to John and Fred. He waddled in the direction of Lily Evans, who was working a few tables away.

"How're you feeling, Remus?" James asked a pale boy with sandy hair who was working over a cauldron next to them. The boy had a long cut down his cheek, and a few bruises on his face. Remus was about to answer when he caught sight of John and Fred. Seeing the direction of his look, Sirius introduced them and told Remus why they were there. Remus continued to look at them suspiciously, but said nothing.

"Why aren't you working yet, boys?" Slughorn said, reappearing through the haze and frowning at them. "Snape is almost finished and none of you have even started!" They looked over Slughorn's shoulder to see a boy with long greasy black hair and hooked nose a few desks across from them.

"Snape?" John asked curiously as he and Fred set up their cauldron. James and Sirius set up theirs and Peter joined Remus. John thought he had heard his father say that name before....

Sirius checked to be sure Slughorn was out of earshot before speaking. "Snape's a slimy git," he said darkly. "Nosy, ugly, annoying. He deserves a prank-hey James, want to do one now? I've got some Filibuster Fireworks, I think."

James hesitated, looking at the back of a dark red head before replying. "Yeah, alright. We can-"

"-throw the fireworks into his cauldron!" John said, his eyes lighting up with mischief. "Make his nose swell so it's even bigger."

On their other side, Remus pursed his lips and looked away but Peter edged toward them, looking excited. Fred grinned as James and Sirius glanced at each other.

"You want to do it?" James asked them. At Fred's enthusiastic nod, Sirius looked around and pulled out a few fireworks from his pocket.

"Careful," he said. "You have to get it right the first time or this prank's failed."

"No worries." John grinned.

"Yeah, John's a Chaser, he's good at aiming," Fred agreed. James pointed his wand at the back of Lily Evans' head and muttered a Shield Charm before nodding to John and Fred.

"Well, if you two make this good, we can make you officially honorary Marauders," he said. "Like us."

"Okay. One-two-three!" Fred whispered, as the Marauders ducked underneath the table.

When Fred said "three", John took careful aim and lobbed the fireworks though the haze. They had just enough time to see them about to land in Snape's cauldron, before they ducked under the table next to the Marauders, and then there was a colossal explosion of green potion and the floor shook as the students screamed. But there was one scream that was louder than the others.

"DETENTION POTTER, BLACK, PETTIGREW, LUPIN!"