The Sands of Time

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

Silence fell in the Hospital Wing as they each contemplated what had happened. It was a rude awakening to the fact that in this time period, anything could happen.

~*~

Moonlight streamed through the tall windows of the Hospital Wing, casting a pale glow on the peaceful sleeping faces of John and Fred. The Wing was quiet, its silence only interrupted by the even deep breathing of its two occupants, until-

Squueeaaakkk

"Shh!"

"I can't help it if my shoes squeak!"

"Shut up! What if Pomfrey comes out here?"

"Well she won't see us. That's kind of the point of an Invisibility Cloak."

"But she can hear us."

"Cut it out, you two. Look, there they are."

The four Marauders, still hidden under the Invisibility Cloak, edged toward the two occupied beds. At a silent signal, Remus and Peter slipped out from under the Cloak and went to Fred's bed. James and Sirius, still under the Cloak, sneaked toward John's bed. Sirius prodded John's shoulder, but he grunted and continued sleeping. Meanwhile, Remus and Peter were taking it in turns to poke Fred, and then duck out of sight when

Fred grumbled and opened his eyes a fraction to see who it was.

"Go away Albus," Fred muttered sleepily, turning over.

"Albus ?" Peter mouthed to Remus, a confused look on his face.

Just then, James shoved John's shoulder violently, almost causing John to fall off the bed.

"Arghhhh!" John yelled as he woke with a start. Sirius and James pulled the Cloak off .

"Blimey," Fred said, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Taking advantage of the fact that there might have been a mild sleeping potion in Madam Pomfrey's evening pumpkin juice," Sirius said casually, sitting on the edge of John's bed.

"You what?" Remus asked incredulously, whipping his head around to stare at Sirius.

"Relax, Remus," James said. "It's just so she wouldn't hear us come in."

"And you didn't tell me?"

"Relax," Sirius repeated. "Now, let's get to the point."

"Yeah," Remus agreed, now looking at Fred and John. "What happened? The whole school is talking about some attack on you two in the library. Is it true?"

"No, Remus. The point is, what were they doing in the library anyway? No self respecting sane person sets foot in that place," Sirius said, looking in mock suspicion at John and Fred.

"Some people go in the library," James said defensively. "Like Lily." Sirius snorted and started to say something, but Remus cut him off.

"Did you see who it was?"

"No, not really," Fred said, his face screwed up as he tried to remember.

"Yeah, I think it was some skinny bloke with longish dark hair, and I definitely saw the Slytherin badge on his robes," John said. James exchanged a look with Sirius, whose face was suddenly thunderous.

"Well, Slughorn let all of you off detention anyways," Peter murmured, in an attempt to break the uncomfortable silence.

"So," Sirius said loudly, determined to change the subject. His jaw was clenched and his fists were balled in his pockets. "Who is that pretty relative of yours that had blonde hair?"

"She's off limits," Fred said, glaring at him.

"I can't even know her name?" Sirius asked, faking a pout. James laughed. "He's between girlfriends right now," he said to Fred and John. "And he has a preference for blondes."

"What about Hestia, from Ravenclaw?" Remus suggested, helping himself to a Chocolate Frog from his pocket.

"Hestia," Sirius muttered thoughtfully. "Not a bad idea."

Silence fell again in the Hospital Wing as Remus finished his Frog and James fiddled with a corner of his Cloak.

"Who's Albus?" Remus asked suddenly, catching Fred and John off guard.

"Albus?" Fred said nervously. "I don't know."

"We don't know anyone named Albus," John said quickly.

"Really?" Remus said skeptically. "Then why did you tell him to go away when we woke you up?"

"You must have misheard," Fred said dismissively, trying to look indifferent.

"I have a brother named Alan," John spoke up. "I think that's what Fred was trying to say. He doesn't speak clearly when he's half asleep, you know. Slurs sometimes. "

Remus continued to look askance at them, but dropped the subject. Fred and John breathed a silent sigh of relief.

--

The next few days passed quickly. Lily had come to the Hospital Wing to see how Fred and John were doing and angrily speculate on who would attack them. Unfortunately, the Marauders had been there as well, and Lily had shouted at James so loudly that Madam Pomfrey had banned both the Marauders and Lily from the Hospital Wing, leaving the six cousins as John and Fred's only visitors. Finally, five days after the attack, Madam Pomfrey reluctantly agreed to release them.

"Finally," Fred grumbled, biting the head off a Chocolate Frog. The cousins were gathered in the Wing, eating the pile of sweets the Marauders had left and talking in hushed voices.

"I think she's even worse that she was in our time," John agreed.

"So, you said that you let slip Al's name, Fred?" Rose whispered, still fixated on the mistake.

"Yeah," Fred said through a mouthful of Frog. "You know how Al wakes people up, right? He just pokes them, and I guess I forgot where we were and thought it was Al trying to wake me up. And he only stops if you call him Albus, 'cause he hates his name."

"I don't hate it," Al muttered. "I just don't like it."

"Well, now Remus is suspicious," Dominique said. "And we've got to keep a low profile, so we can't make any more mistakes."

"Did Dumbledore say anything about when we're going back?" Laura asked in a small voice.

"No," Roxanne said quietly, shaking her head. "I guess we just have to make the best of the time we're here."

"Time," Hugo murmured. He looked at his watch. "Bloody hell, I forgot! James told me to tell all of you that the Gryffindor Quidditch tryouts are today, in ten minutes! He said we could come to watch, or if we played, try out-"

"Why didn't you say so?" John shouted, throwing back his bedcovers and leaping out of the bed.

"Come on! We can go and try out!" Fred called over his shoulder as he raced out of the Wing.

The cousins followed them with the loud protests of Madam Pomfrey, who had seen them leave, still ringing in their ears.

A large group of Gryffindors was already gathered on the Quidditch pitch by the time they got there, and they could make out the messy dark hair of James in the center of the throng.

"I'm trying out," announced John, making his way to the group. Fred joined him, but the rest of the cousins decided to go to the stands to watch, mainly because Rose said that too many of them on the team would draw attention.

"Hey!" James called, seeing John and Fred. "How are you feeling? Here to try out?"

"Yeah!" Fred called back, and he and John grabbed two school broomsticks. Sirius and Peter were also there, clutching broomsticks, but while Sirius was laughing and joking with the rest of the Gryffindors, Peter's face was light green, and he looked as though he was about to be sick.

"Peter's here for Chaser," James informed John, seeing him staring at Peter. "And Sirius is here for Beater. I'm a Chaser, myself."

"I'm here for Chaser too, and Fred's here for Beater," John replied, his eyes scanning the group.

"Really? Well, I'd say you have a pretty good chance then, from the way you threw that firecracker into Snivelly's cauldron," James said, winking. He walked away toward the center of the large, chattering group and ordered them all to mount their broomsticks, while John stared after him. His grandfather, the legendary namesake he had never known, had just complimented his Quidditch skills...

Suddenly he was glad, glad that he had somehow come to the past, even though there were so many inconveniences. He had a chance of a lifetime-to spend time with his unknown grandparents before terrible things happened to them. He mentally shook himself. Now was not the time to get emotional, he told himself sternly. He wasn't a girl, like his sister, to get all weepy over something like this. He came back to reality in time to hear James' voice.

"On the count of three, I want you all to do some laps around the pitch, so I can see how you fly," James yelled. "One-two-THREE!" He blew his whistle, and dozens of broomsticks lifted into the air.

In the stands, the rest of the cousins had found Lily Evans and her group of friends. Lily swore that she had only come to watch the tryouts because her friends had made her, but Rose noticed the way Lily's eyes lingered on a certain messy haired player. She turned away, hiding a smile.

"Oh look, the Chasers are trying out now," Mary MacDonald, one of Lily's friends, exclaimed. She pointed to the specks now zooming around the goal posts, trying to get the Quaffle past the Keeper.

A few minutes later, the Chasers left the air, and the Beaters came next. One Beater hopeful was so nervous, he swung the bat and knocked himself out. The group watching in the stands gasped.

"Wasn't that Davy Gudgeon?" Dorcas Meadows asked, her hand over her mouth. They watched as James flew to catch the unlucky boy, and ordered the finished Chasers to take him to the Hospital Wing.

"He gets into so many accidents," Lily murmured. "At least James caught him."

"He's James now?" Roxanne asked teasingly. "What happened to Potter?"

"I didn't-I mean-" Lily stuttered, her face glowing scarlet to match her hair. Lily's friends laughed and teased her as the Keepers came to try out and then the Seeker.

"Lil-Laura's a good Seeker," Hugo said, his eyes on the Snitch flitting around the pitch. "She should have tried out." Rose glared at him and stomped on his foot, causing him to give a short yelp of pain.

"Why didn't you?" Lily asked, turning her emerald gaze on Laura.

"I didn't want to. Fred and John are already trying out anyway," Laura said, determinately not looking at Lily. Lily stared at her, puzzled, but she was distracted by James blowing his whistle again. All the Quidditch hopefuls gathered in the center of the pitch.

"Let's go down and see who got in," Roxanne suggested excitedly. They rushed down the stands, Lily somewhat reluctantly, and reached the pitch in time to see the new players breaking away from the group with joyous looks on their faces.

"I'm Chaser!" John yelled at the same time that Fred shouted, "I made Beater and so did Sirius!"

"Congratulations!" Lily called to them. "Who is the other Chaser?"

"Someone named Sturgis Podmore," John said as he and Fred reached their cousins, who slapped them on the backs and congratulated them. Mary MacDonald and Dorcas Meadows giggled and nudged each other as they watched a blonde boy hoisting his broomstick over his shoulder.

"Peter didn't make it. John took the empty spot on the team, since Sturgis was a guaranteed player anyway. Apparently Peter really wanted to get on the team. He's mumbling about how he could have finally fit in," Fred informed them, pointing to Peter Pettigrew.

He was standing with the rest of the Marauders who seemed to be consoling him. His face had been downcast, but when Fred pointed to him, he looked up and locked eyes with John, who felt a chill.

Peter's face was full of anger, sadness, and disbelief, but that wasn't what worried John.

It was the look in Peter's eyes that promised vengeance.