A Change of Plans

Chapter Five

"HARRY POTTER!"

Both girls screamed at the same time; both jumped up and down at the same time.

"Oh my GOD!" Annie cried, staring and beaming. "Oh my God, it's him, it's him!"

A young Harry Potter was looking bewildered, not to mention a little scared. Patsy and Annie both forced themselves to calm down.

"I-I can't believe it..." Patsy gasped, circling him and ignoring the looks she was receiving for it. "He looks so young...and no scar!" she exclaimed in surprise.

"Well, James and Lily are alive," Annie contended, also looking him up and down. "And he is young...eleven or twelve...probably going to start his second year in September."

"Erm..." the boy was looking uncomfortable; true, his father was a famous Auror, but he wasn't used to such attention. "Er...who are you?"

Patsy nodded.

"Yes, probably second year...pity the Chamber most likely isn't going to open again..."

"Not unless Lucius isn't a known Death Eater," Annie agreed. "I wonder if they've searched his house and found it."

"Just think!" Patsy, who had completely lost her head, gushed. "Writing to Tom Riddle through an enchanted diary! Although, the being-possessed part wouldn't be as fun. No, I don't think I'd like that too much."

"Girls!" James exclaimed. "Would you please shut up for a moment?"

Both obliged, but they were still staring avidly at Harry, now and then whispering comments to each other. Sirius glared at them. Neither took the slightest notice.

"Now!" James said loudly over them, and they stopped whispering and paid attention. Sirius looked enviously at his friend. James turned to Harry. "Now, this is Annie-Elizabeth, I think," --Annie started to shake her head, but Patsy elbowed her-- "And this is Patsy," --Patsy waved, giggling-- "Annie is Sirius's soon-to-be step-daughter,"--Annie's exuberant look turned into a glare-- "and Patsy is Annie's friend,"

Patsy snorted-- "And, well, I don't know how they got here."

Annie, who was still looking moody, laughed nastily, with an incoherent cry that sounded strangely like "Thicker than Lockhart!". Patsy elbowed her again.

"That's not to hard, is it?" she said, trying to keep her friend from attacking James, on account of the step-daughter remark. "We took some of Sirius's Floo Powder and followed him through the fire."

"After you pushed me through it," Sirius grumbled, and both girls laughed, Annie rather nastily.

"Well, yes," Patsy admitted. "But it was absolutely irresistible. And then the two of you still didn't know where we were after it happened!" She choked back a laugh.

"Erm..." said Harry, who was completely thrown. "Erm...how did you know who I was?"

Patsy snorted with laughter. Annie rolled her eyes.

"Trade secret," she told the younger boy.

"Can we, possibly, see one of these books?" Sirius cut her off.

Anne said, "I don't have them," but Patsy nodded, produced Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone from her jean pocket, and said, "Sure, here."

Everyone stared at her, including Annie. Patsy just shrugged.

"I never travel without it," she said. "You never know when you'll come across a person who hasn't read it."

Even Annie was shaking her head in disbelief.

"Well," Patsy said, irritated, "we have it. That's the first book, there. It's Harry's first year, in, of course, another universe. It's quite entertaining."

"Oooooh!" Annie exclaimed suddenly, her eyes wide. "If the Potters are real, then the Weasleys have got to be, too!"

"Yes!" Patsy cried, gleeful. "They do! James, do you know Arthur Weasley? From work? Has"--she counted on her fingers--"seven kids? All with red hair?"

"Ginny, Ron, Fred, Geooorge!" Annie sang off key. "Charlie, and Biiilll! But we won't mention Percy! He deserves to be tossed from a window siiilll!"

"Only," Patsy added hastily, seeing Harry's shocked face, "after the fifth book. Other times he's just annoying."

"He deserted his famillllly! And left to live in a flaaaat! He's a gigantic pile of rat droppings! But we won't mention thaaat!"

"Annie!" Patsy cried over her. "Shut up!"

"He abandoned Dumbledoooore! And went with Fudge to booot! He never was a nice guy! But now he's just worth soooot!"

"SHUT UP!!"

"Now his mother, she weeeps! He's given up his paaaast! He's calling Harry a lyeeer! He's trash, and thaaat is thaaaat!"

"ANNIE, please!"

"Well," Annie said, laughing. "You were the one who wrote it!"

"I know!" Patsy started to giggle too. "But you're distressing the children!"

"Child," Annie corrected, but then she caught sight of Harry's frightened face. "Oops, sorry Harry James!"

"We know how you hate being referred to as a young person." Patsy comforted him in a highly uncomforting tone; it was more gleeful than anything else.

"But don't worry--" Annie assured him, sniggering.

"--it's only for a couple more years. Soon, people will be--" Patsy cut in.

"--telling you to act your age, instead of like a child!" Annie finished for her.

Both girls started laughing even harder.

"We sound like the Weasley twins!" Patsy cried.

"'Oh, are you a prefect, Percy?'" Annie quoted. "'You should have said something, we had no idea.'"

"'Hang on,'" Patsy picked up. "'I think I remember him saying something about it. Once--'"

"'Or twice--'"

"'A minute--'"

"'All summer!'"

Both girls nearly collapsed in giggles. Sirius, James, and Harry were watching the performance, open-mouthed.

"Sorry," Patsy gasped, wiping the tears from her eyes. "We're just not--"

"Used to this?" Annie cried, her voice still full of laughter, and the two started all over again.

"You're perfectly right, of course," Patsy said, once she'd regained control of herself. "I mean, we find out our favorite books are real, except only kind of, and Voldemort's out there killing people...God, you gotta love it!"

"You do," Annie agreed. Neither girl was paying the slightest attention to the three wizards, all of whom were pale and shocked at Patsy's tone as she spoke of Voldemort, or of their open mouths and wide eyes. "Oooooh. Can I attack a Death Eater? Can I? Pleeeeeease!"

James had regained himself.

"Most likely not," he told her faintly, "as you two are muggles, and the Death Eaters have wands."

Patsy nodded in agreement, still grinning.

"He's right, you know Annie. Just two words and it's over. Avada Kedavra!"

"Or Crucio!" Annie said, also nodding. "Man, that would be painful."

"Girls," James cried. "Would you please try to make some sense??"

Both of them goggled at him.

"Er...James?" Patsy asked in mock concern. "You feeling alright? I mean, us? Make sense? Not likely."

"You need your head checked if you're going to try to make us act sane, Prongs," Annie told him, grinning wickedly. "Your dear friend Padfoot should know that."

<><><><><><>

"This is weird," Sirius said, flipping through the pages of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. "'Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.' God, what's that all about?"

"It's about Vernon and Petunia Dursley of number four, Privet Drive, Little Winging, Surrey," Patsy explained patiently. "Lily's sister and her husband, as well as their son, Dudley." Behind her, Annie was sticking her finger in her mouth and making gagging noises.

"Let me see that," said James, wrenching the paperback out of Sirius's hands. He read through it a bit, and then stopped at a certain passage. "'The Dursley's had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters', I ask you." He set the book down.

"Well," Annie said, snatching it up. "It's true. You tell me that the Dursleys love magic. No, huh? They hate it."

"I know that," James snapped. "But why does a story about my son start there, at their house?"

Patsy sighed with exaggerated patience.

"Keep reading," she said, grabbing the book and forcing it into his hands. "You'll see."

"'To Harry Potter--the boy who lived!" Annie quoted, grinning.

"Let him read it!" Patsy exclaimed, elbowing her and grinning just as widely. "They'll enjoy page...what is it? In the hardcover it's twelve...but I'm not as familiar with the paperback..."

"You talking British or American version?" Annie asked conversationally.

"American, of course," Patsy snapped. "That's what I gave him, didn't I?"

"Well, seeing as the two of them are British," Annie shrugged. "I thought perhaps..."

"True," Patsy agreed. "The punctuation in the British versions are different..."

"Girls," James cried exasperatedly. "If you want me to read this so badly..."

"Oh, it's your choice if you read it or not." Annie said.

"Yeah," Patsy agreed. "We just thought you'd like to read it, as it involves your son..."

"Who," Annie said, frowning. "Has been awfully quiet...Harry? Do you have anything to say?"

Harry shook his head numbly. He was still in shock.

"God, the Harry in the books is so much more interesting," Patsy commented sourly.

"So true," Annie nodded, and addressed the boy in question. "What you need kid, is some deadly enemy you've got to defeat. A near-fatal struggle against a sixteen year old Tom Riddle and his pet Basilisk is enough to make anyone's life interesting."

Patsy smirked. Harry was trying not to sway as the girls overloaded him with information.

"Ah, well," Patsy sighed. "We can't expect miracles. Now, James. When do we get to meet your lovely bride? I mean, a trip into an alternate universe as well as into the Potter's house is not complete until all family members are present."

"Of course," Annie said. "We must meet Lily if this trip is to be complete."

"I think," Sirius said, in a slightly raised voice, "that it is time for the two of you to go home."

"Remember the last time you tried this," Annie said warningly.

"No, really, Sirius is right," James said, looking none too disappointed. "You two need to get home while we...work out a few details."

Both girls' faces cracked into identical evil grins. James felt a shiver crackle down his spine. They were up to something.

But both of them nodded.

"Alright."

"To the fireplace!"

And in a Whoosh! of green flames, they were gone.