Misguided Intentions

"So you two are going home then huh?" James said with a yawn and sitting down in the sofa next to Lily by the fire.

Harry nodded. "Yeah, we decided last night that since no one else is staying we'd go too. Haven't seen our parents in a while anyway, so it will be nice,” he said yawning himself and sitting down on one of the chairs.

Today being Saturday there wasn't any classes, but for some reason Harry, James and Lily had gotten up before the others. It was only just past sun up judging from the looks of it, and Harry wondered why James and Lily were up so early, though he knew the reason he was.

"You going to see Peter over the hols? I know he'd love to spend some time with you without Draco round,” James said now giving Harry a wink.

Harry slightly blushed, James hadn't really gotten hold of the fact that Peter and he weren't 'seeing' each other at all. "Well err....not sure yet. James, you know Peter and I are just friends anyway, stop tormenting me with this will you already?" he said grumbling and throwing Lily a pleading look.

"Honestly James, Harry's right, leave him alone. Besides, everyone knows Peter's got competition nowadays anyway..." she said shooting a grin towards Harry.

"Com-comp....what?" Harry said blushing even harder now and throwing Lily a sarcastic 'thanks for the help' look to which she only chuckled at.

"Oh I’m just teasing you, Harry; don’t fret so," Lily said with a giggle then. "Poor Peter, he really does have it bad for you, you know Harry. Are you two ever going to hook up cause if not I've got a nice list of blokes that would die to get near you..." she said giving him a wink.

Harry threw his hands up in the air exasperated. "Cripes Lily, will you stop trying to arrange my love life already? I'm perfectly happy as I am thank you very much,” he said with a sigh and leaned back against the sofa.

"Right and I'm the Minister of Magic Flyboy. Give it up, you know you can’t win against her so why bother trying?" James said laughing and putting his arm round his girlfriend.

"He's right you know, if something doesn't happen by the time you get back from Yule Hols...." she said leaving that threat wide open while waving her finger at him.

Harry groaned, James was right, once Lily got it in her mind to do something it was hard to persuade her to the contrary. "All right all right I give! If I don’t have someone by the end of the hols you can set me up,” he said grudgingly.

Lily clapped in delight. "Wonderful! I can start making that list up now then!" she said laughing. "Honestly though Harry, do give it a shot at least. Peter really is a nice boy and I think you make a cute couple," she said nodding now.

"That is of course, less you got your eye on someone else already, Flyer? I’m not Peter in studies, but I can see certain looks you get from a certain blonde haired blue eyed lad you happen to know?" James said with a grin.

Harry groaned internally this time; James even had picked up something he hadn't? "Honestly Prongs I don’t know what you mean. Draco and I are just friends that's it," he said shrugging.

"Right and I've got..er...what's the bridge thing the Muggles use again Lily?" James said turning towards Lily now.

She thought bout that a second and said, "Oh, I've got a bridge to sell you too, or something like that I think,” she said nodding to James.

"Well, right then, I've got a bridge to sell you Flyer. You may not think of him as more then a friend but I've seen how he looks at you, and Peter...and let me tell you Harry that's jealousy in it's highest form,” James said actually serious for a change.

"He's right Harry, and he should know. When we broke up for a short bit and I tried seeing this Ravenclaw well...the looks from him were enough to melt ice. He hates Peter I know that much, and the only reason he would is because of you,” Lily said nodding at Harry.

Harry sighed; most of this wasn't really all that new to him by now. "I know Dray hates Peter. I've tried to patch it up but lately things are even worse between them. You really think he's jealous, though? Peter said the same thing last night but I wasn't sure I really believed him since..well...you know he likes me and all that..." Harry said slightly blushing again now.

"Harry it's your life and how you want to lead it...but I will say this much...be careful. Look what happened with Remus and Sirius when Snape got in the way of their relationship..." James began but was cut off by a snort from Lily.

"Relationship? Those two never had a relationship James, it was all one sided and Sirius's side at that. Remus never liked Sirius in that way other then how he likes all of us,” she said matter-of-factly.

"My point is however..." James said giving Lily a scowl, "That jealousy is a touchy thing. Someone's bound to get hurt and badly and Peter's a fragile lad. So if you are going to go for Dray, just let him down easy all right?" he said giving Harry a hard look now.

Harry swallowed and nodded at James. "I do like Peter James, just not sure if it's in that way. I don’t know if I like Draco in that way yet either actually, we've never really had anything other then our friendship. I’m beginning to wonder if dating is even all it's put up to be, seems almost like it's not worth it,” he said sighing now.

"Not worth it? Are you daft? Harry dating is like...well...it's the best thing on earth!" James said in mock horror that Harry would even think along those lines.

"Oh honestly you!" Lily said giving James a swat on the arm. "Harry don’t listen to him, really. It's nice if you have someone I admit, but if you don’t feel comfortable with either of them, or don’t want to make things more difficult...well then just tell them,” she said giving Harry a soft gaze.

"Maybe I’m just not ready to date anyone that's all, Lils. If I was though, you'd be the first one I'd tell promise..." Harry said with a half a grin at her.

Lily and James chuckled; at least Harry was taking this well. "Right then, since we still have over an hour till the others will probably budge, want to get some flying time in, Flyboy? We've got a match against Hufflepuff tomorrow and we need to take it if we want this year's Quidditch Cup,” James said standing up now and stretching.

"Ugg, Quidditch!" Lily said rolling her eyes but before James could protest she said, "No go head boys, have fun. I'd hate to see Slytherin take the cup, they are pretty close to us in the scoring,” she said and stood up stretching as well.

"Flying sounds great James, I'd love to go,” Harry said with a grin and got up off the sofa. "Going to the library or coming to watch us practise, Lils?" he said.

"Library for me thanks, see you at breakfast boys!" she said with a wave and headed up to her dorm to get her things.

Harry and James went back to their dorm to finish getting dressed and grabbing their brooms they headed out to the pitch. The morning mist was a bit thick yet since there had been a fresh bout of snow the night before, but the air was crisp and cool and the sun was glowing a bright orangey yellow as it came over the horizon. To Harry it couldn't have been more perfect flying weather.

They didn't need to talk out on the pitch, flying for each of the boys was almost a sacred time. For a little bit Harry watched his father fly, James truly was spot on in the air, pulling rolls and dives like a bird more then a human being. Like Harry, James was made for flying, and Harry smiled as for the hundredth time he realized just how much like his dad he really was on a broomstick. James didn't even barely touch the broom; it just knew where to go and what to do, just as Harry had known back in his first year that fateful day in Madam Hooch's class.

They got back to the dorm before anyone had even realized they had left, and it was only bout 15 minutes later when Draco finally came down the stairs still rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"Morning Dray,” James said from his usual position on the sofa, Harry saying the same thing pretty much at the same time.

"Morning James, morning Harry,” he said yawning and sat down on the sofa that Harry was occupying. "You two are up early."

"Been up for hours actually. Went out and did a bit of flying,” James said leafing through one of the books Lily had left for him when she'd gotten back from the library and before she headed back up to the Head Girl's room. "Blimey, does she really think I'm going to read this?" he said with a growl.

Draco glanced over to see what he was reading. "The Collected Works of William Shakespeare? Heh, good luck Prongs, I never could understand those Muggle poems myself,” he said leaning back into the sofa tiredly.

"It's not poems, it's plays and sonnets Draco. Dudley had to learn them over summer last year and he hated it too, but I sort of liked it. Really they're not all that bad,” Harry said putting his feet up on the table now and leaning back himself.

Draco shot him this 'are-you-nutters?' look. "Sure Harry...whatever you say...I still think they're boring though,” he said with a shrug and Harry just rolled his eyes at him.

Everyone else apparently had finally woken up and dressed, and they all headed down to breakfast. Harry found at least he had a decent appetite thanks to the early flying, although he did notice Draco and Peter weren't eating nearly half as much. He remembered what James and Lily had told him, and decided not to say anything to them as to why they seemed a bit down this morning.

As everyone was getting ready to leave the Great Hall, Dumbledore caught the eye Harry and Draco, so the rest of them waited as he approached. Apparently he had a message for the both of them he wanted the others to hear.

"Is there something wrong professor?" Harry asked when Dumbledore came over to where he, Draco and the rest were standing.

"Ah Harry, no nothing is horribly wrong. However, I just received a post from your parents, I'm afraid they will not be home for the holidays as they hoped. They still have a few things to take care of in America, which is where the Ministry sent them last if you recall. They did ask me to tell you that Draco's parents however will be more then happy to have you for the time, and you are to go there instead of going home,” Albus said with a smile.

"Er...ah..so they won’t...won’t be home then. I had forgotten..that's why they...haven't sent any posts, they couldn't....umm..." Harry said haltingly as if to make it seem as if it really bothered him that he wasn't going home for the holiday.

"Well that's all right though, Harry; you know my parents love having you up. It will be just like old times," Draco said giving Harry a quick grin and playing along. "I can take you up to the palace and meet my...er...well...we can do sightseeing and stuff anyway," he said remembering at the last minute that he was not who he really was nor in the right time even perhaps for something.

"Um sure Dray, it'll be fun,” Harry said giving him an odd look but a smile as well.

"Well then, your mother and father will meet you two at Platform 9 3/4's on Monday evening Draco. Have a good holiday all,” he said giving everyone a quick smile and headed out the double doors of the hall.

"Ugg, Harry! He didn't even tell us who to look for at the platform; how will we even know it's them?" Draco said in French suddenly with a cry.

"Don’t worry, I'm sure we'll figure it out,” Harry said back to Draco in French as well, but his eyes were on Peter at the moment.

"That's really a let down bout your parent's Harry, I know you were really looking forward to seeing them,” Peter said to Harry as the group headed out the hall to the dorms now.

"Yeah, I guess. Oh...that means though I wont be able to see you over the hols Peter, since I wont be home,” Harry said now glancing at Peter.

Peter gave a visible sigh. "Yeah, I know, I doubt Draco would want me to come over to his house. It's okay I'll just have that much more to tell you when I get back bout the pups and all,” he said smiling a bit sadly. "Oh yeah, here's the picture of them...." he said now pulling it out of a pocket of his robe and handed it to Harry.

They really were cute Harry admitted, and for a moment he actually felt sad that he wouldn't be able to go over to Peter's house over the break. "They're adorable Peter, maybe I'll get to see them another time,” he said handing the picture back. It had been a wizarding photo so he could see the pups running round on a snow filled lawn with a pretty beige two story home in the background, which he assumed was Peter's house.

"Well, my dad said we have to give away some of them, there's just too many to keep round,” he said rather glumly. Peter had quite a fondness for animals, not just dogs and cats but almost any animal it seemed, just like Hagrid.

"That's really hard I know you love them. At least you'll get to spend a bit of time with them before they have to leave right? See there is a bright side to the hols after all,” Harry said smiling at Peter now to try and lighten the mood. Apparently it did work for Peter's eyes seemed to sparkle at that idea.

"Yeah, you're right, I'll be glad to see them,” Peter said happier now.

"And what are you two talking bout that's making you lag behind eh?" Sirius said jovially putting his arm round Peter shoulder, and Harry noticed Sirius gave Harry a quick glance that seemed rather strange. Although they were back on speaking terms without tension, Sirius had seemed a bit odd around Harry and Peter lately.

"Oh..er...nothing really. Just was telling Harry bout the pups Hunter and Sereity just had; want to see them?" Peter said reaching for the photograph he'd just put away.

"Sure, Wormtail!" he said taking the photograph now and looking at it. "Wow, they're totally squeezable, Peter! You're so lucky; my parents hate dogs...they have a ton of cats though. Ironic isn't it?" he said with a laugh.

Peter grinned and nodded. "Good thing they don’t know that your...er...that you love dogs so much right, Padfoot?" he said quickly trying to cover his words. Harry and Draco had never been clued into the fact that 3 of the marauders were illegal Animagi, nor did Harry or Draco ever reveal that they actually knew it either.

Sirius didn't say anything to add to that comment, but he did chuckle and then gave the photograph back to Peter. "Wish I could come over and see them in person, I love playing with pups more than anything, they're always so cuddly when they're little,” Sirius said a bit wistfully.

"Well, maybe you can...if you think you're parents would let you? I'm just going to be spending the holidays by myself pretty much anyway, my parents always have to work or something even when I'm home,” Peter said.

"Really? You wouldn't mind if I came over then?" Sirius said taking his arm from Peter's shoulder and looking at him now.

"Sure! But...you're all the way up in Coventry, that's pretty far away drive from Dorking,” Peter said.

"Oi, what's far when you have the Floo network, Peter! My parents wouldn't know an automobile if it bit them remember, they don’t go near Muggle things like your parents do,” he said grinning.

"Oh yeah, I forgot bout that! All right then, I'd be glad to have you come over and see the pups. Maybe I can convince dad to let you have one and we can hold onto it until you get out of school. I know you're planning on hiring out a flat in Hogsmeade rather then going home, so now you can have a friend too...if...well...if you want one that is..." Peter said a bit less enthusiastically now.

Sirius laughed. "Course I want one! That would be great Peter thanks! Oi, seems we've been left behind; everyone's already at the dorm, I bet. Really a downer for you Harry bout your parents though, you'll be all right with just Draco for company over the break?" he said giving Harry a sweet looking grin.

"Oi, you're as bad as James and Lily!" Harry said gazing up. "Yes I'll be fine, I have spent time with him and his parents before you know...don’t worry, I promise I'll come back in one piece, sheesh," he said shaking his head.

"Just toying with you mate! Dray's not so bad, I just know not to get him angry again cor....he's a bloody nightmare when he's peeved out,” Sirius said groaning, while Harry and Peter actually grinned at that.

Almost 2 months ago Sirius and Draco had gotten into a bit of a row with each other over something Harry didn't even remember, and although Sirius Black was well known for his 'blacksided' temper, he couldn't even touch how Draco could be when he was angered. Harry had personal first hand knowledge of what Draco's anger could be like, and wasn't in the least surprised when Draco won out that little row. Since then Sirius knew, along with every other Gryffindor who'd been present in the commons that day, not to anger Draco Malfoy if at all possible.

"Well come on then, I know Frank Longbottom got a tin of sweets at breakfast this morning since he's got to stay behind and offered to share it with us...I just hope James and the others haven't eaten them all by now!" Peter said with a laugh and all 3 of them sprinted up towards the commons.

Luckily James hadn't eaten all the sweets by the time they got back, and Peter, Harry and Sirius dove in grabbing up their favourite things. Peter loved Licorice Wands with a passion, Sirius loved Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans more than life itself, and Harry stuck with a couple of Chocolate Frogs. Amazingly he finally got that Ptolemy card that Ron so often dreamed bout, but never had found.

James had grabbed up some Pumpkin Pasties, whilst Lily was licking her fingers from the Cauldron Cakes she'd just finished. Draco also had chosen Chocolate Frogs, ending up with Circe and Merlin cards. Harry's second card turned out to be Dumbledore of all things, making him almost wistful for home...or more to the point, Ron and Hermione.

As Harry watched his 'now' friends, he began to realize just how much he and Draco really didn't belong in this time. What possible problems they were even creating by being here he couldn't even imagine. 'His' time had seemed so sure, so certain on how things were supposed to be, and what had been in the 'past'. Now here he was in that 'past' mucking round doing Merlin knew what to the 'future', which was making him a bit dizzy to think on.

Draco had warned him to be careful, that events had to be as they were supposed to be, but he'd already changed that he knew. The Whomping Willow incident never took place. The bond between Remus and Severus that could have still been in the past, but would most likely have severed after that incident still was intact. Going even better then planned really now that Lily had finally had a talk with Sirius and used her persuasive charms to get him to ease off them and attempt some civility.

He doubted Sirius and Severus would ever really be friends, but the past few weeks they had conversed on at least a non-threatening level, and from the looks of it, Sirius had finally come to terms with that fact. And from the way Harry was seeing things all of a sudden as he glanced towards Sirius who was sitting next to Peter on the sofa, it seemed as if Sirius was seeing Peter in a new way. For Harry's sake actually he hoped so at that.

Looking over at Draco now whilst pretending not to, he wondered if everyone was right bout him and how he felt towards Harry. Could it even have been possible that Draco liked Harry in that way? Draco the boy who he thought wasn't capable of liking anyone but Pansy Parkinson back in their own time, who never once showed a trace of liking guys over girls? Somehow Harry found it a bit much to believe, but the signs were indeed there. And worse was, Harry knew how he felt during the few 'close' moment's he had shared with Draco since the came to the 'past'.

Whatever the case was, he was going to be spending the next fortnight with Draco, so he decided that any questions he had now would have to wait till they got to Draco's pretend "parent's" house on Monday. Somehow though an entire fortnight alone with Draco didn't seem so bad, and now that Sirius was going to be keeping Peter company over the holiday, he felt even less guilty bout that issue.

He knew Peter liked him yet, pined for him really, and Peter hadn't a clue that there was possibly someone else out there now for him. From the sideways glances Harry was now giving towards Sirius and Peter again, it was clear to him at least that his suspicions were most likely right. But then...if he hadn't seen Draco's like for him, it was most likely Peter wouldn't see Sirius in that way. Somehow if things didn't progress on their own during the hols, he'd have to talk to Lily and get her and Draco even in on things. That definitely would make his life a lot simpler.

In the meantime, he would just enjoy being here in the past. Close to his parents who were so much in love with each other they could lose track of anyone else in the room at times. It made him feel so glad that he could get to see his parents this way, to get to know them as he hadn't and couldn't do in his own time. If anything, this was the single most important thing bout being here in the past there was, knowing that he was born from such love and that their deaths because of him weren't going to be in vain.

He couldn't stop their deaths, he knew that, but at least he could have them now while they were still alive. Live for the moment someone once told him, and that's what he was doing whilst here in the past. Although he missed home more then a lot, at least he had his parents for now, and would always be able to remember them this way. Something even the photographs back in his own time couldn't begin to do for him, and right now for Harry, that was more then enough.

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