Along the Way

Meet the Parents

Harry fell to the floor with a thump. Everything went blank for a second, and then he realised what had happened.

Damn Malfoy, he thought.

It all flooded back to him. He had been partnered with Malfoy in Potions and the stupid git had to go and purposely add the wrong ingredient to Harry's potion, tipping the cauldron over in the process and spilling it all over Harry. Not like it wasn't ruined already, but... still, he had to kill Malfoy. Staggering to his feet, Harry wondered why he was on the fifth floor corridor and not in the dungeons. Shrugging, he headed towards the Gryffindor dormitory, not particularly wanting to discuss the meaning of his actions with Professor Snape.

Sighing, he reached the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Password?" she grumbled.

"Fiddlesticks," Harry replied.

She stared at him. "The password has never been 'fiddlesticks', boy, now run along unless you can come up with the real password."

"But that was the password last week!" he exclaimed.

"Shoo!" was the irritated reply.

Great, Harry thought. Since when had the password changed?

"Problem?" a vaguely familiar voice came from behind him.

Turning, Harry's eyes widened at the sight of the person in front of him. Tall, long dark hair, handsome features, a tanned, sixteen-year-old Sirius Black posed with a smirk on his face.

"Sirius..." Harry murmured, eyes wide. His godfather was alive in this time?

"And you are?" Sirius asked impatiently. However, Harry, utterly confused by the retort, simply stared for at least a minute before rushing past a surprised Sirius and in the certain direction of the Headmaster's office.

Thankfully, he spotted Dumbledore emerging from behind the gargoyle as he arrived.

"Professor!" Harry gasped.

"Why, hello! And who might you be?" Dumbledore asked cheerfully.

"Sir, it's me, Harry!"

"I'm afraid I do not know of any Harrys in Hogwarts, you will have to fill me in."

"But sir, it's me! Why are you saying you don't know me?" Harry began to get frustrated. Why was his day turning out so bad? "This isn't funny, Professor!" he warned.

Dumbledore's eyes gleamed, to Harry's complete annoyance.

"I assure you," he responded, "I am not trying to be. Why don't you come up to my office and we can have some tea, hmm?"

Harry sighed and followed Dumbledore along the spiral staircase and into his office.

"Have a seat."

Harry took his usual chair in front of Dumbledore's desk. He waited patiently for an explanation.

"So, you are Harry," Dumbledore stated. He appeared pensive for a moment. He then fixed his blue gaze on Harry. "Am I right in supposing your surname is Potter?" he said finally.

"Er... yes," Harry answered, confused.

The old wizard nodded, still looking thoughtful.

"Harry Potter..." he mused. "And am I correct in guessing you are somehow related to James Potter?"

Harry frowned. "Yes, he is - was, my father. But sir, you already know this."

Dumbledore couldn't have looked more thoughtful.

"What was the last thing you were doing, before you bumped into me?" he asked.

"Well, I was trying to get into the dormitory, but the Fat Lady wouldn't let me."

"And before that?"

"I was in Potions with Professor Snape, when Malfoy knocked my potion all over me and I ended up on one of the corridors on the fifth floor." Harry looked curiously at Dumbledore. "Why?"

"Well," Dumbledore began, "It seems to me that whatever you put in that potion has the unusual ability of sending a wizard, such as yourself, to another dimension."

"Huh?"

"You may have travelled back in time, my dear boy."

Harry stared at him. "How? I thought that was only possible with a time turner?"

"As did I, but you have proved us both wrong."

"So... what am I supposed to do?"

"Of course, since we don't know how to get you back, you will have to settle in here for a while. I presume you are in Gryffindor?"

"Er... yes."

"Excellent! Just like your father. What year are you in?"

"I just began my sixth," Harry explained.

"Have you ever wondered, Harry, what your sixteen-year-old father would appear to be like?"

Harry frowned. "No," he said slowly. "I'm too busy wondering what my father would be like at all." He received a questioning look. "James Potter is dead in my time; he died trying to save me when I was a baby."

Dumbledore's eyes closed in what could only be sorrow. When they opened again, he smiled. "Then you will finally be able to meet him."

Was he always this optimistic? Harry wondered.

"But sir, how am I meant to tell him that I have come from the future and that I'm his son? He'll think I'm insane!"

"Ah, well, you will just not tell him then. We shall have to give you a new name."

Harry sat back, thoughtful. What should he use as a name?

"Hmm... How about, Harry James?" offered Dumbledore.

Harry laughed. "Wouldn't that be a bit obvious?"

Dumbledore's eyes sparkled. "Do you think they will guess?"

"Er... no."

"Harry James it is then. Now, I shall have to inform Professor McGonagall about this, as she is the Deputy Headmistress. You can stay here until we find a solution to getting you back."

"Okay, sir." Harry took that as a dismissal, and just as he reached for the door -

"Oh, and Harry, does Severus Snape really become a professor here?"

"Um, well, yes," Harry began, and then he thought about it. A brilliant idea came to mind. "But,' he hurried, "there are plenty of other talented people you could hire..." he hinted.

Dumbledore chuckled, and the eyes behind his half moon glasses sparkled.

*****

Harry wandered back to the Gryffindor dorms.

Damn! he thought. He had forgotten to ask Dumbledore for the password! Cursing, he looked around for any wandering Gryffindors. Almost instantly he spotted a flash of red and gold disappear round a corner.

"Wait!" Harry shouted, and sped after the person, only to meet a - THUMP.

"Watch where you're going! Oh, it's you again. Who the hell are you?"

"Sirius!" someone shouted. "Come on, we're gonna be late - Hey, who are you?"

Harry stared in shock at the handsome young face of his father.

"I haven't seen you before."

"Hey, James, he looks just like you -"

"What are you two doing now? McGonagall will kill us - Hi, who are you?" The young, weary face of Remus Lupin appeared from behind Sirius' shoulder, his expression going from distressed to curious.

"My name is Harry," he finally managed. "Harry James."

"Are you new here? I've never seen you around before," James said.

"Yeah, I just moved here from another school."

"Which school?" Sirius asked.

"Durmstrang," Harry replied, since it was the first thing that popped into his head.

"Cool, what house are you in?" James questioned.

"Gryffindor."

"Is that why you were harassing the Fat Lady to get into the dorm?" Sirius asked.

"Er... yes, but I wasn't harassing her."

"What year are you in?" James questioned. "We're in sixth."

Harry groaned inwardly. He knew where this would go. "Same as you," he replied.

"You look younger," Sirius stated, staring at Harry.

"I know," was Harry's response. He sighed. How many times? He blamed his short height and younger look on the cupboard he was shunted in for eleven years. It irritated him to no end.

"All right, let's talk about this later; we need to get to Transfiguration!" With that, Remus sped off.

Harry hoped they were finally done questioning him.

"Poor Moony, always in a rush," Sirius mused.

"So, where are you going now?" James asked Harry. "And yeah, you do look a lot like me."

Hope lost.

"Maybe he's your long lost twin," Sirius stated.

"Uh, I don't think I am."

James snorted. "You could be, for all I know."

"Okay... I don't know where I'm supposed to be going right now, so..."

"So?" Sirius encouraged.

"So... I'll just go over here..." Harry muttered, whilst slowly edging away from the Marauders.

Sirius laughed. "You can't escape from us that easily. Come on, you can come to class with us, I'm sure McGonagall won't mind..." Grabbing Harry by the wrist, he ran round the corner, somewhat dragging Harry with him, whilst James sped after them.

"So, Harry," James said breathlessly as they ran through countless corridors and halls. "You don't happen to be interested in Quidditch, do you?"

Harry's face brightened immediately, despite the fact he was being hauled along helplessly by Sirius.

"Of course I like Quidditch! How can anyone not like Quidditch?" This time he looked nonplussed.

James laughed. "In that case, I'm sure we'll get along just fine."

Suddenly Sirius stopped, causing Harry immediately to go flying into his back, knocking them both over. Sirius sat up, looking slightly ruffled, then he grinned.

"You have a nasty habit of doing that, don't you?" It was more of a statement than a question.

Harry smiled sheepishly in reply and helped him up. They followed James into Professor McGonagall's classroom, but said professor did not look too happy.

"Where have you been?" she demanded disapprovingly. "The lesson started fifteen minutes ago, Potter, Black - and who might you be?" She looked inquiringly at Harry.

"His name is Harry James, Professor," Sirius answered for him. "He's a new student from Durmstrang."

"Very well," McGonagall sighed. "Take a seat, Mr. James. I assume you know that this lesson is all to do with transfiguration. Let it be known that I do not accept laziness or complete lack of attention in my class."

She eyed Sirius and James. "Right, today, as I have already told the class, we are covering Animagi."

The lesson went well, as far as Harry was concerned. He wondered if the Marauders had already completed their Animagus transformations yet. Sirius and James sat on either side of him, and they had a long agreeable discussion on how great Quidditch was. Abruptly, the conversation turned onto 'marauding'.

"What's your school like, Harry? Do you get into a lot of trouble?" James asked mischievously.

"Yeah, but not intentionally, if that's what you mean."

Harry received a strange look. "You get into trouble for no reason?" was the nonplussed reply.

"How can you get into trouble for no reason?" Sirius asked.

"Erm..."

"Give us an example," James said.

"Well... There was this one time when I got in trouble with the Ministry for -"

"With the Ministry?" James exclaimed, impressed. "What the hell did you do to cause that?"

"Well..." Harry began, knowing this would go nowhere. "To keep it short, I saved my fugitive godfather from a hundred or so Dementors on the school grounds," he said simply.

He was stared at for a while, until the two Marauders burst out laughing.

"Like we're gonna believe that," Sirius stated.

Harry shrugged. "Believe what you want." Knew it.

"Why was he a fugitive?"

"Huh?" Harry turned around to see Remus looking at him questioningly.

"Your godfather, why was he a fugitive?' Remus repeated.

"Oh, he was accused of murdering thirteen Muggles in an open street and the murder of Peter -" He stopped dead, realizing what he was about to reveal.

"Peter who?"

"Never mind." How could he have been so stupid?

"No, go on, tell us," James said, interested once more.

"It doesn't matter." So foolish.

"Does," Sirius retorted.

"Doesn't." Idiotic.

"Does."

"Doesn't." Horrifically imprudent.

"Does."

"Okay, okay," James interrupted. "You don't have to tell us, but I don't see why not."

"It just doesn't matter." Just a bit rash.

"Does." Sirius smirked.

Both Remus and James groaned, whilst Harry and Sirius shared a grin.

Harry had a feeling his stay here wasn't going to be so bad after all.

*****

After the lesson, Harry was poked and prodded (mostly by Sirius) up to the Gryffindor common room.

"Hey look, there's a spare bed for you, Harry."

Sirius leapt into his own bed. Then he smirked. "Care to join me, Harry?"

Harry felt the blush rise in his cheeks and smiled. Maybe another time, Sirius.

"Oh, come on, don't be such a wuss."

"I'm not being a wuss." You are.

"Are to."

"Are not." Where did that come from?

"Are to."

"Are not." You really ought to stop this.

"Please stop that," Remus muttered.

"Are to."

"Are not." At least Remus agrees.

"Please," Remus asked again pointlessly.

"Are to."

"Are not." One day...

"That's enough." By now, Remus was getting fairly irritated.

"Are to -"

"STOP!" Remus yelled.

"Don't be such a killjoy, Moony," Sirius retorted.

Harry grinned.

Remus closed his eyes in frustration. "Where's James?" he asked suddenly.

Sirius shrugged. "Probably stalking Evans around the castle." He stretched himself out on the bed and looked bored.

A minute later, Remus asked, "Harry?"

Harry jumped slightly from staring out of the window.

"Is that true what you said about your godfather?"

"Yes, wouldn't be much point in lying, would there?"

"S'pose not."

"But how exactly did you take on a hundred Dementors?" Sirius asked disbelievingly.

Harry shrugged. "I guess I have a strong Patronus."

"Show us it," James said eagerly as he walked in.

Harry sighed, took out his wand, and said, "Expecto Patronum!" A huge, silvery stag emerged from the tip of his wand to gallop through the door.

Suddenly gasps were heard from the common room.

"Wicked!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Where'd you learn to do that?" James asked, astounded.

Harry shrugged again. "The DADA professor taught me how to do it because the Dementors affect me more than most people, and the Ministry was letting them roam all over the school grounds."

Harry leaned against the windowsill.

"To catch your godfather?"

"Yeah."

"How come we've never heard about this?"

"Dunno, maybe 'cause it happened three years ago."

"Why do Dementors affect you more than most people?" Sirius questioned.

Harry shrugged again. "Bad memories," he said.

"What happened?" Sirius was eager now.

Harry shifted uncomfortably. "I don't really want to talk about it, sorry."

"Fair enough." To Harry's surprise, Sirius let the subject drop.

"Let's go play Quidditch," said James. "Do you have a broom, Harry?"

"Er... I do, but I don't have a clue where it is... Or where any of my stuff is as a matter of fact..."

"They'll probably bring it up later, come on! You can borrow one of the school brooms!" And with that he sped out of the room, Harry on his heels.

Ten minutes later, Harry found himself gasping for breath outside the broom shed.

A second later, James appeared from inside, grumbling about indecent respect towards the brooms.

"Here," he said. "Sorry, it's the best I could find."

Harry shrugged away the apology, mounted and kicked off. Instantly all his problems were swept away as the sheer joy of flight overcame him. He felt immensely happy and free.

In the distance, Harry noticed a small, black dot leaping from the castle steps. Figuring it was Sirius chasing after them, he sped towards the castle with the intention of giving Sirius a lift.

"Sirius!" he yelled.

Harry met him at the bottom of the steps, looking slightly bemused. He grinned at him.

"Want a lift?"

His grin was reflected in his young godfather's face, and Sirius mounted the broom behind him. Once they had left the ground, Harry asked Sirius whether he was on the team.

"Yeah," Sirius replied. "Beater, and James is Chaser. Is there a team at Durmstrang?"

"Yep, I'm Seeker."

"Cool, we could do with a new Seeker since the last one resigned. Just try not to beat James when it comes to Quidditch."

"I reckon I could beat him." Harry already knew of the amazing flying talent his father held.

Sirius laughed. "You may be good, but I've never met anyone as good as James."

Harry gave him a quirky smile. "We'll see."

They arrived at the pitch and Sirius clambered onto his own broom.

"Oy! Sirius!" James yelled from above. "Since you're down there, let out the Snitch!"

"Aye, aye, Captain!" was the shouted reply. "Try and get it, Harry!"

Harry observed as Sirius let out the miniscule ball, which abruptly darted towards the other side of the pitch. Harry decided to give it five seconds, before bolting after it.

The fluttering ball whizzed upwards, beginning to rise higher and higher, and as Harry pursued it, the ground gradually got smaller. The snitch suddenly decided to stop. It hovered for a minute, just as Harry was catching up, before lunging into a vertical plummet towards the ground. Pulling into the dive, Harry felt everything around him vanish as his mind was set on one thing - catch the snitch. He was going down, down, so fast it seemed impossible for him to breathe, but he was catching up. Faster, he thought. Faster. In seconds, the ground appeared only meters away. Harry plunged down, reached out, and after a close swinging dive directly above the ground, he caught the angry, fluttering ball between his fingers.

"Bloody hell!" Harry heard as he landed. "He's just as good as you, James!"

He walked over to the two as they touched ground, staring at him in disbelief.

"I don't think we need to do Seeker tryouts anymore," James said with a grin.

"Seeker tryouts, my arse," Sirius retorted.

They laughed and cheered Harry as they made their way slowly back to the castle. They arrived back at the common room to quiet chattering. Remus stood by the fire, and next to him was -

Harry scowled, his heart immediately overflowing with hatred towards the small, mousey boy.

"Hey, Peter," Sirius greeted his friend. "Where've you been all day? You weren't at any of the lessons."

Pettigrew stuttered a reply stating that he had been visiting his sick grandmother. Harry's eyes narrowed. He knew exactly where Peter had been.

"You alright, Harry?" Remus asked him with a frown.

Harry didn't reply.

"This is Harry," James introduced him. "Harry, meet Peter."

"Pleased to meet you," Harry said darkly, before retreating to the dorms.

"What's up with him?" He heard.

Sighing, Harry sat uncomfortably on his new four-poster, trying to figure out how he was meant to be civil towards the one person he hated most.

The stinking rat who had caused the death of his parents.

*****

A week later, Harry sat in the Owlery, mostly wondering about how Hermione and Ron were getting on. He was beginning to miss them and, he had to admit, he was coming close to missing the wrath of Snape, of all people. Life at Hogwarts was much different with the Marauders; Harry was rarely stared at, and when he was, it was only to contemplate that he was 'the new guy'. He realized that even with Voldemort at large, even in this time, he had absolutely nothing to worry about. Voldemort wouldn't even know who Harry was were he ever to come across him. His face darkened at the thought of what Voldemort was doing.

"Harry?" He heard the familiar voice.

Harry sighed, then said with a forced smile, "Hi, Sirius."

"What's up?"

"Nothing, just thinking."

"C'mon, I'm not taking that. Tell me what's wrong."

Harry shrugged. "I was just thinking about... my parents."

Sirius frowned. "Is something wrong with them?"

"They're dead," Harry said quietly. He didn't look up to see the shocked look on his godfather's face. Sirius sat down beside him.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?"

Harry shrugged and stared through the window. It was raining. Dark clouds littered a darker sky. "Voldemort."

It was an uninformative answer, but Harry knew Sirius would get it. Voldemort was still at large in this time.

Sirius was quiet for a moment. "Sorry for bringing it up..."

Harry shook his head. "Doesn't matter... Happened a long time ago."

"I suppose I kind of know how you feel, just maybe in a different way." Harry looked at him confusedly.

Sirius sighed. "I ran away from home, last year. Stayed with James for the summer."

"What happened?" Harry asked, interested now.

"I don't know." Sirius sighed. "I guess I finally lost it. With my family, it's all pureblood, and anything less is unworthy."

"But you disagree?"

"Yes, but I'm the only one. My mother.-" His fists clenched. "My mother despises anyone who thinks otherwise, and with her, no one else BUT her is right. I am a disgrace to the family, a rat with all the mice, and for it I get -" He stopped and closed his eyes in pain, obviously not wanting to continue. But Harry pushed him.

"You get what?" he asked quietly.

Sirius looked at him strangely, before slowly pulling his robe off. Turning around, he carefully pulled up his shirt, and Harry gasped at what was revealed. All across Sirius' back, from right shoulder down to left hip, were long, thick, vicious gashes.

"They... they lashed you?" Harry whispered in horror.

Sirius dressed quickly. "Not my father, he's not as low as that. But my mother..."

"You don't have to talk about it."

"I know I don't, but I want you to know."

"Why?"

Sirius looked like he was struggling for words. He settled for, "Because you're different."

"I am?"

"Yeah, you are."

Harry looked at him strangely, but said nothing. Ever since he had been here, he had tried to get as close as he could to his godfather. Strange as it was, he often chose Sirius over James. But, he supposed, he had known Sirius longer. The week had passed fairly quickly, and Sirius had shown him to all the lessons, leant him things, taught him new spells (and vice versa), he had been more kind and helpful to Harry than anyone had ever been. Only a few times had Harry glimpsed the Sirius he had seen in Snape's Pensieve; the spiteful, selfish Sirius that taunted those he didn't like. And those times were usually around James, which Harry found rather annoying.

James was consistently talking about Lily, who Harry longed to meet. He had glimpsed her a few times in the corridors, but never had the chance, or reason, to speak with her. Mostly because he was with Sirius, or James, or both of them. Thinking back to Sirius again, Harry realized that beforehand, he had known very little about his godfather. He looked so different, so much more whole and happy.

"Harry?"

Harry jumped, and realized he had been staring. He smiled apologetically, but didn't yet avert his gaze.

Sirius smiled amusedly. "Am I so positively good looking that you have to stare your eyes out, even AFTER you apologize?"

Harry gave him one of his quirky smiles. "Yes," he mused, "and I just realized how deeply in love with you I am and that I think we should go to the next Hogsmeade weekend together."

Sirius laughed. "Sure thing," he said. "Shall we head back to the common room?"

"Might as well," Harry replied, feeling a lot better after that gloomy conversation.

*****

The next day, Harry woke up early. Figuring that everyone was still asleep, he decided to go down to the library. He stopped dead when he saw who was in there.

Long red hair; dazzling, kind, green eyes, his mother sat comfortably at a desk by the window, and from what it looked like, was studying. Harry wished he had the courage to go up to her, but not being able to think of any reason to, he went to look for a certain book.

Harry had abruptly decided half way through the night that he was going to help Sirius. He hadn't been sure how, at first, or why, but then he settled on making something to treat the damage on his godfather's back. Pulling ten or so potions books from the shelves, he looked up 'Potions and Their Medical Uses by Linda Poison' and inhabited a seat at the opposite side of the room to Lily. He was halfway through reading a potion on scar treatment, when he felt a shadow appear across the book. Lily gave him a curious look.

"Can I sit here?" she asked politely. Harry nodded, speechless. Luckily, he didn't have to worry about what to say as she asked first.

"Are you the one who has been hanging around Potter?" she asked, seeming reluctant.

Harry gave her a pitied look; he knew exactly how she felt about his father. "Yes, and I know I look a lot like him, if that's what you were going to say."

She smiled. "You do." Then her face became serious again. "You should be careful around Potter, though. He can become very dim witted when it comes to people's feelings."

Harry smiled amusedly. "I know," he said. He received a questioning look, and shrugged. "I've seen."

"Doesn't it bother you that you are friends with a selfish prat who cares about nothing but himself," she began to ramble on a bit about how self-centered James could be.

Harry felt nonplussed. "Come on, he can't be that bad." But he knew that she was right. Then something occurred to him. Did Lily have feelings for James yet? It didn't seem so, not with that much hatred in her words, but... The next thing she said clued it all up for Harry.

"Why can't he just be like he is when he hasn't got a large crowd around him? He can be so nice and, and..."

Harry looked at her carefully. He sighed, and said simply, "Why don't you just tell him how you feel?"

She looked at him, shocked. "You, you..." she spluttered.

He smiled. "Don't worry. I won't tell anyone." He checked his watch; it was time the Marauders would be getting up. "I've got to go back to the dorm before breakfast, I'll see you later." He wandered out of the library, leaving Lily still sitting there, looking stunned.

Half an hour later he sat at the Gryffindor table, waiting for the others to arrive. Sirius came into the hall, looking slightly annoyed. Sitting himself down next to Harry, he said, "How do you get up so bloody early?" Harry laughed, when suddenly the empty seat next to him was replaced with one Lily Evans.

"Hi, Lily," he said. She looked somewhat out of breath.

"Hello," she said. "Sorry, I didn't get your name in the library."

"It's Harry."

"Harry..."

"James."

"Okay." She smiled and then added, looking slightly desperate, "You won't tell anyone, will you?"

"'Course not."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

She sighed in relief. "Thank you."

Harry shrugged.

"What's your little secret, Evans?" Sirius asked over Harry.

"Never you mind, Black." She glared at him darkly.

"C'mon Evans, it can't be that bad."

"Sirius," Harry said quietly, looking down at his food.

Sirius looked at him strangely, but let the topic drop.

"Harry, Sirius!" James skidded into the hall, not seeming to notice how he was attracting all the attention.

"Yeah?"

"Quidditch practice at seven!"

Sirius burst out laughing. Harry grinned. "You rushed all the way down here to tell us that?"

"We're touched, James," Sirius managed through his laughter.

"Is Quidditch all you can think about, Potter?" Lily muttered to herself.

James shot her an annoyed look. "Just because you can't stay on a broom, Evans, doesn't mean no one else can."

Lily sighed and ignored him.

Harry shook his head dismally before taking out his timetable.

"What've we got today?" Sirius asked through mouthfuls of breakfast.

"Try swallowing and I'll tell you," Harry said, amused. "We've got Potions... DADA... Arithmancy, Transfiguration... and that's it.

"Great...' he muttered.

"What's so bad about that?"

"Oh, nothing."

Harry didn't want to pursue the subject so he went back upstairs to get his stuff. Harry realized that he wouldn't be sitting next to Sirius in any of those subjects, except for Transfiguration, but they weren't usually allowed to talk in McGonagall's class. Shrugging, and wondering why he cared so much, he set off for Potions.

The day went by rather slowly, and Harry realized he was thinking more and more about Sirius. There was something about his godfather that hadn't been there in the present time. Not being able to figure out what it was, Harry decided to burn time and look up the potion he needed for Sirius' scars. It took an hour to find the right one, and by that time, it was almost seven o' clock, which meant Quidditch practice. Rushing down to the Great Hall, he was stopped on the way by someone very unwelcome.

"Well, well, well," the slowly drawled words of a seventh-year Slytherin reached Harry. "If it isn't the new Mudblood. How very... pleased, I am, to meet you at last."

Harry gave him a disgusted look, before making to move around him.

"Ah," the boy said, "but why the hurry?"

Harry, fairly annoyed by now, gritted his teeth and uttered, "get out of the way."

"Well, how rude," the Slytherin began, whilst gracefully taking out his wand. "I think a stunning may teach you to respect your betters, James."

But before he could even utter the spell, Harry had his wand out. "Expelliarmus!" he yelled, causing the other boy to look first gob smacked, then angry.

"Give me my wand back, you stupid little -"

"Stupefy!"

Said Slytherin fell to the floor with a thump.

"Harry!" Sirius yelled, running round the corner looking breathless.

"What -" His blue gaze fell upon the lifeless body lying crookedly on the floor, then it found Harry's wand. "Are you ok?" he asked, concerned.

"Yeah," Harry said, cautiously stepping over the body.

Worries away, Sirius grinned. "You stunned a Slytherin."

Harry laughed at him; trust Sirius to find Slytherins being stunned amusing. "Yeah, I did. He kept calling me a Mudblood," he said, thinking nothing of it.

Sirius scowled. "Bastard," he muttered.

Harry shrugged. "C'mon, let's go, Quidditch practice."

"Oh yeah, that. It's been cancelled because of the storm."

Harry yawned. "Ah, good, I'm tired enough as it is." The last three or four days he had been using obscuring charms. Good thing, too, he thought. He had shocked himself when he looked in the mirror the day before without using the charm.

"You're not sleeping well?" Sirius asked with a frown.

"Yeah... no," Harry sighed. The nightmares had started coming back, mostly the ones about Cedric, or Sirius falling though the veil. Harry shuddered at the mere thought of it.

Sirius looked at him questioningly.

"I get nightmares," Harry said slowly.

Sirius looked more and more worried. "About your parents?"

"No... about -" He stopped. He couldn't tell Sirius without giving the whole thing away. "It doesn't matter."

"Yes, it does, it does matter. C'mon, tell me, Harry, maybe I can help."

"No... you can't help me, Sirius."

"Why not?" Sirius asked, annoyed.

"You just can't." Harry began to move back to the common room, wishing he had never mentioned how tired he was.

"Harry, Harry wait."

Harry stopped to look at him.

"Please tell me, I need to know what's wrong."

"Why do you need to know, Sirius?"

"I just... I just do, okay? Please?"

Harry gazed at Sirius for a while, taking in what was real, and said finally, "I'll tell you another time."

"No, Harry."

"Yes," he said, and Sirius could tell that that was his final word.

"Alright," Sirius said with a sigh. "But promise you'll tell me, okay?"

"I promise," Harry said.

The rest of the week went by slowly. Luckily, Pettigrew was usually absent, so Harry didn't have to put up with him very often. The Marauders had realized that he disliked Peter, even though they didn't know why, and made sure to keep Peter away from him. Harry was grateful for this, as he couldn't stand the pathetic rat.

Remus was quiet and usually very busy, as was James (busy following Lily around the castle or at Quidditch practice) and Sirius had begun to constantly follow Harry around everywhere. Harry wasn't sure why though, whether it was for the company or to get the promised information out of him, but he didn't mind it at all. In fact, he rather enjoyed having Sirius by his side all the time, even if it did cause groups of giggling girls to follow them around the castle.

Harry had to admit, Sirius was very attractive, and Harry couldn't help but stare at him from time to time.

*****

The week ended abruptly, and Harry found himself despising the idea of getting up early on Saturday morning. Sirius agreed (although, that's how Sirius felt every morning).

"Come on, you two! Get up!" James yelled, whilst lobbing pillows at them from the other side of the dorm.

Harry groaned and slid under the covers.

"James," Sirius said irritably. "I'm trying to bloody well sleep here."

"Come on, look outside, great weather for playing Quidditch!"

Sirius huffed and threw the covers over himself. Even Harry didn't feel like playing right now.

"Harry, come on! If you don't get out of bed now, you hate Quidditch!"

Harry muttered something before wrapping the covers around himself and slumping onto the floor.

Sirius sniggered at him through a miniscule gap in his own covers.

"Argh," was James' last syllable before running from the room.

The dorm was empty now except for Harry and Sirius, who were fast on their way back to sleep.

A second later James reappeared, looking frustrated.

"Right, if you don't get out of bed," he said to the sleeping boys, "on the count of three, I'll tie you up in the same bed and you'll be forced to admit your feelings for each other." James smirked. "Right, one, two.... Three!"

After no movement, he sighed.

"Fine, if that's the way you want it." Smirking again, he levitated a sleeping Harry onto Sirius' bed, which had now become a mountain of pillows and blankets. He then forced Harry's latent body inside the mountain and permanently shut the curtains.

Satisfied, he left to go and play Quidditch.

A couple of hours later, Harry woke to find himself in a nice, comfortably warm position. Content, he drifted off again.

Sirius yawned, having finally woken at last from one of those wonderful dreams... to find a warm, sleeping Harry in his arms. He smiled, before wondering why it was so dark.

After five minutes of attempting to emerge from his mountain, he succeeded to find that the curtains wouldn't budge. His thoughts immediately found their way to James.

Sighing, he crawled back inside the mountain, accidentally sitting on his sleeping friend.

"Gah!" was the nonsensical answer. Sirius grinned. "Sorry," he murmured, but Harry had already fallen back to sleep.

Sirius found himself enjoying the fact that Harry was sleeping comfortably in Sirius' bed and going back to his former position, wrapped an arm around the slightly smaller boy and fell asleep.

"Sirius?"

A quiet voice and a slight shake of the shoulder woke Sirius up. He found himself gazing into amused emerald eyes, and after at least a minute of just staring pointlessly, an eyebrow was raised at him. He leaned up on his elbow and it was then that he realized the position they were in. He was wrapped snugly around Harry who had absolutely no way of escape, plus they were both covered by the huge (had it been growing?) mountain of pillows and blankets. Feeling very comfortable, Sirius settled down and closed his eyes once again. This earned him a poke in the ribs.

He opened an eye reluctantly, which got a laugh out of Harry.

"Come on, get up, we can't lie here all day."

"We have to," Sirius muttered.

"Oh?"

"James put a Permanent Sticking Charm on the curtains..."

Harry looked at him confusedly.

"Whatever for?"

"Dunno, he said sumthin' 'bout feelings, then went off..." Sirius began to drift off again.

"What do you think he meant, Sirius? Sirius!"

"What? I'm TRYING to sleep here, damn it."

"You've been sleeping all day."

"So? Sleeping is natural; it's something we all need to do at some point in our lives."

"Right... well, you carry on sleeping, but I'm getting out of here."

"And how are you planning on doing that?" Sirius demanded, being more or less awake now.

"I don't know, I guess I'll -" Harry attempted to disentangle himself with Sirius' limbs "-have to find some sort of way..." Sirius looked at him smugly, refusing to let Harry out of his grasp.

"Sirius!"

"Look, we're not getting out of here until James comes back, so we might as well enjoy it while we can."

"Enjoy it? How?"

"Why, by sleeping, of course!"

Harry sighed.

"Alright fine, no more sleeping, but this is a great opportunity for you to tell me about these nightmares of yours."

Harry tensed up at that. He closed his eyes. "I can't tell you that, and even if I did, you wouldn't believe half of it."

"So tell me, if I'm not going to believe it, what's the problem?"

Harry gave him a look.

"You DID promise, Harry."

Harry sighed, and lay down again. "I know," he said.

Harry looked at Sirius, really, for the first time, looked at him. He saw his beloved godfather; his now, probably, closest friend ever. It would kill Harry to lose Sirius, how could he keep something as big as this from him?

"Please?"

"Okay, okay, I'll tell you." And so he told him.

Sirius was a good listener; he didn't interrupt once, which Harry was grateful for. Harry told him things right from the beginning, from his receiving his Hogwarts letter at eleven years old, finding out he was a wizard and a famous one, why he was famous, what happened each of the years he was a victim of Voldemort's attempts of murder, right up until his last school year and the Triwizard Tournament. He finally got to the part when he travelled back in time, to which Sirius was completely shocked. He explained how Dumbledore was trying to get him back. He left out all the parts that might change the future; mostly the bits including Peter Pettigrew, and when he was finally finished, he felt exhausted.

"You're right," he said, "sleeping does sound like a good idea." Before closing his eyes once more.

"Wait, wait, wait, so you're from the future?"

"Yes."

"And you're parents are dead in your time? So that must mean they are alive now."

"Yes..."

"Who are they?"

Harry sighed. "Isn't it obvious?"

Sirius looked at him, before whispering, "James..."

"That's right."

"James? James is your dad?"

"Keep it down! And yes, he is."

"So that must mean..."

"Look at my eyes, Sirius."

"Lily."

Harry nodded.

Sirius grinned. "So they finally go out...." His grin didn't last. "They're dead in your time."

"Yes."

Sirius closed his eyes in sorrow.

"How?" he asked.

"I already told you, Voldemort killed them. All because of -"

"All because of who, Harry? All because of who?" Sirius sat up urgently.

"I can't say; it will change the future."

"It will change the future for good! You could save them, Harry!"

"No, Sirius," Harry said sadly. "Not for good."

"What do you mean, not for good? You can save their lives!"

"Sirius -"

"Why not, Harry? Why not?" Sirius cried.

"SIRIUS."

Sirius calmed himself down. He was sitting up now, hair wild, looking helpless.

"If I saved their lives, Sirius, many other people would die."

"Why?"

"Remember what I told you. Voldemort's spell backfired on me, and that was how he was destroyed. If I told you who had betrayed Lily and James, you would prevent them from doing anything. None of this would have happened. Voldemort wouldn't have gone to Godric's Hollow to kill me, my parents would still be alive and Voldemort would still be at large killing off all the Muggles. Would you choose them over that?"

Sirius sighed. "No... I wouldn't," he said reluctantly.

Harry sighed. "My nightmares just show me the things that have happened, just to a darker point."

"I'm sorry, Harry."

Harry shook his head.

"Harry? Who was your godfather? He's still alive now, right?"

Harry looked away. He had been hoping Sirius wouldn't ask this.

"Harry?"

Harry looked at him sadly.

"You," he murmured forlornly.

Sirius stared at him wide-eyed, and began shaking his head. 'No, no, that's not right, that can't be right,' he began to ramble.

"Why can't that be right, Sirius?"

"Because... because that just makes things even more difficult."

"What do you mean?" Harry frowned at him.

Sirius looked at him. He reached a hand out to gently touch Harry's cheek.

"Sirius..."

And suddenly he was being kissed by Sirius. By his godfather. By the only man he had looked up to as a parent, by the man who was twenty years older than him, and dead in Harry's time.

Tears fell from his face as Harry kissed Sirius back, almost hungrily. Next, he was being pushed back down and Sirius was lying on top of him -

"Are they still in there?"

"Damn, I forgot about those two, I put a Permanent Sticking Charm on Sirius' bed."

"You WHAT?"

"It seemed a good idea at the time..."

Sirius quickly rolled of Harry and they both sat up, just as the curtains were being pulled back.

The grin was wiped off of James' face as Sirius leapt at him. They ended up as a tangled heap on the floor.

Remus shook his head and looked at Harry.

"He deserved it," Remus mused, before moving towards his own bed.

*****

As Harry lay in his bed that night, he thought about what had happened. His mind battled over his feelings for Sirius. It was wrong, very wrong, for the obvious reasons; being that Sirius was Harry's godfather, he was twenty years older than Harry, and for God's sake - he was Harry's Dad's best friend! Yet Harry felt that he was gradually falling for the dark-haired Animagus.

With a frustrated sigh, he turned over for the fifth time; sleep didn't seem to be coming his way.

"Harry?" He heard the soft whisper. Making a gap in the curtains, Harry found himself looking at Sirius from his own bed, which was directly across the room from Harry's.

"Hey." He smiled slightly.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, can't sleep though."

Sirius gave him a slight grin. "You could come over here," he hinted.

For almost a minute, Harry considered this, before slipping out of his bed and straight into Sirius'.

Sirius pulled the curtains shut around them and they both settled down comfortably.

"Night, Sirius," Harry uttered tiredly.

"Night... Harry..."

*****