An Uncertain Future

A/N: Begging the indulgence of my readers, I must confess to having confused the date of the decimalisation (15th Feb, 1971) and tried to write in James with Shillings. Please forgive me this slight hiccup.

~*~*~*~

Waking with a hangover is no one's favourite activity and Lily had always been certain she hated it more than the average person. James certainly couldn't have been that bothered by it, or surely he'd have got excessively drunk less frequently.

Waking in a place which was most definitely not her own bed and with a hangover was certainly not Lily's favourite activity, but she forced herself to open her eyes. She may have been unable to remember the night before, but if these were the consequences she'd brought upon herself then she'd just have to grin and bear it. With that thought firmly in mind, she blinked against the near blinding light and propped herself up on her elbows. Strangely her headache seemed to be dissipating with the light and the much dreaded roll of nausea never materialised.

Blinking owlishly about, she started to take things in. Like the fact that apparently she'd fallen asleep in a park with James and Sirius. Sitting up and rubbing tiredly at her eyes, Lily looked about herself and tried to figure out what on Earth was going on. The three of them were situated next to an old tarmac pathway at the top of a slope looking down on London's Greenwich Park. The morning was turning out nicely; the sun burning away river mist while frost lay heavily on the lawn. Almost as soon as Lily noticed that there was frost about she realised just how cold she was. It was incredibly disconcerting to be sitting there, looking out over the misty Thames and trying to understand just how she had got there, why she was there, and what the blazes that big white dome thing on the other side of the river was.

Massaging her forehead, she sat down cross-legged on the path and tried to get things sorted. Firstly she ran through a series of quick meditation techniques that Dumbledore and Frank had taught her to see if anyone had been messing about in her mind. Off hand she couldn't find anything, but that didn't necessarily put her in the clear. She was going to have to go and see one of the Aurors specialising in mind-altering magics to get checked, of course, but she felt better with the self-check up. Besides, she was going to see Moody that night...

And just like that it all came flooding back.

Jumping to her feet proved to be a mistake, and for a moment she wavered on the brink of falling over as underused muscles screamed out in protest. Somehow she kept her balance, scanning back and forth for any sign of Cassandra. She might never have been sucked into a vision of the future before, but this was Cassandra's spell right? So the other woman should have been there? But the only people around were James and Sirius, stretched out on the grass next to the space that she had lain in. She should wake them soon, before they got too cold.

Of Cassandra however, there was no sign, so maybe this spell was a little different. Maybe she was outside of this; guiding things so that they would see what they were meant to.

It didn't feel like a magical vision though. The air was cold for one thing. Lily may never have been part of a successful future telling yet, but she had heard tales of them and this... it was far too... vivid. Far too... much. She was cold. The ground was wet. Her knees and hips had ceased up and her feet were numb with pins and needles. She could see as far as she looked. Nothing was insubstantial. Well, it was misty, but that was a different type of insubstantial. The mist was very definitely real, not an absence of things irrelevant to the vision. So, if they actually weren't in a vision of some sort, that quite possibly meant that this was real. And judging by the fact that she didn't seem to be a phantom she was quite possibly actually...

It was, she decided, quite simply too scary to think of. Somehow, in the years she'd been married, she'd gotten weak. Right now she just couldn't bring herself to face what appeared to be the facts and so she was going to wake James up solely so that he could think the unthinkable with her.

She went to wake James up.

~*~*~*~

James hadn't been much happier with her realisation than Lily herself was. So he woke Sirius up. Sirius thought that being in the future was cool and was incredibly disappointed that there was so little to see beyond a few odd buildings in the distance and the date '21st Nov 2003' on a newspaper.

Fifteen minutes of panicked squabbling later and they were finally ready to set out. As Sirius had finally resorted to pointing out, if they really were in a vision, then Cassandra would probably be laughing her ass of right about then. If not, well, sitting about was hardly likely to make matters better.

Lily had been tempted to point out that staying in one place would hardly make things worse either, but she wasn't certain that Cassandra would even realise what she had done. Certainly if Petunia had witnessed three people vanish into thing air - or the future, whichever thought occurred to her first - she'd have bent over backwards trying to pretend that it never happened. Of course, Vernon might have been a little less willing to let customers go without paying. So there really was every possibility that no one would come looking to pull them back from this trance or temporal rift or whatever it was. And besides, her stomach was rumbling.

So off the three of them went in search of magical aid and a bacon sandwich.

~*~*~*~

Unfortunately things didn't go quite so smoothly as they might have wished. Finding a small cafe proved simple and Sirius led Lily over to one of the little tables while James set about ordering food. Enjoying the warmth returning to her fingers, Lily missed the altercation which took place at the till, looking up startled when the owner stormed over and started bundling the three of them out of his shop with every sign of righteous wrath.

"What the hell do you think your doing? You can't just throw us out!" Sirius was on his feet in an instant an angry flush rising in his cheeks. One hand had snapped out to catch Lily as she almost overbalanced trying to get her coat back on, which was certainly the only reason he didn't try to hit the other man.

"Oh yes I can! I don't know what you're tying to pull, but I won't have it. Get out this instant!" The shop keeper was clearly crazy, Lily decided. Sirius was nearly twice his size and it wasn't even as if they'd done anything wrong. "You young hoodlums these days! Thinking you can get away with everything. Well not with me you can't! Go. Get out with you. Scram!"

Even Sirius was being driven back by the flurry of words and wild shooing gestures and for a moment Lily had to admit that watching the great and proud Sirius Black get chased out of a sandwich shop like a goose from the farmyard was fairly hilarious. Unfortunately everyone else was also watching with great hilarity and it there was one thing that Lily simply hated, it was being at the centre of unwanted attention. It came as something of a relief when someone grabbed her arm, pushing her towards the door and it turned out to be James. At least she didn't have to pretend to be indignant about the handling. "For Merlin's sake just go outside, Lily. I'll meet you there with Sirius."

It took James physically manhandling his friend out of the store before he started to calm down. Even then some rather terse words were being exchanged and it was only when they got around the corner that Lily became relatively certain that there wasn't going to be a fight.

"What the Hell are you up to, James? You should have let me at him! Just one good swing and I can guarantee that the git wouldn't be half so stuck up. Just who in Blazes does he think he is, treating us like that?" Lily had never been able to see anything of the wolf in Remus's gentle nature, but she didn't think anyone would have been surprised if Sirius transformed.

"Not paying customers, that's who he thought we were," James replied sagely.

"Not paying? Of course we were going to pay! What does he think we are? Some sort of prats who-"

"Actually, some sort of prats who are trying to pass off outdated currency on him."

Sirius's rant died. "Oh."

"Oh indeed," James replied. "If does rather put a hole in getting to Hogwarts and trying to find Dumbledore or the like so that we can figure out what we should be doing."

"Well. I never saw that coming." Lily tried to make her mind think. "I don't suppose we can just change it at a bank? No, no. That's a silly idea I'm sure. There's usually a deadline on how long you can just hand old currencies in. Oh dear. James, I don't suppose we can access our account?"

He looked thoughtful and eventually nodded a maybe, but Lily herself thought that it really wasn't a very good idea. After all, if the past had already happened then surely their future selves would have already come along to help them out unless there was a law of metaphysics suggesting that it was a Very Bad Idea. Rather like meeting your doppelganger. And if this wasn't the future... But it really didn't feel like a vision.

"What we need," she said slowly, "is help. Reliable help. We need to know what's going on."

"Well I for one am dead set against the Ministry. Couldn't fix a splinter with a bucket of Madam Pink's Medicinal Compound," said Sirius.

"Agreed." James had that odd glint in his eyes which always seemed to arise whenever a challenge appeared. Especially the less than rule-abiding kind. At the Department of Mysteries it used to drive her crazy. Right now, it was just reassuring. "I have to admit that I don't really want to try explaining this to someone at St Mungo's."

Sirius snorted with laughter. "So you think that you're Mister Potter do you? The self same who disappeared in 1978? Hummmm. And you've been time travelling all this time? How very interesting. Would you like to take a seat in this room now, Mister--ahem--Potter. I'll be back very shortly."

Lily rolled her eyes, but did have to admit that they both had a point. "How about seeing if Moody's at the Ministry?"

James and Sirius shared one of those looks. Married couples are meant to have 'looks' that they share. So did lifelong friends. It was James who translated it for her. "Lily, er, you are aware that Alaster Moody is a little, er..." He faltered.

"Crazed?" She suggested with a bright smile.

"Er. Yes. Sort of. And that he's a little. Well, wild. And really, well, out of all the people who are likely to get themselves, er, killed-"

"Look at it this way, do you really expect him to still be alive?" Sirius and his tact.

It wasn't a bolt to the heart. More of a bolt to the mind. They were twenty-five years into the future. Who knew that was going on and who was still alive. Even the Muggle monetary system had changed. Who knew what else had gone on?

"Do you think that Dumbledore will still be alive then?" It came out in a hopelessly childlike voice and Lily hated herself for it, but she just couldn't imagine a world without Dumbledore.

The boys were rushing over themselves to reassure her that, yes, of course Dumbledore would be fine. Yet as much as parts of her agreed that he seemed ageless and all-powerful, Lily couldn't help but remember that they'd left a world at war and still had no idea who had won.

"Fine. Can we transfigure ourselves some Galleons? After all, they've not changed in their make-up in the last eight hundred and--" But Sirius was already shaking his head.

"Tried it back in third year," James explained. "We wanted more of Zonko's gizmos. They're heavily spelled so that shopkeepers can detect forgeries. Boy, did we get into trouble."

"Yeah. I still don't think your mother's ever forgiven me for that. She was convinced that it was my idea for ages. I nearly didn't expect her to let me move in with you guys because of it."

"How about we transfigure some Muggle money and exchange it?" she asked.

Sirius shuddered. "Even worse. Pass off forged money on Goblins? We'd be lucky to make it out of the bank alive."

"Which all makes getting to Hogsmeade or, worse yet, Hogwarts, neigh on impossible. I never realised what a pest unplottable places were before. After all, we can't take the Hogwarts Express without buying tickets." James was raking his fingers through his hair as he was wont to do when distracted. It was annoying how sexy it made him look, Lily decided. Especially when she just knew she looked awful right now.

"Do we even know that Dumbledore's at Hogwarts right now?" Sirius pointed out and at James's amused look shot back: "Hey, I'm just making certain we've got all points covered. It'd be rather annoying to get there and find he'd switched to teaching at Durmstrang or something. But you're right, I really can't see him ever moving on from Hogwarts and even if he did, there's bound to be someone else there who can help."

"So what we really need to do," Lily checked, "is to get our hands on some money--real, up-to-date money--and then buy at least one ticket to Hogwarts."

"One?" James asked.

"It'd be cheaper that way. It's not as though we all need to go."

"I don't think we should split up, Lily. We don't really know what's going on at the moment, or even if we really are in the future. I think the three of us should stick together. Right, Sirius?" Sirius nodded and James didn't seem to notice how distracted he looked. Lily did, however, and didn't think that he was paying much attention to either of them.

"James, the point is we don't have any money right now and one person going is better than no people going."

"Well I happen to think that if the options are one or none, then we should go with none. Right, Sirius?" Another distracted nod. "And as you so rightly pointed out, as there's no money at the moment this entire question is irrelevant and we would be better off trying to figure out how to get some food!"

Sometimes, Lily decided, James could be the most annoying, stubborn man on the face of the planet. "Great." She smiled sweetly. "Then seeing as I have figured out the food problem, can you please sort out the Hogwarts problem?" It was almost worth the arguments, just for those moments when James looked at her like he was right now. As though he had been alone and then blinked and suddenly found himself face-to-face with her. It was both wonderful, because, at that moment, he was actually looking at her and frustrating because it meant that he hadn't really been aware of her the moment before.

It was okay really though. Sometimes she looked at him the same way too.

"How?" James asked.

"Get a good look at some of the new currency and then transfigure some of that. So long as we only use it in Muggle establishments everything ought to be just fine. Except," she had to admit with a grimace, "that we'll be adding to inflation just a tiny little bit." And would get in deep trouble if they were caught, but James already knew that bit--it didn't need vocalising. "Can you remember much about it?"

He shrugged, crouching down on the roadside and picking out bits of stone from the pavement contemplatively. "It was called a Pound, I think." He picked up a biggish stone and flicked his wand at it. In his fingers rested a small disc about an inch across with a stamped silver centre and a golden rim. A big '2' was pressed into the top face. "It looked like this. How many do you think we'll need?"

Lily frowned. "Maybe twenty? I think the bacon butties were about four each. I thought it was rather steep even allowing for inflation, but I guess it's just because the currency's changed."

"I'll make thirty or so then."

"Make it sixty." Lily had almost forgotten that Sirius was standing next to her. He wasn't normally a quiet person, but when she looked over to him, he didn't merely look subdued, but downright brooding. "We'll get some breakfast and then disguise ourselves. I know where we've got to go."

~*~*~*~

Sixty Euros had turned out not to be enough. For starters the bus and tube fares were higher than Lily had guessed and then Sirius didn't really know where they were going. They'd ended up opting for a taxi and then had driven the poor man mad with Sirius's endless steams of 'Left! Go left now!', 'Just a bit further. How far? I don't know how far. Just until I say so.' and, most famously 'Oh. I forgot about the Thames. We need to be on the other side. Where's the nearest bridge?'.

Sirius had become increasingly frustrated as they went on, especially since a large chunk of London's roads seemed to have been converted into a one-way road network with painstaking care to ensure that not a single journey was straight forward. Lily had lost track of the number of times that Sirius's call for 'Right! Go right right now!' had been dealt with by two lefts and an odd turn. Sirius was not pleased by this and had taken to insulting London, the roads and the driver. Not surprisingly the man had quickly become exasperated and kicked them out as soon as was possible.

From that point they had walked and at least that made following Sirius's directions easier, even if Lily's feet were one solid bruise by the time they reached their destination.

It was a very ordinary red-painted door in a block of fairly nice, brick-built flats maybe ten stories high. The numbers 807 were cast in brass and had been screwed on to the door. As the numbers and colour matched every other set of doors in the block for flats, Lily was fairly certain that they hadn't been installed by the owner. The door was on one side of a concrete walkway which ran the length of the block of flats and onto which the door of every flat opened. The opposite side of the walkway was open to the air with only a waist-high rail to stop one from tumbling to their death. Lily was very glad that she hadn't picked up her mother's vertigo.

In fact, the only thing which didn't look like it had been put in by the original builders was a large bird perch attached to the rails with a lot of glue and several screws. There was a small bowl of owl treats wired on next to it. If she hadn't seen the owl treats, Lily would have been rather doubtful that the person living in number 807 would be of any use to her and as it was, she wasn't convinced that they weren't a squib. She couldn't remember the last time she'd seen a wizard with a screwdriver.

James was apparently sharing her disquiet because he lent close to Sirius and whispered, "Just who is it that we're hoping to meet here?"

Sirius shrugged a non-committal response. It seemed strange to watch them like that, even from the back, because Sirius looked three stones heavier than he usually did and his luxurious black hair was now a mousy brown. James looked less strange, but Lily suspected that it was just because she was so used to his body language. To her James always looked like James and she could always pick him out, no matter how much he tried to disguise himself. At the moment his hair was almost shockingly red, curling down his back in a pony-tale. Sirius had told him that he needed long hair here and James had nodded without question. Lily had the impression that she was missing out on some pure-blood knowledge yet again.

Where Sirius had added weight to himself, James had lost it and he looked almost disturbingly gaunt. Only the fact that the hollowed cheeks were stretched over jaw bones she didn't know had made his transition less than horrifying to Lily. Both men's eyes were now a nondescript grey - though James had kept his glasses - and something about their mannerisms were similar enough that Lily thought Sirius might pass them off as brothers, even with their differences.

Lily herself had found the transformation surprisingly easy. She had always been good at charms and this particular one, Abeo, was widely practiced among the Order members. Her hair now hung down her back in straight, black locks and her eyes had shifted to a warm brown. She'd fallen in love with brown eyes when she'd fallen in love with James. Other than that, she'd only let her skin's colour darken. The good thing about potentially being twenty-five years into the future was that people were unlikely to be on the lookout for Lily and James and Sirius as they had appeared even before the spell.

"Let me do the talking," Sirius said, then pressed the door bell.

For a long moment nothing happened and Lily could see Sirius struggling to decide whether he should wait longer or ring the bell again. He rang the bell again. Still nothing.

"Maybe they're out?" James suggested helpfully, just as the door opened.

Lucius Malfoy stood in the entrance and Lily's hand nearly made it to her wand before her mind caught up with her.

For starters, he might be looking exasperated, but Malfoy didn't seem to be on the verge of hexing anyone. In fact he was holding a rather large jar of some orange liquid and glaring at them in a manner oddly reminiscent of someone entirely different. Secondly, because they were twenty-five years into the future and under disguise the odds of Lucius recognising them were really rather slim. Thirdly, Sirius didn't seem to be looking too put out. A little startled, but not dangerously so. And, finally, because it was just dawning on Lily that they were twenty-five years into the future and so Lucius was actually far too young to be Lucius and, in fact, he was a little too short and slender too.

And with that something finally started to fall into place. She knew that sulky look! It was pure Narcissa Black. Which must mean that this boy was her and Malfoy's son. Sirius must have cast a tracking spell to lead them to one of his relatives to seek aid from them. It went a long way to explain his distraction and general angst. Of course, it seemed to have backfired somewhat due to the fact that they'd been lead to Lucius Molfoy's squib son. And he had to be a squib, because what else would a Malfoy be doing in the middle of Muggle London with a screwed on bird perch?

And then the world shifted again. "May I ask why three Abeo-shrouded individuals have appeared upon my doorstep?"

The tone brought everything back. Lily hadn't realised how much she'd remembered about Lucius Malfoy. She hadn't realised the extent to which a certain pureblood had terrorised her early days at Hogwarts. It was just as well that Sirius was meant to be doing the talking--she wasn't certain that she'd be able to form a coherent sentence if she had to.

"Er. May I make the assumption that you're of the Black family?" Sirius looked rather doubtful, but he was clearly trying to run through the formalities.

"I suppose that you may. Is there anything that you'd like to say? Because I really must inform you that door-to-door salesmen are not welcome here." He was leaning against the hallway's wall and had apparently put the jar of whatever-it-was down on the telephone table in a fit of absent mindedness. Lily wasn't entirely reassured by the fact that she couldn't see a wand. Suddenly the fact that he was living in the centre of Muggle London seemed a whole lot less important than the fact that he'd called their disguise spells out of thin air.

Sirius managed a somewhat hollow laugh. "Well, you might say that I'm here looking for a bit of advice. Do you mind if we come in?"

For a moment Lily thought that he'd refuse, and it was a while before he stepped back from the entrance, his arms folded across his chest in a decidedly standoffish manner, but he didn't slam the door in their faces. "Very well then. If you've no wish to cause harm, you may as well enter."

Following Sirius's lead Lily stepped inside, letting James take her coat and hang it on one of the pegs beside the door. The hallway itself was slightly on the narrow side. A wood-panelled floor ran straight ahead to an open doorway through which Lily could make out a large window above a sink. The kitchen presumably. There were two pine doors to the left and one to the right. Just in front of that door and beyond the coat pegs stood the telephone table complete with a narrow seat. There was a mirror above the phone and Lily could imagine someone casting a quick glance over their reflection on the way out. All said, things seemed really rather civilised and reminded her of her Nana's old home.

There wasn't any more time to gather much more than a brief impression, because their unwilling host was already ushering them through the right-hand door into a small sitting room. Early morning sunlight was shining through net curtains and casting strangely sharp shadows over the room. More clean wood panelling covered the floor, though this time a brightly coloured rug and a navy three piece sweet covered most of it. There was something a little strange about the room and it took Lily a moment to realise that it was the lack of focus present in it without a fireplace or television to gather the chairs about. The low glass coffee table with its bowl of hyacinths didn't seem a suitable substitute.

The Malfoy boy had taken one of the armchairs. Lily tried to sit down on the two-seater settee at the same time as James and Sirius did before the latter took the second armchair and then there was no more room for stalling.

"So, erm, I'm afraid that I didn't quite catch you name." Sirius seemed startlingly off-balance and Lily couldn't say that she blamed him. It was bad enough that he was tracking down members of his much hated family, but even worse to have that reunion be quite so unexpected.

"I didn't give it to you. I note that I'm not the only one holding back that bit of information." The voice was Malfoy's too, Lily realised. In fact, beyond a few gestures and a slight difference in the cheek bones, she really couldn't pick out anything but Malfoy in the boy.

Her palms were beginning to sweat with nerves. They hadn't thought this out well enough. They should have checked up on him first and maybe, no, probably, gone to another member of the Black family. It wasn't like Sirius had any shortage of family members. What about the one who got disinherited? What was her name? Andromeda? Why hadn't they thought to go to her instead? If wasn't even like they'd come up with names or a sensible story or anything and now the Malfoy boy was looking at them funnily and his eyes were narrowing and he was undoubtedly thinking that...

"It's kind of a long story. I'm afraid that I really can't give you our names." The Malfoy's eyebrow rose at that, but Lily didn't think he could have been more startled than she was at Sirius's words. Still, he wasn't interrupting, and maybe there was something to be said for telling the truth. "You see there was a sort of, well, accident. And now we seem to be in the future just a little bit. We were hoping that you could lend up some money so that we could research ways of sorting this... issue... out." Okay. Maybe that was a little too much truth.

For a moment the young man across from Sirius just sat there, eyes locked with him and a sceptical look undisguised on his face. Then he shrugged and looked down at his long fingers. "So you came to me why?"

"Because you're a Black."

"I see." There was another long pause while he seemed to be staring into the middle distance. Then: "Wait a moment." He rose and left the room.

Sirius glanced over to James and Lily, but it was James who spoke first. "Do you think he'll help us?" Sirius had no time to reply before their host was back again, striding into the room holding a large roll of heavy material and a little crystal vial. Sirius went pale.

Malfoy's son evidentially noticed. "Don't be daft. I don't know anything about you yet. If you're a Black then I'm practically honour-bound to help you, but if you're not, then there'll be trouble." Half-hidden behind a mass of green tapestry, he seemed far from dangerous and Lily wondered if, just maybe, she'd made Lucius out in her mind to be more frightening than he really was. "I wouldn't worry too much though. You'll have your chance to get your side of the story out. I take it you're the Black here?" The last he directed at Sirius.

Sirius nodded, but Lily could tell he wasn't happy. He was eyeing the tapestry with some trepidation, though Lily thought the vial looked far more, well, vile. She thought she might have some idea of where this might be going.

The Malfoy held it out to Sirius. "Drink this." It looked like she was right.

To her disbelief, Sirius was actually raising it to his lips. "Hey! Wait a moment. Aren't you even going to tell us what that is?" she snapped indignantly.

"Veritaserum." She'd expected the reply from Malfoy, not Sirius, but the blond just shot an amused glance at Sirius before smiling at her.

"It's as he says, fair lady. Trust me. I'd never poison someone who might be family. Well, at least not without a reason." Then he turned back to Sirius with an impatient sigh. "Well?"

"But..." Lily said. He turned back to her again and this time there was definitely something dark in his eyes. Lily almost faltered before going on, determined. "We're from the past. You can't know too much; history might be changed."

That just earned her a roll of the eyes. "I am aware of that. Now stop worrying so much. If you want my help, I want some honest answers first."

Sirius downed the potion. "Done."

"Oh excellent," he replied, looking anything but delighted. He spread the tapestry and Lily heard James's breath catch. It didn't seem to be good news and she only wished that she understood what was going on better. She hated all of this guessing and confusion. How could she help if she couldn't even figure out that the problem was, or, worse yet, if there even was a problem?

At least, she thought grimly, I've still got my wand. Three against one are good odds. We can fight our way out if we have to.

Nothing seemed to be attacking from the cloth, however, and Sirius didn't seem to be sprouting any ill effects from the potion, so maybe things were okay. For now, at any rate.

The interrogation began.

"Do you recognise this cloth?"

"Yes. It's the Black family tree."

"Are you on it?"

"No."

"Why?"

"I disobeyed the family."

"But you expect our help now? No, never mind. That's a rhetorical question. Of course you expect our help or you wouldn't be here." He paused for a moment, seeming to think. "Are you really from the past?"

"Yes."

"All three of you are from the past?" He gestured to Lily and James.

"Yes. All three of us are from the past."

"Were you at least born a Black?"

"Of course!" Sirius looked most indignant at the implication that he might be lying, but his interrogator didn't seem put out by the tone.

"Were you born a Black? Yes or no, please."

"Yes."

He'd clearly used Veritaserum extensively in the past, Lily decided. There were ways around it, as she'd learned through the Order, but it relied upon vaguely-worded questions or answers which could be interpreted more than one way. Yes/no questions were practically impossible to escape from unfortunately and the only comfort seemed to lie in the fact that he wasn't asking any more personal questions which might have violated their disguise.

"Have you intentionally come to the future?"

Sirius opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out. Malfoy's eyes narrowed and Sirius tried again, but only succeeded in making a hollow croaking sound.

For a moment Lily thought that he might turn on them all with hexes, but instead he merely reworded the question. "Did you intentionally travel to the future?"

"No."

"Were you trying to interact with the future though?"

"Yes. We went to a fortune teller."

"A fortune teller? And now you're in the future?" Yes, that answer had definitely caused some surprise.

"Maybe. Or we might be in a vision or something. But either way, that's why we need help. We need to get back."

For the first time the Malfoy boy was looking thoughtful and contemplative and it was the lack of suspicion and distrust upon his features much made her realise just how much he had doubted them before.

"And are you here with any intent to cause harm to anyone in this time?"

"Hell no. We just want to go home." Sirius looked about as sincere as Lily had ever seen him look. Maybe the truth drug affected body language too to a small degree.

There was a long pause, Malfoy was gazing out of the window and seemed to have forgotten about the rest of them. Finally he nodded.

"Okay." He turned towards them and there was an odd expression, almost like suspicion on his face, but the sunlight streaming through the window behind him made it hard to see clearly. "I'll help you. I need something to call you though, so I expect some names from you by the time I get back with some coffee. You can tell me everything, and I mean everything, over coffee."

He was most of the way out of the room, when James said, "What should we call you?"

There was a casual gesture to the tapestry draped across the table. "Last name on that." Leaning forwards over James's shoulder, below Narcissa and Lucius's names, Lily read Draco Malfoy.

~*~*~*~

A/N: I found Abeo in a Latin dictionary site. Apparently it can mean 'to change', but there's every possibility that it means many more things as well. Either way, here it's used as the base of a spell that allows one to change their appearance. Unfortunately for Lily and Co, Malfoy, living in 2003, can detect it. I suppose a life-time of war-fuelled paranoia will train your powers of observation.