Of Christmas Past by Chaser921
Chapter Notes: Thanks very much to my beta, Yemeron, who edited this story for me while she had a cold. Talk about dedication! Oh, and I'm sorry to say it'll be a few weeks before I post anything; I've got two 15-20 page papers due in the next three weeks, so I'll actually be writing for school.
“Harry!”
He blinked and tore his eyes away from the calendar to glance at Ginny, who looked as if she had been trying to get his attention for a few minutes.
“Sorry,” he said quickly. “What?”
She nodded wordlessly at James, who had just been joined by Lily on the other side of the small kitchen table. Both had their wands out and were pointing them threateningly at the pair. James looked grimly determined, and Lily appeared just as serious, though more inclined to listen than her husband.
Harry swallowed hard.
“Now, what’s this all about? We know something’s going on, so you had better tell us what!” James said fiercely.
Without speaking, Harry slowly reached in his pocket and drew out his wand, holding it loosely between his thumb and forefinger. The Potters visibly tensed, their knuckles whitening around the handles of their wands, but remained silent as Harry placed his on the table in front of them and backed up a couple of steps. He motioned for Ginny to do the same. She looked at him incredulously, but slowly repeated his actions.
James and Lily’s expressions were absolutely thunderstruck. James’s wand hand actually dropped to his side, though Lily swiftly seized it and brought it back up to point at Harry and Ginny.
“Keep them until you’re sure we’re not Death Eaters, all right?” Harry said quietly.
Lily nodded and put the two wands in her pocket, glancing at Harry as if she were concerned that he would suddenly change his mind and try to take them back.
“Why don’t we sit? This could take a while,” he continued.
The Potters hesitated, but sat at the table while keeping their wands trained on the other pair.
Harry and Ginny sat, too. He slumped and wearily ran a hand through his hair. What was he going to tell them? What could he tell them that wouldn’t affect the future? He had to tell them something. Ginny patted his shoulder encouragingly, and he gave her a slight, wry smile. He took a deep breath and looked straight at his parents. They stared back expectantly.
“You probably won’t believe me, but the truth is…I am your son. My name is Harry James Potter””
He was interrupted by James’s furious shouts, which fought to be heard over the crash of the chair against the floor as he jumped to his feet.
“RUBBISH! Our son’s not even a year old yet!” He glared at them and angrily brandished his wand at Harry, who sat quite still, his hands limp on the table. “And he’s not here either, if you were planning on doing anything to him! He’s safe and hidden, and you’ll never find him!”
Lily put a placating hand on his arm, though she too looked more than a little upset.
“Calm down, James, and let him talk. We can decide to believe them or not after we’ve heard the whole story.”
James continued to glare balefully at Harry, looking as if he’d rather hex him into oblivion now and find out the whole story later, but nodded tersely and sat again.
Harry took another deep breath. “This is my…friend, Ginny Weasley.”
“Weasley? As in Molly and Arthur Weasley?” Lily interrupted. Harry nodded as James eyed her closely.
“You do look a bit like a Weasley. We’ll have to check your story with Arthur and Molly.”
Ginny looked slightly alarmed, but nodded slowly. “Just…please be careful what you say. I don’t think they know about me…yet.”
James looked skeptical, but Lily nodded reassuringly to Ginny, who smiled in relief. Harry waited to see if there were any more questions, but James motioned for him to continue.
“It’s 1997, almost ’98, in our time. We were in the middle of a snowball fight when we stumbled across a stone circle outside Godric’s Hollow…” He described the bright flash and their subsequent search for Ron and Hermione as James and Lily listened in silence.
“After we separated you showed up…and you know the rest.”
“I don’t think I believe it,” James said, straightening abruptly. “Why were you in Godric’s Hollow in the first place? How do we know you’re not Death Eaters? And what proof do you have that you’re really our son?” This last was spoken in a low growl, and Harry swallowed hard.
“I don’t suppose I really have any proof that will convince you,” Harry said slowly. “I can’t tell you a private memory, since in this time I’m only a year old, and my appearance obviously isn’t convincing you either. So I suppose you’ll just have to believe me, unless you can think of some kind of proof I can give you. As for us not being Death Eaters…” He rolled up his sleeves and showed James his bare forearms, choosing to ignore his first question. Ginny did the same, but James just scowled.
“Fine, no Dark Marks. But you could be concealing them with magic! Or…something,” he finished lamely.
Lily, however, looked thoughtful. “I remember reading something somewhere about stone circles being gateways through time. Wasn’t Merlin famous for building one?” Harry and Ginny both shrugged as she continued, “I didn’t know there was a circle nearby, though.”
“We could take you there tomorrow, if you like,” Harry offered. Lily nodded absently as she pondered his words. Suddenly, she looked straight at him.
“Why were you in Godric’s Hollow? You never answered James’s question.”
Harry hesitated, unsure of how to explain without giving too much away. “I’m…I’m on a special mission for the Order of the Phoenix.”
At the mention of the Order, the Potters started violently and aimed their wands furiously at him again.
“And how,” James said softly, “do you know about the Order of the Phoenix?”
Harry blinked at him in surprise. “Er…I’m in it, in my time. Ginny’s not, she’s not of age yet, but””
“I’m as good as!” she interjected sharply. “Just because I’m not seventeen yet””
“I know, Ginny, I think it’s stupid, too! They did the same thing to me nearly two years ago””
“AHEM!”
They stopped at once and looked back at Lily and James, whom they had momentarily forgotten. James had a frown on his face again, albeit, a confused one, and Lily was looking at them curiously.
“I think we’ve heard what we need to, for now,” she said after a moment’s pause. “I’ll take you two up to your room. There are a few people we need to contact.”
Harry and Ginny nodded and rose. The Potters did, too, and Lily gestured for them to precede her out of the kitchen, her wand still trained on them. James continued to scrutinize them closely as they walked out.
Lily directed them up a set of stairs and down a short hallway to the guestroom. It was a small but brightly lit room painted a cheery yellow. It contained a dresser, a small bookcase full of books, a desk, a door that he assumed led to a closet, and…one double bed.
Harry’s eyes widened and he looked at Lily in shock. He had not expected this.
“Um…you…you don’t happen to have a…a…I dunno…a cot or something?” he stammered awkwardly.
Lily looked vaguely surprised and shook her head. “Actually, we don’t. But there are some spare quilts and pillows in one of the bathroom cupboards, through there.” She nodded at the door he’d thought was a closet and continued, smiling mischievously. “You might be able to make up a bed on the floor, if it’s that important to you.”
Harry got the distinct impression that Lily was enjoying his discomfort, and would use it to keep him off-balance. He glanced at Ginny. She didn’t seem to be bothered by the idea that they might have to share a bed. At his look, she just shrugged and gave him a wry smile, as if to say, they would simply have to deal with the enforced closeness. He frowned in her general direction before pulling his attention back to Lily, who was asking them something.
“Do you have any luggage?”
“Er…no,” Harry muttered. “We weren’t exactly planning this.”
Lily laughed, though it sounded a little strained. “Right, I forgot for a moment.”
She eyed their clothes, which were damp, even wet in places, from the snow. Their shoes were soaked through, and Ginny was shivering.
“I’ll get you some of our clothes. You look like you’re close to my size, Ginny, and I’m positive James’s things’ll fit you, Harry.”
He nodded mutely, and Ginny murmured a thank you as she left, muttering what sounded like a spell as she walked through the door. She was back in a moment, carrying a stack of clothes that she laid on the bed.
“Since most of the villagers are Muggles, we dress like they do. There are a few other wizards, but we all try to blend in as much as possible. Hope you don’t mind.”
She turned to face them, suddenly stern, her hands on her hips. “Now, you can’t leave this room unless we allow you to. We have a spell on your door and the window that will prevent you leaving through either of them unless you’re with one of us, and if you even try to get out without permission, you won’t like what happens.”
They nodded nervously, and she spoke again in a gentler tone.
“It really shouldn’t be that long; James told me Dumbledore said he’d be here in a moment. He might be downstairs now, actually.”
“Oh, good! He’ll know how to sort everything out!” Harry said in relief. Lily raised her eyebrows.
“You really know him then?”
“Yes, he’s…was, the headmaster at Hogwarts.” He faltered for a moment as he remembered that Dumbledore was no longer their headmaster. For a moment, he’d almost forgotten what had happened last June.
Lily looked at him curiously. “Was?”
Harry hesitated, cursing himself for the slip. “I…I really shouldn’t say…”
Lily shrugged, but her eyes told him that she hadn’t forgotten the subject. “I’ll let you two get changed then. We’ll come get you in a few minutes.”
They looked at each other after she shut the door, a sudden awkwardness springing up between them.
“So…you want the bathroom or the bedroom to change in?” Harry asked.
“I’ll take the bathroom, I suppose.”
She started sorting Lily’s clothes from James’s, and held up a pair of embroidered bell-bottoms. She pulled a wry face. “At least they’re not eighties clothes. Possibly the worst fashion era ever!”
Harry chuckled as he watched her pull off her wet shoes. “Trust me, Ginny, you’d be pretty if you were wearing a potato sack.” He blushed as he said this, and she gave him a flattered grin before waltzing into the bathroom to change.
He smiled to himself as he took off his own soaked trainers and changed into James’s jeans, which, as Lily suspected, fit him perfectly. He’d just pulled his wet jumper over his head when Ginny emerged from the bathroom, damp clothes in hand.
“Oh!”
He jumped at her exclamation and managed to lose his glasses as they came off with the jumper.
“Ginny! I…I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…erm…”
He squinted uncertainly in her general direction, and was relieved to hear her chuckle. He gave her an embarrassed smile.
“Harry, it’s fine. I have six brothers! It’s not like I haven’t seen a bare male chest before. The number of times I’ve walked in on Ron in the shower because he forgot to lock the door…” She shuddered dramatically. “You have no idea how traumatizing that is.”
He laughed at this as he picked up his jumper and dug around in it until he found his glasses. He settled them on his nose as everything, including Ginny, came back into focus. She was eyeing him appreciatively, but looked away as soon as she realized he could see her. His ears suddenly felt very warm as he grabbed James’s jumper off the bed. He was strangely reluctant to put it on, and held it loosely for a second as he glanced at her again. She looked up at the same time, and their gazes locked.
The air between them suddenly hummed and crackled as they stood perfectly still, staring at each other. Ginny took two hesitant steps toward him, but before she could take a third and close the gap between them, the door opened. They both jumped, and Harry scrambled to pull the jumper over his head as Lily came into the room.
“Did I interrupt something?” she asked, a smile playing around her lips, as Harry tugged the wool down over his chest and stomach, glasses askew on his nose. Ginny blushed to the roots of her hair as Harry awkwardly straightened his glasses and stuffed his hands in the pockets of his borrowed jeans. He shook his head mutely.
“Good,” she said briskly, humor vanishing. “Because Dumbledore’s here, and he wants to talk with you.”
Harry’s head shot up and his eyes met Lily’s, giving him the sensation of staring into a warped and discolored mirror. She looked away first, disconcerted, and motioned for them to precede her downstairs.
He let Ginny go first, and walked down the hallway nervously, feeling Lily’s eyes on his back.
James was talking to another wizard when the three of them entered the kitchen; a tall old man with long silver hair that fell halfway down his back. He turned, and Harry felt himself struggling with a lump in his throat as he looked past half-moon spectacles and into twinkling blue eyes that had been dark and dull the last time he saw them.
“Ah. Am I correct in assuming that these are your imposters, James?” he said genially. James nodded and Harry opened his lips to protest, but couldn’t seem to get the words out, and closed his mouth. Ginny saw his dilemma and came to his rescue.
“We’re not imposters, sir,” she said earnestly. “Just…in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
He chuckled at that.
“And literally, too, if you are to be believed,” he said. “Which I am inclined to do.”