Changing the Past by PEMDAS
Chapter Notes: Do you think Harry can get out of this one? Find out...
Harry’s stomach lurched when he saw the Marauders walking towards him and James. He was not afraid of slipping up again; rather, he was worried that James would disregard Harry’s warning and tell them everything.
“So, Prongs,” Sirius said, smirking, “going out for a chat with your twin?”
“Ha, ha,” James said, smirking back. “We were just...talking...”
“About what?” Remus said. “Ever find out how he’s been finding out so much about us?”
Harry looked to James nervously. James glanced at him before saying, “That’s something you won’t be getting out of me, guys.”
“Are you mad, Prongs?” Sirius said, incredulous. “You’ve never kept a secret from us!”
“Well, this is sorta personal,” James said, biting his lip convincingly. Harry had to admit that his father was a very good liar. “You can ask him, but I don’t think I should tell you.”
“Fair enough,” Remus said. Harry looked at James, expecting to share a small smile, but instead found that James was watching Peter intently.
“What?” Peter asked. “Do I have something on my face?”
“Yeah,” Remus quipped. “It’s called your nose.”
Everyone laughed at this. “Well,” Sirius remarked, “it’s one in the morning. We’d better get back before we get caught.” So, with that, the five boys walked back to the common room.
“Let’s just hope no one’s in the common roo-” James started, but unfortunately, as they approached the Fat Lady, it swung open and Lily walked out.
“And what do you think you’re doing, out at this time?” Lily asked, raising her eyebrows.
“What’s up, Evans?” James replied, ignoring the question. “We were just out for a little stroll.”
“At one in the morning?!” Lily exclaimed. “James, sometimes I wonder if you know what the rules of this school are!”
“Oh, I know all the rules,” James replied coolly. “I’ve just chosen not to follow them.”
“Well, you’re all in trouble now,” Lily reminded him. “Oh, hello, Mr. Filch...”
The five boys wheeled around as they saw Filch walk briskly down the corridor towards them. “What’s going on here?” Filch demanded, looking from the boys to Lily and to the boys again.
“These five were out on a ‘stroll’, sir,” Lily told the caretaker. “They should clearly know that it is against the rules to be out past ten. I believe that deserves detention, don’t you?”
Harry was surprised at his mother-to-be’s attitude towards the Marauders. Obviously, she wanted them punished, and badly. “I believe you’re correct, Miss Evans,” Filch replied, and Lily smirked. “I’ll see the six of you in my office tomorrow...rather, today...at 7:00 PM sharp.”
“Six?” Lily asked politely. “Sir, I think you mean five.”
“No, I said six,” Filch said. “You were out after hours as well, Miss Evans. That also deserves detention, don’t you think?”
“But-but...” Lily stuttered. “I was reprimanding these five! I was doing my duties!”
“Yes, but why didn’t you wait until these five were in their common room to do so?” Filch inquired, smirking. Lily tried to think of an excuse, but he was right. “Right, then,” Filch said. “Off to bed. See you at seven, you six.” With that, Filch turned around and walked back down the corridor.
Lily rounded on James. “Potter!” she snarled. “You landed me in detention! I’ve never gotten detention in my life!”
“I didn’t do anything, Evans,” James reminded her. “It was your decision to come out of the common room to stop us. You did that, not me.”
Lily glared at him for a few seconds, then huffed and stomped back into the common room and up to her dormitory.
“Well, we’d better go to bed now,” Sirius said, entering the portrait hole after Lily. “Goodnight, all.” So all the Marauders went up to the boys dormitory and crawled into bed. Harry remained awake as several new sets of snores began around him. Just when he thought he was the last one left awake, he looked to his left and saw James sitting on his bed staring out the window. Harry assumed he was thinking about what he had told James earlier. I’d probably be restless if I knew I would die early, too, Harry thought, taking pity on James. Finally, Harry rolled over and fell into a deep sleep.
***
The next day was Tuesday, and Harry went back to talking to Ron and Hermione. Thankfully, Ron and Hermione had dropped the topic of Harry changing the past, so they began talking of how they’d get back. “What exactly were you doing when we got sent back, Harry?” Hermione asked in Herbology as they tended to their Venomous Tentacula.
Harry thought for a moment. “Well, I was talking about changing things here...how I wanted to bring Sirius, Dumbledore, and my parents back.”
“Well, that’s not really unusual,” Hermione said. “What exactly did you say?”
“Just something about, ‘I wish I could bring them back’,” Harry replied. “I don’t really remember.”
Hermione was thoughtful for a moment. “Well, maybe someone “ or something “ sent us back to prove that changing things here would NOT make things perfect back home. Or maybe it was something else...what were you doing physically when it happened?”
Harry racked his brain. “I was sitting on George’s bed,” he said. “And I was holding my photo album.”
“That’s got to be it, then,” Hermione said. “That album must’ve done something to send us back. But...could it be...no, surely not...”
“What?” Harry and Ron asked simultaneously.
“It’s just that...” Hermione said. “In 1995, a wizarding scientist created a type of leather that reacted to voice command. For instance, a belt made of the leather could loop itself around someone’s waist independently by hearing a single programmed word.”
“Wicked!” Ron exclaimed.
“Anyway,” Hermione said, “one type of leather was supposed to be able to transport people to different places, sort of like a Portkey but something went wrong. The Ministry covered the whole thing up and closed production of the leather, and no one really knows what went wrong. You don’t think it was able to send people back in time?”
“Well, Hermione,” Harry said, “that doesn’t mean anything, does it? I mean, Hagrid wasn’t working there or anything, and how could he have used any of that leather for the album?”
“There’s more,” Hermione told him. “A few weeks after the factory was closed, a group of wizards broke in and stole all the unused leather in the warehouses. A couple days later, they turned up in Hogsmeade...they were trying to sell the leather to Hogwarts staff. You don’t think...”
“Hagrid bought some?” Harry said, thinking. “That would make sense...and he probably thought it was just regular leather or something.”
“Well, we need to figure out what the key word is for your album, if that’s the case,” Hermione said. “And if we do figure it out, we have to figure out how to get it to send us to the right place in time. I’ll do some research on it.” Just then, the bell rang, and Hermione made a beeline for the library.
“We’re stuck in the past, and Hermione still finds time to study in the library,” Ron commented, shaking his head sadly. Harry grinned, but then remembered his detention with Filch, the Marauders and Lily later, and frowned again. It would be an interesting night.
***
At seven, Harry and the Marauders walked down to Filch’s office on the fourth floor. When they knocked, the door opened immediately, and Filch beckoned them inside. Lily was already there, sitting sadly in a wooden chair off to the side. She obviously was not happy about this whole thing.
“Now that you’re all here,” Filch said, closing the door behind the boys, “I can tell you what you’re doing tonight. You will be in the Great Hall, which Professor Dumbledore graciously offered to me free of distraction for tonight, and you will be scrubbing the entire floor without magic.” Everyone gawked at him, unbelieving. “And just to make sure, I’ll be taking your wands.” He held out his hand, and everyone grudgingly handed over their wands.
“Very good,” Filch said, locking the wands in a cabinet. “Let’s go.” He then led the six down to the Great Hall, where he let them go in and then shut and locked the doors behind them.
Lily immediately strode away from them, grabbing a bucket of water and a sponge and walking to the far side of the Hall, alone. “Well, let’s spread out,” Sirius said grudgingly, and the four Marauders and Harry went to different locations throughout the vast hall, carrying their own bucket and sponge. Harry found the task to be as hard as he’d expected; he spent nearly a minute on each square foot of ground, getting all the old food and dirt off the floor.
An hour later, after scrubbing in a straight line without looking up, Harry found that he was a few feet away from Lily. “Sorry,” he said, starting to get up and move to a new location.
“No, stay,” Lily said. Harry could tell she was anxious for some company, but not the Marauders. “This is pretty boring, huh?”
“Yeah,” Harry agreed, nodding.
“I’ve never had detention before in my life,” Lily told him, laughing quietly.
“I have,” Harry said, anxious for an opportunity to talk to Lily. “Once, in my second year, I missed the train, and Ron and I had to fly an enchanted car to school. I got detention for a week...I was lucky I wasn’t expelled!”
“Wait...I thought you never went to Hogwarts before this,” Lily said, curious. “What train?”
For a moment, Harry wanted to tell her the truth, but for some odd reason, something held him back. “I meant the train back in America,” he lied. “The Adstruffy Express.”
“I see,” Lily said, nodding slowly.
“But yeah, this is my first detention here,” Harry told her.
“So...why do you hang out with those four, anyway?” Lily asked, motioning to the Marauders, who were at the other end of the hall, unaware of the two.
“Ah...it’s a long story,” Harry said, avoiding the subject.
“Well, we have a long time in here,” Lily reminded him. “We’ll be in here all night, you know.”
“I know,” Harry said. “But...it’s sort of private.”
“Okay, no problem,” Lily said, not pressing the matter. Suddenly, she laughed quietly.
“What?” Harry asked.
“It’s just that...you look so much like James,” she said, “and I vowed to myself I’d never open up to him. And here I am, talking to you like you’re my best friend, and it feels like I’m talking to him!”
“I get that a lot,” Harry said, and Lily looked at him curiously. “I mean, not the best friend part, but the looking like James part,” Harry explained, and Lily nodded knowingly.
“Hey! You two!” Harry and Lily turned abruptly. Sirius was looking at them. “If you don’t help, we’ll never finish this job!” Sirius yelled. Harry and Lily nodded, shared a smile, and went back to work.
The voice in Harry’s head was screaming at him again. Don’t talk to her like she’s your girlfriend! the voice yelled. She’s supposed to marry James, so back off!
But she’s so much fun to be around, Harry retaliated.
You could mess up history!
That’s the point!
Don’t do anything bad!
“Shut up!” Harry said, then realized he had said it aloud. Everyone turned to look at him. “Sorry,” he said, and everyone laughed and went back to work.
Everyone worked tirelessly for four more hours, and at about midnight, James collapsed in a heap, exhausted. Everyone agreed it was time for a break, and lay down to rest. Harry lay down on his back, groaning from the cramps growing in his hands and back from hunching over and cleaning for so long, and he eventually fell into an exhausted sleep.
***
When Harry awoke the next morning, he felt a strange sensation on his upper body. He slowly opened his eyes, and found that Lily’s head was resting on his stomach. He instantly felt a mixture of excitement and nervousness, and he contemplated getting up, but he decided to savor the moment for the time being.
A few minutes later, there was a loud noise as Filch unlocked the door and walked into the room. Harry felt Lily stir as she awoke, and realized where she was, and she sat up, looking at Harry, who pretended to be asleep, and pushed herself away from him, a surprised look on her face. Harry stole a glance to his left and met James’ gaze for a split second before his father-to-be closed his eyes sharply again, pretending to be asleep also.
“Wake up!” Filch yelled. The other three Marauders woke up sharply and looked around, and James and Harry made a show of jumping to their feet in mock surprise.
“Good work so far,” Filch said, examining the Hall. “You will continue your work tomorrow night. Come straight here at seven tonight. Now go change into your robes. Breakfast begins in an hour.” With that, he shooed the six of them out of the hall.
As Harry walked out of the hall, watching Lily run up the stairs to the seventh floor ahead of him, he couldn’t help but think, I can’t wait until seven ‘o clock!
***
Author’s Note: Uh-oh! What’s going on between Harry and Lily? Is it more than a mother-son love happening here? Only I know for sure...you’ll have to wait until later to find out! Thanks for reading; please leave a review!