Changing the Past by PEMDAS
Chapter Notes: I was surprised that Chapter 7 went up so quickly...but I'm not complaining. Thanks to my mod for this story, Bethany! Anyway, here's chapter eight (when it's validated)...
“Enjoyed that back there, did you, Harry?” James said, coming up to Harry as he walked up the stairs to the Gryffindor common room to change.
“What do you mean?” Harry asked innocently.
“Come off it, Harry,” James said sternly. “You and I both know what I mean. Your little episode with Lily back there!”
“Oh, that?” Harry said. “Hey, James, relax; she’s my mom...I just want to spend a little time with her, that’s all.”
“So she sleeps on your chest?” James inquired, raising his eyebrows.
“I didn’t ask her to,” Harry retorted. “I just woke up and she was there...come on, James, it’s not like I’m going to be stealing her from you...I’m not staying here forever! There’s nothing going on between us besides a little mother-son connection!”
“Or is there?” James asked, speeding up and leaving Harry to walk alone. Harry sighed; James was right. You just need to back off from Lily, the voice inside Harry said.
Harry half-agreed with it this time. Yeah, he thought, but she’s just so much fun to be around...and she’s easy to talk to...and besides, she’s not my mother yet!
He pushed the matter aside for the time being and finally arrived at the common room. He went up to the dormitory and changed, then went down to the common room and sat at a seat in front of the fire. He stared into the empty grate, lost in thoughts. When will Sirius trick Snape into following Lupin into the Whomping Willow? How should we get rid of Bellatrix and Peter...and maybe Rodolphus, too? And of course, How can I talk to Lily without falling for her? Eventually, people began piling out of their dormitories for breakfast, and Harry got up to join them.
At breakfast, Harry sat with Ron and Hermione. “How was detention?” Ron asked, smirking. “I’m assuming you guys were cleaning in here, because it smells like soap.”
“Yup,” Harry replied. “We had to scrub the entire floor last night.” Ron and Hermione’s eyes grew wide. “And we’re not done yet. We have to finish tonight.”
“Well, did you talk to Lily or James yet?” Hermione asked.
“I’ve already told James everything,” Harry said, and Ron and Hermione nearly choked on their food. “Don’t worry,” Harry reassured them. “I’m going to wipe his memory before we leave this time.” This seemed to ease Ron’s concern, but Hermione wasn’t moved.
“Memory charms are trickier than they seem, Harry,” she informed him. “If you only want to wipe away his memory of the future, you’ll have to learn how. I happen to know it takes a great deal of time and effort to master the spell.”
“That’s what you’re here for, Hermione,” Ron said. “You need to help Harry with learning the charm."
“’That’s what I’m here for’?” Hermione exclaimed. “Ron, how can you think that of me?” She got up from the table and strode out of the hall. Ron gave a confused look at Harry.
“What?” he asked. “What did I do?”
“You made it sound like she’s only good for studying,” Harry told him. “Smooth move.”
“Oops,” Ron said, and got up and ran after Hermione to apologize. Harry ate in silence for a moment, and then someone sat down across from him. Harry looked up to see Lily, smiling at him.
“Morning,” she said. “Uh, I don’t know if you knew, but this morning I sort of woke up with my head on your chest, so...”
“That’s okay,” Harry said a little too quickly. Lily stopped, looked at him, and laughed.
“Well, if you’re that eager to say it’s fine, you obviously wouldn’t mind it again,” Lily said, and Harry stared at her. She laughed again. “I’m just kidding!” she said, and Harry also laughed, half from realizing he’d been tricked, and half to hide his partial disappointment.
“So, what classes do you have this morning?” Lily asked curiously.
Harry pulled his schedule from his pocket. “I have Defense Against the Dark Arts and then double Astronomy,” he said.
“I’ll have DADA with you, then,” Lily said, grabbing a plate of scrambled eggs. Harry watched her eat slowly for a few seconds, thinking how good she looked doing just about anything...the voice inside Harry’s head started to protest again, but Harry pushed the voice from his mind, finishing his sausage and French toast.
“See you there,” he said hastily, walking out of the hall. Defense Against the Dark Arts didn’t start for another half hour, but Harry had to leave Lily’s presence for a while to soothe the butterflies in his stomach. What was wrong with him? He wasn’t falling for Lily, was he? It couldn’t hurt to just spend a little time with her before I leave and wipe her memory, Harry thought, still pressing the nagging voice from his mind. He went back up to his dormitory to get his things, then sat in front of the fire again for a while before leaving for DADA.
The DADA teacher this year was Professor Smythe, and Harry wondered what would keep this teacher from staying at Hogwarts another year. He knew almost instantly when he entered the room: Professor Smythe was very old, maybe older than Dumbledore, and had to use a cane to get around and stand up.
Harry realized they had this class with the Slytherins as he looked around for a seat, and he saw several people waving at him: Ron and Hermione, the Marauders, and...Lily.
Harry contemplated the decision for a moment, then finally chose Lily. Everyone looked at them both in surprise.
“Hey, Harry,” Lily said, smiling. “You sure left breakfast quickly this morning.”
“Oh, yeah,” Harry said, thinking of an excuse. “I had to...uh...”
“Don’t,” Lily said, stopping him. Harry stopped, wondering if she knew why he had really left. Lily shook her head slightly at him, and Harry felt his face slowly start to turn red. Thankfully, Professor Smythe called for everyone’s attention, and Lily turned her attention from Harry to the professor, as did everyone else.
“Welcome to Defense Against the Dark Arts,” the professor said. “I say this because we have three new students in our class. I hope you enjoy your Hogwarts year. Now, today we will be practicing a spell we began last week: Protego.” Harry, Ron and Hermione looked at each other in surprise; they had learned the spell in fifth year, during Dumbledore’s Army. “I should probably overview the spell for our new students...”
“We don’t need it, sir,” Hermione said. “We’ve already learned the spell at our other school.”
“I see,” the professor said. “In that case, we can begin. Everyone may practice the spell by blocking the spells of their partner. Nothing too extreme, please!” Professor Smythe looked at the Marauders as he said this. The Marauders just smirked at him.
Lily and Harry walked to the center of the room, where an area was cleared for everyone to practice the spell. First, Lily practiced her shield charm. Harry shot a Stunning spell at Lily, who attempted to conjure a shield. However, her weak charm only caused the spell to slow down slightly, hitting Lily in the stomach. Harry muttered the counter-curse, and Lily was unfrozen.
“You should try waving your wand in a clockwise circle,” Harry commented. “It usually enhances the spell.”
Lily nodded thoughtfully, and when Harry shot another Stunning spell at her, Lily was able to deflect the spell perfectly. “How did you know to do that?” she asked curiously.
“I’ve just practiced it a lot,” Harry said, shrugging.
“All right, Mr. Practice,” Lily said playfully, “you try.” So they switched places; Harry was practicing his shield charm against Lily’s spells. Lily’s first spell, Impedimenta, was so strong, it caught Harry off-guard. It was twice as bright as any spell Harry had ever cast, and Harry was unable to conjure a shield in time. “I thought you were a master at this,” she said, laughing as she unfroze him.
“That spell just caught me off-guard,” Harry admitted. “How did you get to be so good at Charms?”
“I’ve just practiced a lot,” Lily said, smirking. Harry laughed at this, and after that, Harry was able to deflect all her spells, although he couldn’t help but marvel at her incredible charms skills.
“I SAID NOTHING TOO SERIOUS!” Professor Smythe yelled out suddenly, as the Marauders burst out laughing. James had cast a spell at Sirius that caused vines to sprout from his ears. Even Sirius was laughing as he felt the green growth pouring from his ears.
Everyone began crowding around the four boys to see what was happening, and Lily and Harry were bumped around. Suddenly, a boy crashed into Lily, causing her to fall backwards, her head falling towards a desk.
Harry pointed his wand at her. Accio! he thought, subconsciously deciding to use a nonverbal spell. Inches away from the desk, Lily was suddenly pulled forward towards Harry, who caught her in his arms, her momentum causing him to step backwards a bit. He set her down, grinning, and realized everyone was looking at him.
“Hospital wing, Mr. Black,” Professor Smythe said quickly, and no one turned to look as Sirius left the room. “Now, Mr. Potter...how on earth did you manage to cast that spell nonverbally?”
.
Harry realized too late that most nonverbal spells were very advanced, and the only reason they’d been taught to do so in the future was because of the circumstances...here, in the past, they wouldn’t learn nonverbal spells until seventh year. Harry saw Snape among the crowd, watching him suspiciously. Harry knew that he and Snape, and probably the professor, were the only ones that could cast nonverbal spells. “Oh,” he said. “Uh...I just found a book on nonverbal spells one day and decided to practice...” This was partially true, as Snape’s Potions textbook did have a lot of nonverbal spells in it.
Suddenly, the bell rang, and Harry, still under the curious eye of the whole class, grabbed his things and fast-walked out of the room. He walked up to the common room immediately, not feeling well enough to go to Astronomy. He almost gave away his secret to an entire class! He sat staring at the ashes in the grate for a while when he heard the portrait open, and he turned his head to see none other than Lily walk through the portrait hole. “What are you doing here?” he asked. “Don’t you have a class to go to?”
“It can wait,” she said carelessly. “But...how did you do that, really? You saved me from a couple days in the Hospital Wing, for sure...”
Once again, Harry was faced with an opportunity to tell Lily about the future, but once again, something kept him from telling her. Was it possibly because he didn’t want to end their relationship by revealing he was her son? “It’s...complicated,” he mustered. Lily walked over to the chair opposite Harry, staring into his eyes.
“Harry, there’s something you want to tell me, isn’t there?” she asked softly. Harry nodded.
“I just...can’t,” Harry said. “I don’t think you can handle the truth.”
Before Lily could press the matter any more, the portrait burst open again, and James, Peter and Remus walked into the common room.
“Harry, that was amazing!” James said. “How did you...” He saw Lily sitting across from Harry, and his smile fell. “Oh, I get it,” he said sullenly, and turned to walk back out of the portrait hole. Remus and Peter looked at Harry and Lily for a moment, curious, before following James back out of the common room.
“Sorry,” Harry said, getting up to leave. “I shouldn’t be talking to you.”
“It’s okay,” Lily said, motioning for him to sit down. “James may like me, but that doesn’t mean I like him back. But you...” She broke off, turning her gaze to the floor. Harry also felt his face getting warm.
“Lily,” Harry said, “do you want to...” Harry couldn’t believe himself. Was he actually asking his mother out on a date? He sighed, unable to finish his question.
There was an awkward silence for a few seconds, then Lily finally stood up. “Well, I’d better go,” she said, her voice slightly higher than usual. “Better not be too late for Potions.” With that, she walked out of the common room, leaving Harry feeling very hurt and confused.
***
Author’s Note: So Harry has developed feelings for Lily! Will the feeling last? Who knows (but me)? Well, leave a review please, and thanks for reading!