FINALLY chapter 3! :D
For those of you revisiting my story after the ridiculously long hiatus, I'm sorry for the wait. I had been toying with the idea of abandoning this story, but decided against it after a good friend (and fellow writer) pretty much told me to just shut up and finish it. So it might not necessarily be the happy tale that I had originally planned on, but... I think the story as a whole will benefit from that. Hope you enjoy. :)
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Beside You In Time | ||||||
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Category: Alternate Universe Characters:All, All Genres: Action/Adventure, Angst, Comedy, Drama, General, Humor, Romance, Tragedy Warnings: Death, Disturbing Imagery, Mild Language, Mild Sexual Situations, Violence Rating: R Reviews: 31 Summary: In a desperate bid to save his loved ones, Harry Potter and his wife Ginny go back in time; and maybe with Sirius' help, they can give Harry the kind of upbringing he should have had... Hitcount: Story Total: 15044; Chapter Total: 2760 Author's Notes: |
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"So, what have you gotten up to today?" Harry rolled his eyes at his godfather, who was sitting in his favorite chair by the fire, swirling a snifter of brandy around in an attempt to look distinguished. The fact that Sirius was wiggling a black quill on his upper lip like a mustache was not helping in his attempts to ignore him as he poured his own glass. "You're incorrigible, I'll have you know." "I'm well aware, kiddo. Now, come on, spill." Harry plopped down in the chair opposite him, plucking a neatly folded bit of parchment from his pocket. "Well, so far nothing too major seems to have deviated from what I remember... the only differences are that he seems to have made friends with Neville, and Snape is being less of a berk to him this go-round. Oh, and he didn't make the Quidditch team, but frankly, I could care less about that." "Really?" Sirius looked scandalized at this; Harry chucked lightly. "Yeah. For some reason, Neville seems to have come out of his shell early this time, and rather than let Malfoy take his Remembrall, he managed to wrestle it away from him before Crabbe clocked him upside the head." He waved the letter at Sirius, a wry grin on his face. "The majority of this letter is him explaining exactly how he managed to land himself in a weeks detention with Ron, Neville, and the Slytherin boys. To his credit, he was trying to stop the fight, but... well, Ron got his Weasley up, it seems." "What about my idiot brother now?" Ginny strode into the room, pulling up the ottoman to sit next to her husband. "He tried to take out Crabbe and Goyle with Neville." "I'm surprised Harry didn't get in on that." "He apparently pulled a Hermione and tried to keep them from getting into trouble." "Bloody hell, what did we do to you?" "Made me less of an impulsive idiot, apparently." "Oh, right." Sirius watched the friendly exchange with a bemused expression. Harry and Ginny had been much less uptight about keeping their "Reggie and Rosie" personas now that little Harry had finally gone to Hogwarts... at least after the kids had gone to bed. They were planning on sitting their children down and explaining it to them at some point, but so far, neither had come up with a good way to keep them from spilling the beans. Sirius knew for a fact that he wanted to be there the night they finally broke the news. With a bowl of popcorn. Behind a riot shield. Yes... it would certainly be interesting to see their reactions. And he knew the longer they waited, the worse it would get. Jamie was no fool; he was already starting to notice things. It wouldn't be long before Al and Lily picked up on it as well. He turned his attention back to the couple in front of him, marvelling--and not for the first time---just how much like Lily and James they were. "So when Voldemort decides to go after the stone, is he just going to go back up to the dormitory when McGonagall doesn't believe him?" "To be honest with you, I don't know, and it doesn't matter. You know we promised not to meddle in school affairs unless it's absolutely necessary. On that note, you still haven't told me what your thoughts were about what to do about the diary." "Not this again..." "Ginny, I love you, but we are running out of time. The longer you waffle about it, the closer you get to subjecting a little girl to the twisted mind of Tom Riddle." "Alright, how about this," Sirius interjected, seeing that yet again, Ginny was digging her heels in and refusing to even think about the terrible events of her first year, let alone what to do about a potential repeat. "Why don't we start with the pros and cons to interfering this year before we start in on the next? Because I don't think we're fully decided on a course of action here yet." Harry nodded; Ginny sighed with relief, seating herself on the ottoman. Sirius drew his wand, brandishing it at her. "You're not off the hook yet, missy. We WILL get to that tonight." The color drained out of her face, and she shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Ignoring her, Sirius conjured a large blackboard. A few more flicks of his wand had a chart drawn up and room on the side to write the final decisions for all seven years. "Now then... when you two first showed up, what exactly were the major key points that you were trying for?" "Easy," Ginny swept her hair behind her shoulder, reminding Sirius quite strongly of Lily when she was about to start listing on all the reasons why one of James' crazy schemes wouldn't work. "First, obviously, was making sure that Harry wasn't going to end up at the Dursleys, and keeping you out of Azkaban. We had to make sure he was still given the protection from his mother, and make sure that he still had all the necessary traits that would pretty much propel him into the battle on his own, rather than being forced in there. Then there's the matter of the Horcrux in his head..." "We still haven't decided what we're doing about that, love." She arched a brow at him. "Oh? Who's waffling now, Mr. Potter?" He glared at her, obviously not wanting to have this particular conversation. "Point made, love. But we've still a few more years of leeway with that, now don't we?" "Perhaps, but I recall you mentioning to me just last week that you're afraid to bring any of this up with him because he trusts you more completely than you ever trusted Dumbledore, and you know how that sort of betrayal feels. You're trying to spare him." "Well at least my reasons aren't completely selfish." Ginny jerked back as though she had been hexed, her eyes narrowing. Sirius could almost feel a palpable coldness emanating from her. Watch out, kiddo... "What's that supposed to mean, Potter?" "I don't know, maybe because you might be sentencing your younger self to death simply because you can't face your own ghosts?" She stood up abruptly, her rage making her seem much taller than she actually was. "How DARE you! After all I went through, helping you with your problems throughout the years? All the nightmares, all the flashbacks--" "And you will never know how much your help meant to me, Ginny. Really." He was speaking earnestly now, trying his best to get her to calm down enough to listen. "But what about all those nightmares YOU had? The flashbacks, the lingering doubts? How often did I sit with you, hold you, listen to you?" She stared at him for a moment, obviously trying to figure out if it was worth it to continue arguing with him. She made her decision within moments, and sat down with a plop. "Point taken. Sorry." He reached out and squeezed her hand. "We do still have time. Both of us." "Yes, but it's running out, and fast, so let's get cracking on this, shall we?" Sirius quipped, giving them both a significant look. The couple looked at each other sheepishly, and then began troubleshooting. None of them noticed they were being watched. --------- "I swear, Al, I'm telling the truth!" The younger boy simply scoffed at his older brother's attempts at getting him to believe his frankly unbelievable tale. Really, he thought. Dad is actually Harry? That's just ridiculous. "Not buying it, Jamie. Try Lily, though, she's gullible enough to fall for it... maybe." To his surprise--though he'd NEVER admit it-- it looked like James was actually a bit hurt by his comment. Get over yourself; you know he's a bloody good actor. "Albus, I'll swear the Unbreakable Vow if I have to, alright? I just... I really need your help here." That brought him up short; for the first time since James had woken him up to tell him this crazy story, he felt... uneasy. "You're really serious, then?" James nodded, his eyes wide and fearful. "Should I wake Lily?" "No, I don't think so. She's too young, she wouldn't be able to handle this sort of thing." "Well... what about Harry? Our Harry, I mean. Are we telling him?" "I..." He grimaced suddenly. "I want to, but he'd never believe me." "Yeah, but what if it came from both of us?" "Well he'd think I just conned you into going along with it, won't he?" Al thought about that for a moment. Yes, Harry would come to that exact conclusion. Of that, Albus was absolutely certain. "We need evidence. Something solid, something that can't be explained away as a lie or a joke." James sighed and flopped backward onto the bed. "This is going to take a while isn't it?" Al nodded solemnly. "If it comes down to it, we'll tell him when he comes back for the winter hols. At least that way we don't have to worry about mum and dad finding the letters or anything." James agreed; sometimes his brother could be pretty smart. For a little kid, anyway. "But what if we don't get a chance to get him alone then?" The younger boy grinned that impish sideways grin he shared with his brother. "Simple. We make a chance." James returned his grin, sitting up eagerly. "He might be ... our dad..." --He winced, looking like he was still having some difficulty wrapping his mind around the enormity of that statement--"But he's still like our brother. And we take care of our own, yeah?" "Yeah." |
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