Title: Time is a Healer

Summary: Harry, Ron and Hermione are suddenly and inexplicably thrown into the Marauders' sixth year at Hogwarts. Delighted with this chance to meet his parents and reunite with the recently deceased Sirius, Harry soon starts to cut his ties for the future, leaving Ron and Hermione seriously worried. And what's the monster that's starting to stalk Harry?

Timeline and Spoilers: Books 1 through 5, at the beginning of Harry's sixth year at Hogwarts (very beginning)

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and any related characters and setting are all the property of J.K. Rowling and not me.

Extra: 'blah' = thoughts

A/N: Whoo! New CHAPTER! Finally ^^ Speaking of, I'd like to apologise for my extremely long absence. As well as feeling a little demotivated, I wasn't really sure how to write the rest of the story with the big climax having been reached. But I am trying really hard to finish this story now! I was considering making all my chapters a slightly more reasonable length, but I gave up on that.

Ah well!

As a plus, this first new chapter (in a mind boggling five fricking years!) is twice the length I was originally going to post it as. Like I said, trying really hard to finish it. I would like to thank anyone who still cares enough about this story to read this chapter (and to, again, apologise not only for the long wait but also because it might feel slightly different to the ones before. I think my writing style has changed slightly. But I'm not sure. I'll let you be the judge (if, again, you can actually remember anything that happened earlier on in this story and what my style was like then))

Also, this hasn't been properly beta read, so I apologise for mistakes. If you see any Morgan or Morganna's in here, that's what I originally was going to call Marlene, so please forgive! I think they've all been changed, but there's always one hidden somewhere that you never can see. =D

Now… on with the story!

Chapter Fourteen: In Which Sleeping, Backtracking and Running all Play an Important Part

Lily Evans was most decidedly a morning person. Unable to sleep when the sun was up, she often dragged her fellow room mates out of bed so she could have some company at breakfast. Said room mates were less than happy about this arrangement, often ending up in a stupor, blinking slowly at their porridge and wondering what in Merlin's name they were doing up so early in the morning. If they were awake enough, such thoughts were often accompanied by vague plans of revenge on the irrepressibly awake Lily Evans. So, you could understand the confusion of Alice Casey and Marlene McKinnon when, on Monday morning, the red head was still asleep when they woke up.

Marlene woke first, automatically growling, "Go away, Lily!" It was only after she had yanked the duvet back over her head that she realised there was no one tugging on her bed or chirping back at her. The dorm was completely quiet, excepting Alice's little snores.

Surprised, Marlene sat bolt up right in her bed, staring around the room in shock, brown hair in a mess after a long nights sleep. Marlene had light, dark chocolate coloured hair which, whilst it could be slinky and shiny, had an annoying habit to go incredibly static in the morning, making her appear as though she had survived a direct lightning strike. Her eyes were the same colour as her hair and, coupled with a naturally tanned complexion, gave her the appearance of a Spanish beauty, with long black eye lashes and naturally pouting lips. Completely oblivious to the admiring looks she got, Marlene was a Quidditch fanatic and the Gryffindor keeper for the second year running.

Marlene's gaze drifted over to Lily's bed, wondering if it was one of those rare days when Lily went to breakfast ahead of them. But she could catch a glimpse of red hair poking out from underneath the mass of covers so the prefect was still there. And the sun was shining so brightly that it was hurting her eyes. So no mistaking the fact that it was very definitely morning.

'This is very weird,' she thought, crawling to the end of her bed and walking over to peer at Lily, frowning down at the jumble of girl and covers. The jumble shifted slightly, destroying any possibility that she had died or that it was just a mass of pillows. 'Huh.'

Still wrapped in her own duvet, Marlene rambled over to Alice's bed. The blond haired girl was fast asleep, making her usual snuffling snores, and curled up on one side.

"Alice," Marlene whispered, shaking Alice's shoulder gently. "Alice, wake up!"

"FOR THE LAST TIME, LILY, SOD OFF – I WANT TO STAY IN BED!" roared Alice suddenly, surging upwards, and scaring Marlene so much that she gave a small shriek and fell backwards, landing heavily on the floor.

"Ow! Alice!" exclaimed Marlene, giving her sore posterior a rub. "Be careful who you go all psycho on!"

Alice, whose angry gaze was blinked away into one of confusion when she saw no Lily, started and looked down at her friend, who was glaring at her from the floor.

"Marly, Merlin, I am so sorry!" she exclaimed, clambering out of bed and giving the other girl a hand up. "I thought it was Lily!"

"I would never have guessed," Marlene said, dryly, collecting her duvet. "And, believe me, I would love to see that play out, but…" She trailed off, grabbed Alice's hand and dragged her over to Lily's bed. "She appears to be asleep."

Alice's goldfish look was incredibly amusing, as she alternated between staring at Lily and gaping at Marlene. "But – but," she spluttered, finally, "she never – I mean, sunshine! – look, day time!"

"Yeah, I was pretty shocked, too," interrupted Marlene, smiling at her friend.

"Do you think she's ill?" asked Alice fretfully, staring at Marlene with worried blue eyes. "I mean, she's never slept in before – and it's a school day!"

"I dunno," said Marlene truthfully, staring down at the red head. "Maybe she is ill. And she did go to bed really early last night."

"Do you think we should wake her?" asked Alice. "She'll go mad if she's late for classes."

Marlene grinned evilly. "Why not?" she agreed, eyes lighting up at the prospect of revenge. "You never know, someone might have finally answered our prayers!" and she cackled menacingly.

Alice backed away from her slightly, although her eyes, too, had lit up at the notion of 'revenge'. "Oookay, Marly, calm down. We can't do anything too drastic if she's ill."

Marlene's shoulders drooped. "Damn, you're right." She sighed. "Oh well." And she gently shook Lily on the shoulder. "Lily, you have to get up."

No response.

Alice and Marlene exchanged looks. This didn't look like it was going to be easy.

"Maybe you should try and shock her out of it," suggested Alice.

Marlene stared at her in shock. "What, with lightning – or that muggle thing, eccletricity? Are you crazy?"

Alice blushed and hit Marlene on the arm. "Don't be an idiot. I mean, like telling her she's missed the first lesson or something," she corrected. "Sometimes people can hear stuff like that in their sleep and they react to it."

Marlene raised a speculative eyebrow, but turned back to Lily anyway. "Hey, Lily, you've missed the first lesson! Wake up!"

When Lily didn't react to that either, Marlene turned and stared at Alice, eyebrow raised once more. Although she went a little pink, Alice shrugged and said, "Maybe something more extreme?"

Five minutes later…

"LILY! Holy Merlin, you've just missed double potions – Groll is furious and she's petitioning the Headmaster to have you expelled!"

Alice sniggered, catching Marlene's eye, who grinned at her. 'You know, I don't think that this should be that fun,' Alice thought vaguely, as she tried to stop herself laughing. 'I mean she could be seriously ill.' But it was strangely hard to stop now they had gotten into it and she just couldn't wait to see Lily's face if she did wake up. "Oh, that was a good one, Marly! Wait, I've got another one," and she turned to the oblivious Lily. "Lily, shit, wake UP! Professor McGonagall is down stairs and she's going to take your prefect badge away because you were seen kissing Severus Snape in a broom closet instead of doing your rounds!"

Marlene burst into laughter at that, clutching her side. Alice joined in, almost loosing it at the end of her speech, but still Lily didn't move. Suddenly Marlene stopped laughing, her eyes lighting up in inspiration. "Merlin, I've just thought of the best one!" she exclaimed, grinning at Alice evilly. "If she doesn't wake up with this one, then there's something seriously wrong."

Alice stared at her, curious. "What – " she began, but Marlene cut her off with a knowing smile. "You'll see."

Turning to Lily, Marlene let out a shriek of pure astonishment and clasped her face dramatically. "Lily – what the…? Why is James Potter in your bed? And naked?"

Alice and Marlene broke into screams of laughter, hysterical tears trickling down their faces. Eventually, though, both girl's calmed down, though it was made difficult by Marlene, who kept breaking into little snorts which sent Alice off again. But finally they ended up staring worriedly at Lily, who hadn't moved an inch since they had started. They exchanged glances.

"Do you think we should get Madam Pomfrey?" asked Alice, hesitantly. If Lily was really just asleep – heavily – then neither she nor the irritable nurse would be very happy about it. She glanced at her watch. "It's twenty to eight already. If she doesn't get up soon then she really will – "

"Bloody hell!" Marlene exclaimed, suddenly, staring at a point a little behind Alice's shoulder. "How the heck is she still asleep?"

Turning round to see who Marlene could possibly mean, Alice gasped in astonishment as she saw another bundle of unmoving duvets behind her. A leg and an arm were poking out, brown, bushy hair sprawled over a white pillow, Granger's face almost hidden by it's tangled curls. Alice felt slightly guilty over how they had forgotten about the exchange student, but then again, it had just been her, Marlene and Lily for five years. But what was even more strange was that she was fast asleep, not moving, exactly the same as Lily. Alice frowned.

"Maybe they've both got this illness… whatever it is," she said, turning to look back at Marlene.

"Yeah," Marlene agreed, looking at the other girl. "We don't know her as well as Lily, but she's nearly always been up and out of here before Lily's even woken us up. If it were possible, she's more of a morning person than our Evans, here."

"Although, she was still up when we went to bed," Alice pointed out. "She really could just be tired."

Marlene raised a highly sceptical eyebrow. "What? With us yelling and screaming at Lily for the past five minutes?" She shook her head. "I don't think so. We could have woken a deaf man with that show. Actually, I'm surprised that no one's come in to ask us what was going on."

Alice glanced pointedly at her watch. "Well, it is, as I said, a quarter to eight. Breakfast is nearly over."

Marlene groaned as her stomach gave a particularly loud rumble. "Great, just what we need. Well, we'll grab some toast and dash back here and try and wake Lily up," she decided, grabbing her school cloak and pulling it over her burgundy pyjamas. There wasn't enough time to change into full school uniform.

Alice was staring at her, aghast. Rolling her eyes, Marlene reached over and flung another cloak at Alice. "Come on, Alice," she wheedled. "It's not like we're going to be there long. And who's going to be able to see through our robes, anyway?" Sighing, Alice pulled her robes over her blue and pink pyjamas, running a hand through her blond hair.

"You know, we should talk to the Marauders cause they were who Granger was sitting with last night," commented Marlene thoughtfully, as she absent mindedly pulled on a pair of fluffy bunny slippers. "Plus, what's his face – Ron Wesley. Maybe they gave her and Evans something, cause I saw her talking to them too. And if they have…" She let the sentence trail off threateningly. Truth be told she wasn't completely sure what she would do to five boys, two of which played Quidditch and two who looked like they should, all of them experts in jinxes and hexes and various ways to bespell you. Then again, she could always just aim low…

"Come on, Alice," said Marlene impatiently, wishing her hair wasn't quite as static as it was. She was hungry. "Let's go."

Alice looked at her dubiously. "Are you sure?" she asked, glancing at Marlene uncertainly.

Marlene rolled her eyes. "Yes, of course," she said, slightly snappishly, lunging forward and grabbing Alice's arm, dragging her out of the room. "Now, come on."

Alice glowered at her friends' back. "Well, then, I hope you don't mind the entire student population seeing your pink bunny slippers," she muttered under her breath, giving Marlene's back an evil grin as she was forcibly dragged to the Great Hall.

The Great Hall at breakfast was the quietest of meal times. The majority of students felt that getting up so early – and for learning, no less – was a crime and ought to be punishable somehow. They sat, miserably eating porridge or chewing toast, as they blearily tried to make sense of why, in Merlin's name, the world hated them so much to deem they had to be awake at this hour of the morning. They tended to scowl angrily at anyone too chirpy or making too much noise. Surprisingly enough, most of the teachers seemed to fit into this category. Then there were the students that hadn't done homework due in for the first lesson of the day and were frantically scribbling down what they could in the seconds to spare. It was quite fortunate for them that the teachers were quite firmly entombed in the first category, because all they could manage was a weak glare at aforementioned students. Then there were those extremely rare people who were extremely awake and much too chipper in the morning for everyone else. This group mainly consisted of Lily Evans, The Marauders minus Peter (who tended to be in the middle category), Professor Dumbledore and a few first and second years for whom the novelty of magical education had not yet worn off. Alice and Marlene were most decidedly in the dead-on-your-feet-and-not-too-happy-about-it category.

So when they bounded into the Great Hall, looking as though they had voluntarily downed three bowls of raw coffee, they received more than a few stares.

"What in Merlin's names' wrong with you?" asked a bleary eyed fifth year, who took a break from glowering at his toast to stare as wide eyed as he could manage at the two sixth year girls. "And where is Ms. Chirp?"

Ms. Chirp was Gryffindor's name for Evans that early in the morning. It seemed that Gryffindor House was the house that most of the happy-about-being-awake people were in. Far from being offended, Marlene and Alice took no notice of the nickname. In fact, they were the ones who had started it. Alice sighed to herself. 'We certainly weren't very good at insults in first year – Lily even likes that one. Oh well, too late to change it now.'

"She's asleep," said Marlene casually, as she reached for a piece of toast. Alice rolled her eyes as nearly everyone on their table dropped what they were doing to gape at them. Marlene had a definite flair for dramatics and knew just how to make an impact.

"What?" chorused a fair few people, making some other houses give them funny looks.

Marlene shrugged, a smile playing about her lips even if she was worried for her friend. "Yeah, that was pretty much our reaction too."

"You didn't drug her or anything, did you?" asked a seventh year, suspiciously. It was well known how much Marlene and Alice disliked being pulled out of bed everyday.

Alice and Marlene both looked extremely indignant at this. "Of course not!" Alice exclaimed, affronted. "She's our friend – we've put up with it for five years, why not for the next two?"

"Oh, and speaking of poison…" Marlene craned her neck to look down the table. "Anyone seen the Marauders?"

There was a lot of muttering and head turning at this. "I… well, I don't think so," spoke up the fifth year who they had spoken to first. "And I, rather unfortunately, have been here for most of breakfast."

"When I came down they were all in their dorm," offered Frank Longbottom, a seventh year Gryffindor. Alice, who had a small crush on the prefect, blushed slightly, but for once Marlene didn't tease her about it. "I popped in to get back a book Remus borrowed from me and they were all sound asleep."

Marlene and Alice exchanged uneasy glances. It was beginning to sound like a bug of some sorts. 'Either that or a mass enchantment. A potion? Snivellus hates them and he's better than Groll at potions,' thought Alice, biting her lip. She could tell Marlene was thinking along the same lines.

"What?" asked Frank, frowning as he caught the two glancing uneasily at each other. Most of the table was watching now, curious. Marlene raised her eyebrows at Alice, asking permission. Refraining from rolling her eyes, Alice sighed and nodded, turning towards her – as of yet – uneaten porridge. Her ears and her attention, however, were strained towards Marly and Gryffindor's reaction.

"Well, we've tried everything to wake Lily," Marlene was explaining, in her usual dramatic fashion. Out of the corner of her eye, Alice had to repress a grin as she caught her friends' arms waving dramatically. "And I mean everything, short of throwing a bucket of water on her. And then we noticed that Granger – Hermione, that exchange kid, you know? – was sound asleep, too, and with all the racket we'd been making she'd have had to be dead not to wake up." Alice found that her eyes needed to be rolled here. Marlene had a slight tendency to exaggerate. "And she was talking to the Marauders last night – and so did Lily. So maybe they've all been poisoned or are ill or… well, that's about it, we don't really know."

There was a slight silence after this. Alice looked up, her porridge bowl remaining as full as before. Most of the table was frowning thoughtfully, though some of the younger years were looking worried. And who could blame them? The Marauders were the idols of the younger years and they all looked up to the magic four with reverence – 'not totally undeserved,' Alice thought, though she would never admit that to Lily. She could sympathise with Lily's arguments, but they certainly made each day go by quicker. And she could not understand why Lily was so annoyed about Potter asking her out – was the girl blind?

"Maybe we should get them all together and try some spells or… I don't know, actually chuck a bottle of water at them?" suggested a fourth year girl timidly.

Marlene brightened up. "Actually, that's not a bad idea," she commented, smiling at the mousy haired girl. "Besides, if they are sick then it will be easier to get them to the Hospital Wing if we all help." She made a face. "Don't know about you, Alice, but I don't feel like taking eight unconscious teenagers down six flights of stairs to find a bottle of water would have done the trick."

Alice wasn't too sure about Marlene's 'plan', mainly because she wasn't too sure how Lily – let alone the Marauders – would react to being woken up with a bucket of water in their face, but she didn't get a chance to point this out as all the Gryffindors gave a small cheer of agreement before storming back to Gryffindor tower in an enthusiastic stampede. It wasn't too long before Alice was the only one left on Gryffindor table, staring after the disappearing crowd with her mouth open. Realising that that was exactly what the other three houses – and the teachers – were doing, made Alice turn bright red and she hurriedly stumbled from her seat and ran after them, feeling the eyes of several hundred students on her back.

"Alice! Wait!"

Not the only person left on Gryffindor table then. Frank Longbottom ran over to her, grinning at her in a way that made her stomach go all squirmy. She went even redder. Coming to a halt in front of her, Frank continued to grin. "Seems like I'm not the only one who has doubts about this well thought out plan," he told her, grin turning into a slight smirk. "Willing to place a bet on which set will hex us faster – Lily or the Marauders?"

Alice managed a weak smile at this. "Well, I suggest we keep well back from them and let Marlene be in front. That way she's only herself to blame when she has to spend a week in the Hospital Wing."

Frank grinned again. "Well, I suppose we should at least try and keep order. I'm not really too sure what hormone driven teenage girls are going to do when we present James and Sirius in their pyjamas."

Alice blushed bright red and couldn't think of a reply to that except to possibly move faster. "Good point," she mumbled and they both began to pelt down the corridors to get to Gryffindor Tower.

"This is not good, not good at all."

Marlene sighed and shook her head at the eight sixth years in their baffling dilemma. They had tried everything they could. They had all started with the non-magical suggestions. Whereas Lily or Hermione hadn't woken with just Alice and Marlene shrieking at her, Marlene had hoped that one hundred odd students yelling at the top of their lungs might have made a difference. All that had resulted from that, however, was everyone got ringing in their ears and were unable to communicate without yelling at each other for about 10 minutes. They had tried giving them a gentle shake. Unsurprisingly, there had been rather a lot of volunteers to wake the Marauders this way, for whereas Marlene had instructed the two seventh year girls who had fetched down Hermione and Lily to wrap them in their school cloaks to spare their dignity, she had said nothing of the sort to the various boys who got the Marauders. Surprisingly, nearly all the boys were fully clothed... with one exception. There was quite a lot of happy squeals as it soon became apparent that James Potter only slept in his boxers and Marlene was exceptionally happy to be told by Anna – the second year girl with a photography obsession – that, for making this possible, she could get a free copy of all the photographs she was taking. Already the small girl had made 13 galleons on promised photograph sales.

The shaking, alas, had not worked, although Anna had managed to get a brilliant photo of a frustrated fifth year girl whacking Sirius over the head with a fluffy, pink rabbit– and the subsequent photo of one Sirius Black automatically cuddling up to the teddy in his sleep. The term 'blackmail' had crossed Marlene's mind more than once.

Although sorely tempted by the bucket of water plan, Marlene had not used it yet, because she didn't think Madam Pomfrey would be too pleased if they really were ill and turned up to the infirmary soaking wet. So, rather reluctantly, she had moved on to magical means of wakening her comatose year mates. The enervate charm had been used first as it was the simplest, but to no avail. The red jets hit their intended targets accurately but didn't raise a reaction out of any of the Sixth years except to make Sirius snuggle into his rabbit more. After enervate had been used, the Gryffindors were a bit stumped, to tell the truth. They had rather half-heartedly performed one jinx or another on various sleepers but even more curious was the fact that although each of the spells hit the teenager in question it didn't have any effect. It just seemed to dissipate into their chests. That was certainly not meant to happen.

The Gryffindors had now broken up into various discussions of which potion could be responsible, whether it was a new kind of magical flu and some first years were actually rather hysterically wondering when their funerals would be. Ignoring the silly wails, Marlene made her way over to Alice and Frank who had watched all the proceedings from a corner of the common room silently. At her not-so-melodramatic statement, both looked uneasy.

"I think we should take them to Madam Pomfrey," said Alice, looking worriedly at Lily, who was now curled into the foetal position. "We really have tried everything we're capable of now. And what's happening when they get hit by jinxes…" she shook her head, eyes wide. "Well, it's just not heard of, is it?"

Frank nodded solemnly, staring at the eight lifeless teens. Squinting his eyes a little, he remarked, "Actually, they all look like they've been in a fight – see all those scratches on Lily, James and Remus? Not to mention that massive rip on Sirius shirt and the fact that James' hair is full of rubble."

Both Marlene and Alice had frowned at that and immediately looked over at the eight. 'How could I have missed that?' Marlene thought, scrutinising James hair. It certainly was full of brick dust and chips of cement. Sirius had been on his back to begin with and had only just now shifted onto his front, clearly displaying the large tear in the fabric for all to see.

Out of the corner, Marlene caught Alice's miserable shrug. "Either way," she began, looking slightly teary, "it's out of our hands now. We should just – "

"And what, in Merlin's name, do you lot think you are doing?"

The voice was quite quiet, actually, but having lived with it for six years, Alice and Marlene had picked up an extra sense for that voice. Especially when it had that particular tone to it. Even the first years, who had only been in Hogwarts for a few weeks, knew to freeze fearfully whenever that voice carried across to them. Chatter and debates died away immediately, as if the sound had been cut off. Marlene wagered that it would have actually looked quite funny, as every single Gryffindor turned – as though in slow motion – to face one Professor Minerva McGonagall, Transfiguration Teacher, Deputy Headmistress, Head of Gryffindor House, if she didn't happen to represent their imminent doom.

Professor McGonagall was absolutely livid.

She had been sitting in her classroom, for almost an hour, waiting for her third year Gryffindor class to show up. At first she had not really noticed the time racing past. Not wanting to appear as though all she did was sit there waiting for students to turn up for her to teach – although this class did not hold any of the Marauders she did not want any of the younger students to get any ideas – she had started marking some seventh year NEWT essays before the bell rang, just as she always did. Even as the first bell rang for lessons, she did not stop, though she did frown a little at the lack of noise. Rolling her eyes – in a way that was very unlike her – she figured that they would be late, just as they always were on a Monday morning. So she decided to carry on marking, as why waste time when it was handed to her, but ready to glare ferociously as soon as her class decided to turn up.

Professor McGonagall was halfway through a particularly well written essay when she got her first interruption. An extremely angry Professor Grollingsworth had stormed into her classroom, banging her door open without even the decent courtesy to knock first, and immediately began yelling about her sixth year Gryffindor's potions class.

"MINERVA! I have had it up to here with your infernal – oh," she stopped, mid-rant, to gaze around the Transfiguration classroom with an evil smirk. "The little buggers haven't shown up to your lesson, either, I see."

It was only then that Professor McGonagall realised that it was forty five minutes into her first lesson and not a single Gryffindor had turned up. This so threw McGonagall that, for a couple of seconds, all she could do was blink at the row upon row of empty seats. "I do beg your pardon?"

Hilda Grollingsworth's smirk grew. "Your sixth year Gryffindors are missing from my potions class," she informed the Deputy Head Mistress snootily, crossing her stick like arms over her chest. "All the Slytherins have turned up – like the good, capable, dependable students that they are – and there is not a single unreliable, scatty, rude – "

"Yes, yes, Hilda, I get your point," Professor McGonagall cut her off, snappishly, and rising to her feet. "No need to be so rude about it. I do not need your input when thinking up scathing words to describe this appalling behaviour of my house. I will – "

"Oh, hello, Minerva!" came another voice, and both Professor McGonagall and Grollingsworth looked down to see tiny Professor Flitwick standing in the open doorway, smiling at them. "Just the person I was looking for – I'm very glad you've got a free period." He ignored, or did not notice, Professor McGonagall's darkened expression at this, and continued. "It's just that I'm supposed to be taking first year Gryffindors for charms at the moment and… well, there doesn't seem to be any."

Hilda Grollingsworth was looking even more delighted at this and Professor McGonagall found herself restraining the need to bash her head against the wall. 'What in Merlin's name is going on with my house?' She vaguely recalled the entire table storming out at breakfast in one large crowd, but had forgotten about it as she suddenly remembered about various administrative tasks she had forgotten to do last night and had rushed off soon after her house to finish them before class began.

Before Professor McGonagall could reply to Professor Flitwick, Professor's Kettleburn and Vector raced in, tripping over the aforementioned Charms teacher as they chanted, "Minerva! Our fourth year Gryffindors are – argh!"

"Missing?" enquired Hilda, raising an eyebrow delighted.

"Sorry, Filius!" apologised Kettlburn gruffly as he pulled the tiny teacher to his feet.

"Yes!" exclaimed Vector, answering Hilda's questioning. She gazed enquiringly at Hilda and then at Flitwick. "Surely you don't mean to say…"

"Yes!" echoed Hilda, grinning happily. "Not turned up to ours either – or Minerva's here, either," she added.

The recent arrivals stared at Professor McGonagall in astonishment.

"You don't think they're ill, do you?" asked Professor Vector nervously, twisting a strand of her brown hair around a finger.

"They looked fine at breakfast!" Hilda Grollingsworth quashed that one gleefully. Professor McGonagall was itching to slap the woman by this point, all the more so because she couldn't think of anything to say in defence of her house.

There was the sound of clattering feet outside and a seventh year Hufflepuff ran into the room. "Professor McGonagall," he started, before coming to a stop, staring at all the teachers around him. "Ooh… er…"

"Yes, what is it, Trevers?" McGonagall snapped. She was not in the mood to be pleasant and, besides, the boy hadn't even paused to knock. Where had simple manners gone these days?

"Er… Professor Martins sent me, Professor," Trevers stated, trying to ignore all the teachers staring at him. Professor Martins was the new defence teacher for this year. He seemed to be alright, actually, and was at least teaching the students something, although he seemed a bit wishy washy to her. He had already sent no less than thirteen students in the past week and a half asking for her advice on this and that. She didn't have time to deal with that and if he asked then she would send Trevers back with a very rude answer. However, as she sighed and flapped an arm at him to continue, she had a sinking feeling that she already knew what the Hufflepuff was going to say. "You see, we've got double defence with the Gryffindors now and – "

"None of them have turned up," chorused the band of professors, Professor McGonagall doing so rather miserably. She was going to kill her house.

Trevers looked at the Professors wide eyed. "How do you know that?" he asked, rather astonished.

"Because none of them have turned up to our lessons, either," cackled – literally – Hilda, sweeping a hand to include everyone. "None of them seem to have turned up to any of their lessons at all!"

Wanting to groan – but feeling it was beneath her – McGonagall snapped at Hilda. "You don't know that none of them have turned up to any of their lessons – we still don't know about the second and fifth years," she replied, annoyed, because undoubtedly Trevers would tell his housemates and Merlin knew, Hufflepuffs were some of the worst gossipers in the school, just as a gasping Ravenclaw fifth year raced into the room.

"Sorry to bother you, Professor McGonagall…and, er, co," Stacey Grey added, spotting the rather large population of professors in the classroom. "Professor Sprout sent me to inform you that none of the Gryffindors – "

This time Professor McGonagall cut her off before the others could chorus the rest her sentence, finally giving in to her groan. "Thank you, Stacey, you can go."

Stacey stared at Professor McGonagall in confusion. "But I haven't told you – " she protested.

"What, that none of the Gryffindors have turned up to their Herbology lesson?" Hilda put in her two pennies, in a rather sickly sweet voice. For the first time since completing her animagus transformation, Minerva McGonagall fervently wished she wasn't a cat. Or, rather, that she was a lion or a tiger instead of a domestic house cat, because Hilda Grollingsworth was really getting on her nerves. She didn't think a cat would really do much damage to the potions Professor whereas a lion…

Stacey was all ready to echo Trevers' earlier question when McGonagall snapped, "Just go, Grey – and you, too, Trevers." Her expression darkened when both of them hesitated. "And rest assured, tell your respective Professors that I will deal with my house."

Both of them gulped and raced out the classroom, but they weren't quite out of range when Stacey began to ask Trevers what was going on. The urge to bash her head against the wall was returning so McGonagall focused on the only good thing: no one had come to her about the second years yet. She voiced this out loud. "Well, at least no one seems to be missing the second years," she began, sounding forcefully cheerful, when Filius cut her off.

"Actually, my dear Professor," he pointed out, "I noticed earlier that the second year Gryffindors have History of Magic with Professor Binns today and… well, to be fair, I don't really think the man would notice if his class didn't turn up. He'd just carry on anyway." He cocked his head to one side, watching Minerva worriedly as her expression froze. "I do think it would be wise to assume that they are also missing?"

So, here she was, standing in the common room of Gryffindor House, watching her missing students chat. Yes, that's right, chat. She had been praying – in a sort of twisted, but redeemable way – that her entire house had been struck ill. Or that Slytherins had pranked the lot of them so she could turn around and punish the whole of Slytherin house. Usually she was very fair but Hilda Grollingsworth had wound her up soo much that she didn't particularly care at that moment.

But, no. The whole reason as to why Hilda Grollingsworth would be gleefully telling an extremely truthful – what need was there to be bias in this case? – tale about Gryffindor was because they all apparently felt such a strong urge to gossip that they had to miss all their first classes and humiliate her in front of her colleagues. I repeat: Professor McGonagall was livid.

"And what, in Merlin's name, do you lot think you are doing?"

She was struggling to keep her voice calm and level as everyone froze, slowly turning around to face their infuriated Head of House. Their terrified – yet confused – expressions did nothing to sate Professor McGonagall's rage. She didn't trust herself to speak as they stared at each other, students facing Head of House.

"Oh, bloody hell!" exclaimed McKinnon suddenly, smacking herself in the forehead. "Look at the time – it's almost second lesson!" She suddenly stared at her Head of House with wide brown eyes and, quite audibly, gulped.

Professor McGonagall lost it.

"ONE HOUR! I HAVE BEEN WAITING IN MY BLOODY CLASSROOM FOR AN HOUR! ONE WHOLE HOUR! I HAVE HAD TEACHERS COME TO ME FROM ALL OVER THE SCHOOL TO ASK WHY THEIR STUDENTS ARE NOT IN CLASS! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU? IT IS NOT AS IF THE SCHOOL BELL IS A QUIET SOUND, ONE YOU HAVE TO STRAIN TO HEAR! IT SEEMS TO BE LOUD ENOUGH TO RAISE ALL THE HUFFLEPUFFS, RAVENCLAWS AND SLYTHERINS, FOR MERLIN'S SAKE, BUT, OH NO, NOT THE GRYFFINDORS! ARE YOU ALL INCAPABLE OF HEARING – OR, FAILING THAT, READING THE TIME? SOMETHING SEVEN YEAR OLDS HAVE NO DIFFICULTY IN DOING, BUT YOU – SOME OF YOU EIGHTEEN YEAR OLDS – ARE FINDING IT DIFFICULT!"

Professor McGonagall paused for breath; her voice echoing around the common room in a way that it shouldn't have considering that every single Gryffindor was occupying it. Or nearly every Gryffindor… Professor McGonagall's eyes narrowed considerably.

"And where, may I ask, are the Marauders?" she asked, voice deadly.

Everyone here exchanged fearful glances, glancing both behind them and over to McKinnon and Casey who had gone slightly pale. Now, it wasn't like Professor McGonagall to jump to conclusions, but then, in all her life, Professor McGonagall could not remember being quite as angry as she had been now and she had lived with the Marauders at her school for over five years. Looking back, she wasn't really sure how she could not have jumped to the conclusion that she did.

"THAT'S IT!" she bellowed, fists clenched so tightly that her bones actually creaked, though the sound was lost under her rage. "I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THOSE BOYS! AND YOU, GRYFFINDORS, COVERING FOR THEM! AND YOU PREFECTS, TOO! I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO DISGUSTED WITH MY HOUSE IN MY ENTIRE LIFE! AS SOON AS GRYFFINDOR GETS ENOUGH POINTS I'M GOING TO TAKE OFF FIVE HUNDRED POINTS!" She ignored the horrified gasps at this – and her own slightly guilty feelings – instead beginning to charge forward through the students. "WHERE ARE THEY, THEN? I'M GOING TO KILL THEM!"

Too terrified to say anything, the students flocked out of Professor McGonagall's way like scared rabbits, as she continued on her rampaging war path. 'This time they've gone too far!' she thought murderously. 'Disgracing the name of Gryffindor House to the rest of the school! I'll never be able to look Hilda Grollingsworth in the eye again, that conniving evil troll!'

So absorbed in her dark thoughts was Professor McGonagall that she didn't notice her quarry until she tripped over them, stumbling into Frank Longbottom, who caught her arm as she fell. Snapping her head around to see what annoyance had tripped her up – Minerva McGonagall was not one who tripped – she found herself staring down a line of unconscious sixth years. Her mouth dropped open.

"Wh-What is going on?" she spluttered, completely baffled.

Again the crowd of Gryffindors shifted awkwardly, looking over to McKinnon and Casey, who had pushed their way forward in her wake. Narrowing her eyes as she caught sight of the two perpetrators, Minerva stood up straight and glared at them. "I repeat: what, pray, is going on?"

Both girls went bright pink, but Professor McGonagall was not known for her mercy. She carried on staring at them expectantly. "We can't wake them, Professor," McKinnon spluttered eventually. She wouldn't meet her eyes. "And we've tried everything."

Professor McGonagall found her anger being replaced with incredulity. She looked again at the unconscious/sleeping sixth years on the floor, before snapping her gaze back at the two girls. "You can't wake them," she repeated, icily. The girls exchanged nervous looks. "And you thought it would be fun to involve the rest of Gryffindor House in HAVING FUN AND HUMILIATING THE POOR CHILDREN, WHEN THEY COULD ALL BE ILL! YOU STUPID, STUPID GIRLS!"

She ignored the mix of sniggers and tears coming from the rest of the House and just honed in on her victims. McKinnon was looking rather desperate now. "We were going to take them to the Hospital Wing right before you came in, Professor," she said, wailing. "But we didn't want to bother Madam Pomfrey for something that wasn't serious or… or…" She trailed off, visibly gulping as Professor McGonagall just continued glaring at her.

"MARLENE McKINNON!" she roared finally, making even her own ears ring with the volume of her voice. She felt herself shaking with rage. She could never remember being so angry before in her life – and Professor Minerva McGonagall could not be said to have a sweet temperament. "I HAVE NEVER – NEVER – BEEN SO ASHAMED – NO, DISGUSTED – WITH A SINGLE STUDENT BEFORE IN MY ENTIRE LIFE! AND YOU TOO, MISS CASEY!" she added, snapping at Alice. "BOTH OF YOU WAIT HERE WHILST I TAKE THESE STUDENTS TO THE HOSPITAL WING – THE REST OF YOU, GET TO YOUR CLASSES BEFORE I PUT YOU IN DETENTION FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!"

She stopped, breathing heavily and glaring at the dumbstruck students. Quite a few of the first and second years were starting to cry, but she was currently too angry to care. Resisting the urge to carry on yelling at her still statuesque students, she strode over to the unconscious sixth years and pulled out her wand. She couldn't refrain from a derisive snort as the nearest students flinched back visibly. "Mobilicorpus!" she intoned, flicking her wand at the sleeping students.

Nothing happened.

McGonagall stopped astonished. All 8 students remained where they were, unconscious on the floor. They didn't even stir. Aware her students were staring at her, Professor McGonagall cleared her throat and tried again. "Mobilicorpus!" Again, nothing happened.

"What's going on?" she asked, astonished. If it weren't for the fact that she couldn't call to mind a single potion or spell that could absorb magical effects, she would have half suspected a joke.

"That's what's been happening, no matter what the spell we throw at them," came Alice's voice from behind her. "Nothing seems to have any effect at all."

"It's like they're just absorbing the magic," Longbottom added, helpfully.

McGonagall frowned at him. "I assure you, Mr Longbottom," she said stiffly, "that that is impossible." She didn't offer any other explanation to what was happening, however, simply decided to raise her voice and force a bit more power down her wand. Let Madam Pomfrey figure it out. "MOBILICORPUS!"

And, as though that was the single they had been waiting for, all 8 bodies shot into the air…. Only not the way she had intended.

"STUPEFY!"

"EXPELLIARMUS!"

The 8 students blinked as their head of house soared across the room to collapse into a pile of cushions, unconscious. Mouth open, Frank wordlessly caught her wand.

James looked at Sirius, utterly confused as to why they were surrounded by their fellow housemates, in just their boxer shorts, in the common room. All the other sleepy students looked equally confused, a few of them staring with dawning horrified comprehension at their fallen teacher. But it was Ron who summed up the situation perfectly.

"Um, what the bloody hell is going on?"

"James."

Lily's soft whisper brought James out of his stupor, drawing his gaze away from the triangle of Ron, Harry and Hermione. Lily had clambered over the rubble that had surrounded her and was now staring above his head. With a start, James suddenly remembered the mountain of bricks that had been hovering above his head and scrambled towards Lily in panic. Tripping over, Lily caught his arms as he fell, a small smile on her face as she stared at where James had just been standing. Confused, James looked back and felt his mouth drop open: the rubble was gone.

"You were right, James," Lily said, heaving him up to his feet. "It was all Past: look at Honeydukes."

Gazing up at the sweet shop, James saw what she was talking about. During the battle, the entire top floor had collapsed and fallen by Lily. Now there wasn't a single scratch on the store. But, feeling shaken confidence coming back, James turned and smirked at Lily. "Wait a minute, Evans," he teased, grinning at her, "did you just admit that I was right about something?"

She glared at him, but it was half hearted. The corner of her mouth began to tilt upwards in a smile. "Don't expect it ever again, Potter," she retorted, flicking her hair back over her shoulder. "I still think you're an egocentric prick."

James smiled. "Ah, but I'm your egocentric prick," he informed her, half heartedly batting off brick dust. Despite the evident lack of bricks, it seemed that their dust remained. Lily's hair was caked in it too. Grinning at Lily's red face, he walked off to find Remus and Peter and, if necessary, pull them out of the ground.

Remus and Peter were still half immersed in the ground, but it seemed as though James' help wasn't needed after all: a large, black dog was enthusiastically digging around their legs, flinging mountains of dirt behind him. "Sirius!" James cried, excitedly, running forward to grasp Padfoot, but instead getting a face full of dirt. Padfoot turned around and panted happily at James, who was cursing as he spat out the mouthful of dirt he'd just inadvertently swallowed. "Idiot!" James said affectionately, as he ruffled Padfoot's fur. Padfoot just licked his face – "Yuk!" – and carried on digging.

"Here, James, grab my arm," Remus called, reaching out an arm. Grabbing hold of Remus' arm, James heaved and pulled. It was still a struggle to pull him out, despite the loosened earth around him, but eventually Remus came sprawling out of the ground. James then did the same for Peter and then all four of them sat there, covered in mud, and panting. Eventually, however, the continued sobs of Harry got their attention and they all looked to the centre of the square.

None of them knew what to say, James least of all. He felt like an intruder – like he shouldn't be there. He was part of the source of this boy's pain but there was nothing he could do to ease it. Nothing. Even his heavy breathing seemed to disturb the mournful atmosphere. He wanted to look away, but his eyes were inexplicably drawn, time and again, to the crying orphan and his two friends. A soft touch on his arm made him jump and he looked over in shock to see Lily's arm curled around his. Her eyes were watery, salty tracks down her cheeks, as she bit her lip. "I don't know what to do," she whispered, voice catching in her throat.

James smiled half heartedly at her. "Neither do I," he admitted. He felt his own eyes begin to sting. "Fine parents we are."

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Lily shoot him a quick look. 'Probably to see if I'm joking about,' he thought, though too miserable to correct her.

"Maybe he's best left to them two," Remus said, quietly, watching Ron and Hermione. "After all, they're the ones who know him best."

"But we're the ones causing him pain."

James looked around, shocked, because that soft comment hadn't come from Lily or Moony – it had come from Sirius. Sirius knew. James swallowed. "Sirius, mate, I – "

Sirius' slightly muddy face shot him a slight smile, though his eyes said different. "I know, James – but it all comes to us, eventually. It's just a bummer that it has to come so soon."

"It could be different," James argued, throat painfully tight as he himself tried not to cry. "You never know." He laughed wetly. "And since when are you so wise?"

Sirius actually grinned then. "Well, I've always been like that – just been hidden over the playful doggy exterior." But the grin fell away as he looked over at Harry once more.

Remus frowned at them both. "What are you talking about?"

Peter and Lily looked equally confused.

Sirius and James exchanged a glance – should they tell them? But it was so hard a burden for James to bear – he wouldn't wish it on anyone, especially his Evans. He smiled, "Doesn't matter – it's… well, we'll all find out at some point I suppose."

Remus and Lily looked even more worried at that, but Sirius thankfully cut off their pending questions by looking at his watch and yelping. "Hell, Prongs – it's gone 3!"

"In the morning?" Lily gasped, horrified.

"No, in the twilight zone," Sirius bit out, sarcastically. "Of course in the morning!"

Lily went red, glaring at him. "Well, I'm sorry, but there is no way we're were out here that long! Where's the time gone?"

They all paused, uncertain. Their battle with Past, whilst exhausting, could not honestly have been said to go on for more than an hour and they hadn't left the school that late. Sirius swallowed uncomfortably. "Well, maybe my watch is wrong," he said.

"No, it isn't," Remus said, staring at his own. "Mine says it, too."

"And mine," James added, glumly.

"We should head back," Lily said, glancing at her own. "We've still got classes tomorrow."

"Evans, we just fended off an evil immortal monster," Sirius scoffed, disbelievingly. "I hardly think classes are top priority right now."

Lily glared at him, but for once couldn't argue with him. Besides, no one really wanted to tell the three time travellers it was time to get going.

Harry just sat there, tears still falling, but now it was more a trickle than the flood it had been earlier. He was looking at some insignificant bit of ground, but his mind was elsewhere. He had been put through the most traumatic, emotional journey of his life… but he finally felt at peace. His gaze flickered briefly over to where a dark, Grim-like dog was digging enthusiastically in the ground. He had so much trauma and loss in his life that he wanted to hold onto his last chance at a normal life as long as he could.

But some things will just never be.

Harry should just accept the fact that he wasn't normal – he never would be. He had known it ever since he'd first heard the Prophecy, but he hadn't wanted to believe it. Everything bad had seemed to happen to him. He was the one who'd been orphaned. He was the one who'd endured years of neglect and hate. He was the one who'd seen his godfather murdered in front of him.

But reliving everything… that had shown him the great things that had happened to him. He had had two, wonderful, loving parents who had loved him so much they had given their lives for him. And his Godfather had died trying to rescue him, even when told not to. And even now he was embraced with two friends who had gone to hell and back with him – had just faced off a monster even worse than Voldemort for him. And he had almost thrown all that away.

He was a bloody idiot, sometimes.

But now he knew what he had to do: had to honour his parents and Sirius by living his life and make them proud by doing it well and in the present. Oh yeah – and send Voldemort to hell for all eternity.

*Well said,* a small voice said in his head. *But you might want to get back to the school soon… this is gonna hurt.*

Harry didn't have time to ask the little voice in his head what that meant – or question as to why he was hearing a strange little voice in his head – because he suddenly collapsed.

"Merlin, Harry, what's wrong?" Hermione's voice rang out, but he had no breath left to reply. Suddenly his head was reeling, all his limbs felt strange and detached – almost like the time Lockhart had removed his bones, but Merlin he hoped that hadn't happened again – bar a sharp pain in his hand once more. 'Bloody hell, my hand!' he thought, panicking. He needed his potion… but Merlin, he was tired! It must have been a strange reaction to Past – it had been a long night – but still…

*Don't worry… you'll be fine.*

That voice was back again. 'Great,' Harry thought tiredly, as the world started to go black, "I've finally gone insane…'

Hermione's shocked cry rang out across the otherwise silent street. Lily jumped – what was happening now? She'd thought everything was over. She exchanged a quick, worried glance with Potter, before they all ran across the short distance to the others, to find Ron and Hermione hovering over a suddenly unconscious Harry.

"What's happening?" Lily gasped, skidding to her knees. She grasped Harry's wrist, relieved to find a strong, steady pulse.

"I don't know," Hermione wailed, hands waving around everywhere as if uncertain what to do with them. "He was just fine and then… suddenly…" She trailed off, looking pale.

"I thought we'd won… didn't we win?" Peter asked, confused.

"I thought we did," Sirius agreed, crouching down next to Hermione and putting his arm around her comfortably. Lily quirked an eyebrow when Hermione didn't immediately throw him off, but then she didn't look as though she quite knew what was going on. Meanwhile, she looked at Ron who seemed to be doing some sort of spell.

"Well, that's bloody weird," he said suddenly, staring at his wand in confusion.

"What?" James, Remus and Lily asked concernedly.

He looked up at them, frowning. "He's not unconscious, or hurt, or bleeding internally, nothing like that," Ron explained, frowning at his best friend as he performed the spell again. "He's just asleep."

They all stared at him.

"Asleep?" Sirius repeated, incredulous. "He's taking a bloody nap?"

Ron shrugged, looking as confused as the rest of them. "Seems so… but it's… well, it's obviously a side effect of battling Past. There's no bloody way Harry would just pop off like that otherwise."

"Wait – didn't we just battle Past?" Lily asked, apprehensively.

"Yeah, but he got the most of it," James pointed out, although he sounded uncertain. "Probably won't happen to – "

"Um, ok, Hermione's just passed out in my arms," Sirius interrupted suddenly, and they all stared at the suddenly snoozing sixth year.

There was a pause.

"Bloody Merlin!"

"Back to Hogwarts now!"

There was a mad scramble as everyone got to their feet, Sirius valiantly carrying Hermione whilst James picked up Harry. "Go!" James snapped, when Remus hung back to ask him if he wanted any help. Lily was one of the first to get to Honeydukes and almost dislocated her shoulder when the door stayed shut. "Bollocks," she whispered, tugging experimentally on the handle. The door remained shut. She looked at the others. "The door repaired itself, like the rubble and the locking charms are back on."

They all exchanged worried glances. "We can't break down the door again," James said, finally, sweating as he shifted Harry in his arms. Skinny the boy may be – light he was not. "The owners are sure to hear this time and they might even discover the passageway."

"Shrieking shack?" Ron suggested hoarsely. Lily jumped.

"We can't go there!" she hissed, alarmed. "It's one of the most violently haunted places in Britain!"

The others all ignored her, though, Remus dismissing the idea, said "No – we could never be sure we'd effectively repatched any forced entry we might make to make it safe for… well."

There was another pause here, one in which Lily was extremely confused. What were they all talking about? Fidgeting – and beginning to feel exhaustion creep into her bones – Lily shot off a simple Alohomora at the door, just to see. Much to her astonishment it worked perfectly and the door swung silently open.

"Must have been Past adding all that extra magic before, then," James pondered, staring at the dark doorway for a minute before giving himself a shake. "What are we all doing? Go on, Evans, get a move on!"

At the reminder of their sudden peril, they all dashed forward again, Lily lighting her wand as she went. She stepped aside to let one of the Marauders go ahead of her, as she didn't really know that way, and followed after the pale blur that was Remus. Every now and then she glanced upwards worriedly, hoping that the owners were still fast asleep – they weren't exactly being quiet anymore, what with Sirius and James groaning every other step and Peter accidentally knocking over a barrel of Jelly slugs on the way down…

Luckily, they all managed to get down into the secret passageway without any sudden yells about intruders, carefully lowering Hermione and Ron down. As Ron closed the trapdoor over them, they all stood, breathing heavily, in the musty near darkness. James was leaning against a wall, panting, while Sirius was hardly better off. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Ron stumble, pale and shaking. He was probably going to be the next of them to drop. Lily, herself, felt fine, just her heart thumping a little louder after her sudden sprint. But she had no clue how they were all going to get back into Gryffindor tower before all of them were unconscious.

"What are we going to do?" she asked, a little breathless.

"We'll have to take turns carrying Harry and Hermione," Remus said, who had noticed the poor conditions of James and Sirius just like her. "You two can't carry them all the way back on your own."

"We'll be fine," Sirius protested, although it was somewhat lost when he had to take four breaths just to finish the sentence.

"Yeah, right, Black," Lily scoffed, although inwardly she was starting to panic. What was she going to do? She'd had a perfect school record so far – if she got caught sneaking off school grounds after hours – with the Marauders of all people – she'd never get to be Head Girl. She thought Dumbledore would believe them… but what if he didn't? "Mobilicorpus?" she suggested.

But it was Remus shaking his head this time. "We need to run all the way back – the tunnel's too low, they'd just be bashed about all over the place," he pointed out. "And if we walk back we'd most likely all be unconscious before we got anywhere near."

"I'll take them," James said, suddenly. The others all looked at him.

"You think you could?" Remus asked, uncertainly. "It is a long way…"

"I'll be fine," James dismissed, flapping a hand at Remus although he looked pale. "I'll have to be, won't I?"

Ron looked a little uncertain. "Have you ever... well, before?" he asked, fidgeting, gaze going between James and his two comatose friends nervously.

"No, but like I said: I have to," James replied, looking stubborn.

By now, Lily was rather thinking she was missing something.

"What the hell are you lot talking about?" she snapped, staring between the other boys. "That's ridiculous – there's no way James could carry both of them all the way back to the school – that's utter nonsense!"

All five boys shifted uneasily. "Well, actually, Evans," James said, hand going to ruffle his hair again, "there's something we haven't told you." ("There's a shock," Lily muttered under her breath.) James paused and looked at the others, before there was a popping sound and James disappeared.

In his place was a beautiful stag.

Lily dropped her wand in shock, making its light zig zag across the stone walls as it rolled away, but Lily didn't care. "Sweet, bloody Merlin!" she gasped, faintly, stumbling to lean against the dank wall. "Potter… you're a bloody animagus?"

The stag lowered its head gravely, before coming back up and staring her right in the eye. She looked over at the other Marauders. "And I suppose you…?" she asked, almost not wanting to know the answer.

Without a word, both Sirius and Peter disappeared. Sirius was a big, black, Grim-like dog who whined sadly at her, tail wagging. Seeing him Lily cursed – idiot! She had seen a big black dog earlier, but her attention had been on the time travellers…she'd dismissed it as a trick of the light.

She couldn't see Peter at first, but then heard a small squeak at her feet and looked down to see a rat! It was perched on its hind legs and looking up at her with big blue eyes. She jumped and squealed a bit before she realised what – or, rather, who – it was.

She shot a quick look over to Remus. "What about you?" she asked, wondering what on earth he could change into that he didn't deem it safe enough to do in a tunnel.

Remus shifted slightly. "I change… into something else," he said, noncommittally. Lily was about to question him further, when she caught the pleading look in his eyes.

"Oook…" she said, but inwardly wondered what on earth Remus changed into that it couldn't be safely done in a tunnel.

With a pop, all three animals turned back into their human counterparts, all looking anxiously at Lily. "You won't tell, will you?" Peter asked, somewhat desperately.

"I –" Lily was at a loss as to what to say. Would she tell? A few weeks ago – hell, even yesterday – she probably would have turned them in straight away. Becoming animagi – it was incredibly stupid of them, not to mention highly illegal – 'I mean, they could have died! What the hell were they thinking?' Another part of her was highly impressed that they could do it at all – becoming an animagi was supposed to be very difficult. She was especially impressed that Peter – with his weaker magical ability – could have managed it at all. She supposed the others had given him quite a lot of help… That aside, it was still highly irresponsible and an imprisonable offence. She could get arrested just for knowing about them!

But yesterday wasn't today.

Yesterday she hadn't fought side by side with them to save a grief-stricken friend. She hadn't snuck out of school to do battle with a monster. She hadn't saved their lives and they hadn't saved hers. But they had and she had. She was not the same Lily Evans as she was yesterday. She had yet to decide whether this was a good thing or not, though.

She looked at James. "I won't turn you in," she said finally, over their sighs of relief. "You only showed me as a way to help us and… well, you saved my life, Potter. James."

"Thanks, Lily," James said softly.

"Um, hate to ruin this nice little moment you two have got going on here," Sirius said, cutting through the sudden silence, "but remember that pressing need to get back to Hogwarts. Now?"

Both Lily and James jumped. "Right," James said, shooting a small smile at Lily. "Load me up, Padfoot!" he commanded, before popping back into his glorious stag form (although Lily would probably die before she admitted to James Potter that he made a beautiful stag). Prongs. She smiled – finally she understood the name. She shot a look at Remus as he helped Sirius arrange Hermione carefully on the Stag's back. She had figured out what Moony stood for years ago.

When the two students were safely on Prong's back – secured with several clever Charms by Remus and Lily – Sirius turned to Peter. "I'll change into Padfoot – you get on my back as Wormtail," he instructed. "It'll be quicker that way."

"Looks like it'll just be the three of us running then," Remus said dryly, indicating her and Ron. Ron groaned, looking pale. Lily herself didn't feel too pleased at the prospect. Remus just smiled wanly. "Come on, let's go."

They were almost at the tunnels mouth when Ron collapsed. Sirius, racing on ahead with Peter on his head holding Hermione's lumos-lit wand, only noticed when he stopped hearing the clattering of Prong's hooves behind him.

Turning around to see what was going on, he growled and popped back into Sirius, catching the indignantly squeaking Wormtail as he fell off his head. "Thanks, Sirius," Peter muttered sarcastically as he changed back. Sirius ignored him as headed towards the rest of the group.

"What are we going to do now?" Lily asked, somewhat frantic.

"We're not that far from the tunnels end," Remus assured her, seizing one of Ron's arms. "We'll just have to carry him."

Lily groaned but made no further complaint. She was tired and sweaty, but then so were they all. James snorted, still in his Prongs form, and danced, carefully shaking his back.

"No way, mate," Sirius said, cottoning on to what James intended. "You're even more exhausted than the rest of us. In fact," Sirius waved Hermione's wand carefully and intoned, "mobilicorpus."

Nothing happened.

Everyone stared at Sirius who turned bright red and tried again. "Mobilicorpus." Still nothing happened. "Remus, what's going on?" Sirius asked, beginning to panic. Why was his magic not working?

"I'm not sure," Remus frowned, before trying to cast the same spell himself and failing. "Maybe it's the draining effect of Past?"

"So as well as making us physically exhausted he's also sapping our magic?" Lily asked, frowning herself.

Remus shrugged. "Could be."

"But I used an alohomora back at Honeydukes," she pointed out, "and James, Sirius and Peter have all been in their animagus forms."

"Well... maybe it's progressive, like the tiredness thing," Remus theorised. He frowned suddenly. "Speaking of which, James, you should probably turn back now before you become unconscious in that form – I don't even want to think about how we'll get you back to Gryffindor in that state!"

Prongs the stag snorted, alarmed, and quickly popped back into his human form... conveniently forgetting his two passengers and emitting a loud "Oof!" as he disappeared under the two time travellers.

"You idiot," Sirius said as he pulled Hermione off his best friend.

"Shut up, Padfoot," James replied hoarsely as he appeared from beneath Harry as Remus heaved him aside. He coughed and massaged his aching back. "Don't think I'll be doing that again for a while."

"Not even for Evans?" Sirius asked under his breath, smirking.

The look James shot at him would have melted stone.

"Remus, give me Harry," James said, turning to his werewolf friend as Remus heaved the unconscious boy into his hands. "Sirius, you've got Hermione – Remus, Peter, do you think you can manage Ron between you?"

"Just about," Peter said, grabbing one of the red head's shoulders and tugging him upright with Remus' help.

"And what about me, James?" Lily wanted to know.

"You can scout ahead," James said, shifting Harry carefully in his arms. "Be quick but careful!"

Sirius heard Lily snort derisively as she moved past him to the front of the group. He grinned. He didn't think Evans needed to be told that twice!

"What's the matter, Evans?" he asked, grinning, as he moved behind the prefect. "Afraid of putting a black mark on that perfect record of yours?"

"Shut up, Black," she hissed back, but he could hear the slight grin in her voice.

"Right, Remus, Peter – you got Ron?" James asked, twisting behind him. Two affirmative grunts came from behind. "Well, Lily – take us out."

Wandering around Hogwarts at the dead of night with the Marauders, three unconscious time travellers and the constant threat of an impending comatose state (not to mention expulsion) didn't exactly make for an enjoyable journey, Lily Evans decided. Despite knowing Hogwarts extremely well in the daytime, by night Hogwarts took on a different air. The familiar suits of armour were easily mistaken in the shadows for teachers or Filch and the pearly light of the waxing moon gave everything a feeling of dangerous mystery.

James didn't exactly help, either, as he kept hissing out sudden instructions and making her jump. She thought the secret passage to Hogsmeade was illuminating – that was nothing compared to the myriad of secret passageways, tunnels and staircases that the Marauders seemed to know. She vaguely wondered how on earth they had time to find them all – not to mention how. 'Well,' she thought, 'they may not be committed to anything resembling school work (except Remus) but they certainly are committed to figuring out how to evade as many teachers as possible.'

Luckily it was so early in the morning that hardly any teachers were about, but Filch was up and about and then there were always the ghosts. Most of them, Lily had to concede, were so far out of it that they probably wouldn't even notice the students in the first place, but Peeves was another matter. They had the misfortune to run into him twice, but luckily both times Sirius or James knew a nearby secret passage that they could hide in until he passed.

"Having fun, Evans?" Sirius asked her after the second time. Unfortunately the only place to hide was hardly bigger than a cleaning closest so, as a result, they were all rather squashed. Her head was currently squished against Sirius' shoulder and, embarrassingly, her bottom was more or less in James' lap. She was trying to ignore that.

So she thought she could be forgiven for the only reply she could manage, which was, "Go to hell and die, Black."

By the time they were approaching the Fat Lady Lily was already a mess of nerves, but as they got closer something else began taking hold: exhaustion.

It was like nothing else Lily had felt before. Yes, she'd been tired before, but even the worst of those times had felt nothing like this. It had begun quite slowly, so she hadn't noticed it at first, or dismissed it as a consequence of being up so late. But the slow heaviness and ache had only intensified, making her start to sweat and shake. Her head had pounded its way into quite a horrible headache and now, worryingly, her vision was starting to peter out at the edges.

It felt like something was draining all her energy, slowly and surely.

Once they reached the Fat Lady (who thankfully just stared at them in gobsmacked silence) Lily had to lean against the wall, panting for breath. She turned her head just in time to see Sirius collapse, Hermione thudding to the door.

"Goodness me!" the Fat Lady said, astonished. "What on Earth have you been doing? Do you want me to call Madam Pomfrey?"

"No, thank you," James panted and Lily noted with alarm that he was grey and shaking. Judging by the look he gave her she probably looked the same. "Just let us in, please."

It was a mark of how astonished the Fat Lady was that she completely forgot to ask them for a password and just swung open.

"Come on," Remus said groaning and, with Peter, shoving Ron through the portrait hall. James followed with Harry, but needed help from both Remus and Peter to pick up Hermione afterwards. Remus had also begun to shake, but luckily not as severely as James or Lily. Clambering in through the portrait hole herself took almost all Lily had and she almost passed out herself before realising that none of the boys could go up to the girls dormitories.

Which meant she had to carry Hermione up all seven flights of stairs.

By herself.

'Oh great,' she groaned to herself.

"Yo-you be alright, E-Lily?" James asked, leaning against the wall as she herself had just done and breathing hard.

She couldn't even muster the energy for a proper response, just jerked her head in a vague 'yes'. 'Well, this is going to be fun.'

She reached over and grabbed Hermione's arms, almost falling over when she pulled the full weight. With a slight feeling of guilt she realised that Hermione was going to be extremely bruised when she woke up – seven flights worth of stairs equals a lot of bumps. 'Well,' she told herself as much as the insentient girl, 'I'm sure you'd rather this than being caught unconscious in the common room, so here we go.'

They had gotten about a third of the way up the stairs (that is to say were currently pausing for breath outside the third year girls dorm on the 2nd floor landing) when the clock in the common room dimed a rather dismal four tones to signify that it was now 4am... and a horrible reminder that she had to get up in three hours time for class.

'Bugger,' was Lily's only thought. So she had entirely managed to escape punishment for being out of Gryffindor tower after curfew, leaving the school, partially destroying a local business establishment, battling an evil god, breaking back into said business establishment, once more sneaking through the school after curfew but was most likely going to be given her first detention ever for being tardy in the morning.

Life was a real nasty little sod sometimes.

"Almost there, Hermione," she panted, legs feeling wobbly as they rounded the last turn. She didn't think she'd ever been so relieved to see her dorm room and a sudden spurt of energy had her up those last steps and into the room far quicker than she would have thought possible. She winced as the door banged shut behind her, but luckily her two room mates, Marly and Alice, were as hard to waken at night as they were first thing in the morning.

Despite all the corners, dragging and endless stairs, Lily surprisingly found getting Hermione onto her bed was almost the end of her. But eventually, with much straining and inward cursing, Hermione was on. Lily didn't have the strength left to change Hermione into pyjamas – not that she was entirely sure the other girl would be so happy about that anyway – and simply threw the duvet back over the bushy haired sixth year.

Lily herself just collapsed on her bed and let oblivion finally take her.

Thanks for reading! And there will be an explanation of the whole sleeping-magic thing... but not until the last chapter!

Love,

Hannanora Potter

~x~x~x~