Ever the Same

It was not every day that Kreacher sought out the company of Remus Lupin. It was not any day, in fact, since he had moved into Grimmauld Place. Given that Regulus truly only liked Regulus, Kreacher and Remus had never even looked at one another in several years. He had become somewhat of a silent roommate, given that he was no longer in service to anyone.

Regulus had insisted they could take care of themselves, one of the only things he and Sirius could wholeheartedly agree upon.

So when the aging house elf popped into existence atop Remus's desk, he startled.

"Mistress Lily is asking for you. Mistress is at Grimmauld."

After calming his racing heart, Remus scoffed. "Tell her just to come to Hogwarts, Kreacher. Everyone else is already here."

"Mistress Lily can't be coming to Hogwarts. She is in the floor of the library."

Remus dropped his quill and sprang from his desk immediately, throwing floo powder into the fireplace and stepping through without another thought. He rushed to the library to see a small heap, recognizing the crumpled form of Lily Evans-Canfield.

"Lils?" Remus asked as he rolled her over, noticing her hands.

Both hands were still clenched tightly, one holding a fork and the other gripping tightly onto a potion.

"Lily."

But she refused to wake, causing Remus to scoop her up easily and step back through the floo with her, directly into the emergency department of St. Mungo's Hospital.

"I need help here!"

Mediwitches sprung into action, floating in a stretcher to begin to take her back. "What happened?"

Remus pried her hand open, subtly slipping the potion into his own as he held her hand. "I found her collapsed in my library. Other than that, I'm unsure."

The mediwitches stopped him from following her back any further. "Don't worry, Sir. We'll take care of your wife."

Remus choked on his words, "Not wife...sister. She's my sister."

The mediwitch had the sense to look embarassed. "Yes, sir. We'll be back soon."

Pacing the waiting room, Remus sent out two patronus. The first, to James.

Get to Mungo's, James. It's Lily.

The second was to Padfoot.

Padfoot, get to Mungo's. I've had to bring Lily. And bring Regulus, we need him.

Harry ran for the dungeons, ignoring the strange looks and shouts that people began throwing his way. His heart beat away in his chest, feeling as though he could never run fast enough to keep it in his chest.

Draco hadn't given him the password for the Slytherin common room, so Harry decided he would just bang on the wall where he knew the door to be.

It was the suspicious face of Pansy Parkinson that emerged.

"What do you want?"

Harry's chest was heaving as he continued to breathe heavily, and he panted out. "Need...to talk to Draco. Please."

With another onceover, Pansy opened the door and allowed the Gryffindor inside.

House prejudice wasn't what it used to be, but seldom did anyone find themselves in the dungeons willingly. Because of this, every set of eyes tracked Harry as he raced in the direction that Pansy pointed him. He entered Draco's room without knocking.

"Oi, Nott! We've talked about- Harry?"

Draco jumped from his bed and rushed towards him. "What's happened."

Harry blinked, freezing. "It's...it's-"

But the words wouldn't come.

"Come on, Potter."

Draco led Harry to the edge of the bed, where he pulled forcefully on his arm to make him sit.

"Now, what's going on?"

"Dad was here."

"I am aware, Potter. I was at lunch."

"He got...got a pat-t-ronus from Moony. Mum's in the hospital."

At this, Draco looked worried. "Whatever for?"

"I don't know. Dad told me to stay with you until he knew. Said he'd send word back for us."

Draco nodded solemnly. "Right. I'm sure she's fine, Potter. You know how she likes to overwork herselves sometimes. Probably just forgot to sleep for a few nights."

Harry knew that Draco was trying to placate him, and the words did little to soothe him. There was something strange happening around them, and Harry was going to find out what.

"We need to break into the restricted section tonight."

Draco's brows furrowed, "Whatever for?"

"There's something going on that they're not telling us, Draco! I keep having these weird dreams, and now-"

"Wait," Draco stopped him. "You've had them, too?"

Lily Evans-Canfield was placed into a magically induced coma to allow her magical levels to stabilize. It appeared that she was suffering from one of the worse cases of magical exhaustion that St. Mungo's had seen since the war.

James stood on the corner outside as he thought about how to break the news to Harry.

It wasn't uncommon for Lily to work herself to death. It was the worst when Harry was a baby, those couple years right after the war was over. She felt as though she had something to prove. Whether that be to herself or the Wizarding world, James could never be sure.

He could remember finding her asleep in the chair in Harry's room, her neck bent at an awkward angle as exhaustion finally won out. It seemed that no matter how much he chastised her for it, she continued to work just as hard.

Harry was struggling, James could tell. His first year at Hogwarts, coupled with the intense dreams that he had been experiencing, was enough to make James's heart swell with emotion. He wanted to protect his child from the evil of the world, not expose him to it.

It was his fatherly instinct that caused him to downplay what was happening within his message.

The glowing stag stood in front of him as he began to speak.

"Hey, Buck. And Draco, who I assume is there. Your mother is fine, she's just depleted her magic from working so hard. The doctors say that she'll be back to normal in no time. I'll have her send a letter by Hedwig when she wakes. Don't be afraid, Harry. And if you need to talk, you know we're all here. Even-"

He paused for the shortest second before stumbling over his words.

"-Even Regulus, if you'd prefer to talk to him. Get some rest tonight, and if you continue to have these dreams, see Madame Pomfrey for some dreamless sleep. Love you, Son."

The stag galloped away, leaving James to stand on the street and hope he had done the right thing.

"Prongs," Remus called for him. "There's something I'd like to discuss. Pads and Reg are inside."

The terrace on the roof of St. Mungo's had been seen by the marauders one too many times, especially in the years of the war. Seeing his friends once again gathered there did horrible things to James's stomach, causing his steps to falter.

It was Regulus who noticed first, slowly closing the gap between them. "Alright, Potter?"

James could recognize the hesitancy within Regulus, especially given that they had an audience. But in that moment, he didn't care. Reaching for Reg was an almost subconscious move. He wrapped an arm around Regulus's neck, the other falling around his waist. James's nose brushed the underside of Regulus's ear as he sighed. "She'll be fine."

He could feel Regulus freeze at the contact, but no one commented on the two. He slowly relaxed, bringing an arm around James to fist in the back of his cloak. "I asked about you, James."

"We need to talk later. About Harry."

"Of course," Reg nodded.

Remus spoke, grabbing both of their attention. "She had these in her hand. One is an obvious portkey, which I've been able to trace. Lily made it herself. But this, I've never seen."

He held the potion out to Regulus, who extracted himself from James's hold. The potion was a brilliant silver, swirling and turning within the bottle. The color was so bright that it almost seemed to glow. It was sealed with a dark green wax, a symbol stamped into it.

"Well, well, well," Regulus all but hummed. "Seems our little witch has been busy."

"You know what it is?" James asked.

"Not a clue. But I know who made it."

"Who?"

"Severus Snape."

"What!"

It was Sirius who exploded first, ranting as he began to pace across the floor. "How in this world did she find Snivvelous? After all these years, he's still obsessed with her? And what was she thinking? He could've killed her!"

Fear, guilt, and a burning anger seared their way into James, causing his chest to almost burn. He let out a huff, sinking into the nearest chair and placing his head in his hands.

"It's my fault."

"What are you talking about, Potter?"

"She's been getting flowers from him. Since the end of the war. I told her I would find him, but you know how Lily is. She must've looked into him more on her own after I told her about Bellatrix."

"Of course she did," Regulus lightly laughed, not surprised by her actions at all. "It's Evans we're talking about."

Regulus turned to Remus. "Where was the portkey from?

"Brazil, it seems."

"Not surprising," Reg nodded. "There was a faction of Death Eaters there during the war, mostly for recruitment. If I could guess, Severus fled there after the war. We can trace the magic back easily enough."

But the pop of an apparition behind him signaled to Regulus that there would be no need in searching for him. Without even turning around, Regulus knew that Severus stood behind him.

Harry couldn't help but think about all the stories that Moony and Padfoot shared with him of their time in the castle. He wanted nothing more than to live up to the marauders legacy during his own years at Hogwarts.

Sneaking into the restricted section of the library to look for time magic books seemed like a pretty tame start, but Harry theorized that at least it was a start.

Harry and Draco huddled beneath the invisibility cloak as they made their way through the stacks, looking at each title.

"What exactly are we looking for?" Draco whispered, squinting at the titles on the spines.

"Anything about time magic, really. I think we'll know when we see it."

Harry couldn't help but think back to the patronus that his father had sent, and knowing that he had lied to him. He was unsure of the severity of his mother's injuries, but he knew it was worse than what his father had said. They were also all having strange dreams, with Draco admitting that even he had been having them.

Draco's were much more simple than the others, but they were no less concerning to Harry. He had heard the stories of Lucius Malfoy, and the fact that Draco was dreaming about his father bringing him to Hogwarts while speaking of the Dark Lord was more than concerning.

"Wait," Draco spoke, pulling them both to a stop. "What about this one?"

The title of the red book was written in plain black, block letters. Time Magick and Alternate Universe Damage.

"Grab that one."