Renegade

In a painting, hung by the door, left from the kitchen, hangs a James Fleamont Potter. He wears glasses, smiles at them and winks mischievously. Mostly he is never found on his own. But when he is there, he likes to show James his teeth and his wand but doesn't ever speak to him.

James suspects his namesake is forbidden by his parents because they do speak to them but not to him, or his siblings. Why? He doesn't know. All he has heard is good things about them. How brave they were. How kind and generous and thoughtful. How much he loved his wife and son and what a beautiful soul they had. The smile was a bit pompous in the painting but ….it was what it was. 

It was at this time, when he was lost in thought over the painting, sneaking ice cream from the kitchens, was when Albus rounded around the corner. Wearing his fuzzy bear slippers and sipping from his snake handled mug, he did not at all looked like the tiny, little Slytherin that he liked to shove down his family's throat but if James were to tell him that, he would digress. 

"I thought stealing went against the Gryffindor code of conduct."

"No," James smiled, then nodded at the cup Albus was holding, "having tacky mugs with house emblems is against our code of conduct."

Albus clutched his cup dramatically to his chest. "Don't mock! You know I have to keep this near me. Just yesterday one of Dad's friends tried to teach me morals. How's a little, young, snake like me to protect myself?"

"Ah, yes, how cruel," James nodded solemnly, plopping a spoonful of strawberry into his mouth. "You know what you should do? Start talking about all the things dad needs to hear!"

"Too A-la-Malfoy, I prefer something a bit more subtle" Albus says, flipping his night robe dramatically. "Like this snake mug from Mr. Malfoy himself which makes Dad twitch like a whomping willow confronted with a Ford Angelina."

James let's out a quiet giggle at that. Albus had always been dramatic. Ever since they were scared little boys prancing around in the backyard pretending to be their father and the tendency had only grown when he had been sorted into Slytherin. Albus just had to have the longest fevers, the toughest boo-boo's, the bigger enemies. It used to bother him when he was younger; now it just made him giggle.  "Why are you up at this time?"

"Because there is a boy who isn't replying to my owls anymore and I wanted to get some comfort ice cream in me before morning comes and I become miserable again," Albus sighes, dejectedly and goes to pull the whole carton out from the "refrigerator". Really, it was just a box with a permanent cooling charm. 

"The French one?," James asks, curious, taking a seat near the carton on the table.

"The French one." Albus affirms, sighing, his green eyes drooping sadly.

"Why do you think?"

The tips of Albus's ears turn red for a second. He must think James can't see them in the dark. "I don't know. "

James licks his spoon clean after another bite off his bowl. "Maybe he doesn't know how to use his owls."

"He is not that dumb."

"Just some."

"Well," Albus murmurs, sadly, then turns to his brother with a smile. "He is very pretty."

“Oh, yes, that solves everything."

Albus laughs at that. James smiles and runs a hand over his head. "Hogwarts has prettier boys. I am sure your slutty self will find someone in no time."

"I am not slutty."

"I digress."

"Why are you up at this hour?" Albus prompts suddenly, shaking him out of his misery.

"I was thinking—"

"About?"

"Things."

"Like what?"

"Just things."

"Like what?"

"You know…"

"Just tell me."

"It's my last year at Hogwarts," James tells him, giving up, wrapping his night robe tightly about him while Albus ate straight from the carton. "You are going to be alone and you would have to take care of Lily and Rose and Hugo and Lucy."

"Fail a year then because I am not touching the Hag named Rose Weasley."

James laughs at the indignation at his brother's face. "How am I going to live on my own? Will I find a job? Will I not?"

"And if you did, " Albus adds, nodding his head curiously. "Would it be because of you or Dad?"

"Exactly,"James agrees. "And for the love of Merlin! I want to know why that painting of our grandfather doesn't talk to me!"

"He talks to me."

This leaves him speechless for a while. "What?"

"He talks to me,"Albus says, nonchalantly, as if it was the most normal thing in the world. " but only about Quidditch and never in front of mum or Dad."

"But…" James stutters, shocked by the revelation. "He has never spoken to me."

"Really?" Albus's brows knit together. "Maybe its like a namesake thing. Mine would erase the paint off his before talking to me."

"Severus Snape will do that before talking to anyone."

"True that," Albus murmers then glances back at the kitchen door. "Why do you reckon—"

But the rest of his question is drowned as a squealing Lily rounds the corner holding a golden chain in her hand. It's not something he is worried about. This always happens. Whenever they are home, they are bound to meet in the middle of the night. But as Lily comes closer, he notices their house cat rising on his time above the bannister, not far from her. He frowns, wondering what that is about when Lily screams.

His attention shifts to her as the chain in her hand stars glowing and she tries to throw it away but it's in her neck and Albus rushes at her only to be jumped by the cat and screams. James only gets a split second ti grasp the chain and pull on it before all goes black and he feels nothing. 

The first thing Albus notices as he opens his eyes is the huge wand on his nose and thinks, finally, he has actually been kidnapped. He used to wonder before, being so famous and all, why they never had been attacked and all that. But look here, hers was it. Maybe he'll die. 

The second thing he notices is the strange looking person gazing in disbelief over him. His long face showed signs of being handsome once but the hungry look in his eyes, the long, dirty dark hair and the shock on his face only makes him depressed. 

"Hi," he says, finding himself parched. He must have been unconscious for longer than he thought if he was this dehydrated.

The person nods over him and leans back, gesturing for him to get up and as Albus does he notices the room he is in looks slightly familiar. 

"Through there," says the long haired man, again, pointing at the only door in the room. Albus doesn't locate his wand in the room and so he just nods and moves forward wondering if James and Lily were here too.

At the door, he halts and turns back to the man, clutching his night cloak to his chest "If you want money for me, I am sure my father would be happy to oblige if you let me get a message to him." In reality, they had a contingency plan for this sort of situation and had already activated it just now by uttering the sentence in one string alone. His mum must taking over Britain by now. 

The gaunt, old man only narrows his eyes and points to the door again and Albus, with a strange voice in his head that sounds like James telling him to not make a joke out of life threatening situations, heeds and walks out.

As he trudges down on the staircase, the agreeable feeling he had in his stomach turns to dread, because what sort of kidnapper has dead elf heads as decor? That's morbid. That's knocturn Alley morbid. He gingerly goes the rest of the way, noticing all the repugnant  details which does nothing to calm him. 

At another nudge, he walks straight to a door slightly ajar with warm yellow lights amd walks in to find the strangest thing he has ever seen.

His grandmother, not white and old. His grandmother, hair whispy thin but younger than he knew. His father, mother and the rest of the family way younger than he remembered last and some people he didn't recognise beyond paintings here and there. 

But none of this captured his interest, it might have if he wasn't witnessing what he was for it was fascinating, beyond the wand held on Lily's head by a 'Dumbledore' and the fat tears that rolled down her face. His brother lying face down on the table while the rest of them watched. 

In one swift motion, he was in front of Lily, in between the 'Dumbledore's' wand and her and looking straight into unusually blue eyes of a long dead figure. "Lower your wand."

This Dumbledore only narrowed their eyes,"Not until I find who you are."

"Lower. Your. Wand."

"Stand aside, boy."

"Lower your wand, you phony degenerate," he heard his grandmother gasp in the back. "I am obviously Albus Potter. This is obviously my sister Lily and that is obviously my brother James and I don't care if you want to investigate the matter of my pubic hair but I suggest you lower your wand before you regret it."

All this did was earn him a stunner where he toppled to the ground with a hard thud. But he had learned a thing or two about this and as phony Dumbledore tried a memory charm on his sister, Albus picked up a broken bottle from under the table where he lay, stunned supposedly, and jammed it straight into phony Dumbledore's foot ordering Lily to run who only shook as Dumbledore let out a yelp but did not break the wand connection with his sister's head. 

From behind, the gaunt man grabbed him and slammed him on the table, head first, hands on his back while he screamed in agony as his sister cried, glassy eyed. 

On that day, he awoke a second time to find a wand pressed to his nose, wondering if he had dreamed the whole thing. But his throat felt parcher than it had been and the gaunt, tall man from earlier was now smiling at him.

"Get up."

"Go fuck yourself." 

The man only grinned and it irritated him to no end. 

"Albus," James soft voice floated through his ears and he found his brother stirring tea on his right two seats away. "Get up."

He stood up straight and also located Lily on his right, peacefully sleeping among several other people scattered across what one might think is a dining table.

"What's going on?" Albus asked suspiciously. 

James pursued his lips. That was never good. His brother wasn't an angry person by nature and it was very hard to be make him angry in the first place. James wiped his face with both his hands, as if tired of saying it already. "Apparently, the time turner did work."

Comprehension dawned very slowly on him. But by the time it did, he had fainted again and this time, he was sure he had hit his head on something hard. 

It was the third time he had woken up with a wand to his face but this one was more as an offering. James sat on the table and he was sitting on a chair beside him. 

"If you are going to faint again, I suggest not."

"It's getting embarrassing," Lily nodded from the opposite side of the table, face squished in between his hands.

"You," he said, angrily, grabbing his wand and snarling," you cannot be serious."

"It is my middle name." 

"I will punch you so hard—"

"He is telling the truth." Lily interrupts. Albus rounds on her.

"And how do I know, you two just haven't been replaced by phony versions of you to get information out of me."

"What information?" Lily swipes at him. "The fact that you have a crush on Scorpius and have been known to kiss pink Priscilla posters in your room isn't exactly life threatening information people would want to kidnap you for."

James smiles sadly." We are twenty something years in the past and this—"

"Can you believe that this is the Grimmauld place?" Lily.

"And these strange people—"

"Are all the twenty years past from order of the phoenix."

He turns his head to look around to find most of them staring at him, the gaunt man from earlier the only smiling one among them.

"Seven hells!"

"That's what I said!" Lily remarks.

James sighed. Albus looked around wonderstruck. All these strange faces and people and places. He could never remember Grimmauld place being this dirty. Not since Victoire had taken over it.  Pots and pans hung all over the ceiling and dirt marred every surface. It was even gloomier than it looked. 

He searched around the table to find some very familiar faces but at least half of the crowd from earlier were missing. He must have missed them when he had been fainting all over the place. Which was embarrassing now that he thought about it. 

“So…?”he asked, hesitant, turning around to face his brother whose hair resembled a bird's nest. Unlike him and his several spiky haired ancestors, James had managed to make his hair stay in control but it seems the family lineage was catching upto him.

“Dumbledore,” James sighed, once more dragging a hair through his head. “Has said we can live here till he finds a solution.”

Outrage swirled out of him before James could even finish his sentence. He stood up, toppling the chair over and letting some sparks off his wand, he saw his grandma flinch in the corner. ”I am not living here!”

“Albus…”

“I am not,” the said man muttered gravely. “I can't. No!”

“I am sorry, have I missed the part where you own money and lodgings over here?” Lily quipped.

“There should be alternate options!”

“Albus.”

Lily sighed, sufferingly. “There are no options. They got voldemort out there and you look like a stale copy of dad.”

“Yeah, well–”

“Albus!” James cut in sharply, quieting both him and Lily down in one go. He turned to give him a look and say his piece before he saw his brother scratching his nose. “Calm down. We’ll discuss, later.”

Which meant he would not like to discuss this in front of these people.

“But,” Albus frowned and tugged on his ear. I can't keep it in anymore! 

James’ eye twitched, his fingers making their way through his hair. We have eyes on us. “They’ve got food. Take a breather.”

“But!” Albus huffed but all James did was throw his hands up and leave through the only door in the room, slamming it behind him. Albus winced and that's how he knew he shouldn't have pushed it. Lily seemed to have realised the same thing as she gave him a disappointed shake before leaving after James.

Great. Now he was guilty, angry and hungry at the same time while almost a dozen strangers waited for him to go off any minute.

He was getting particularly irritated by that sad old man who kept smiling at him. Huffing, he bumbled through the kitchen, taking whatever he could on his plate and left right after his siblings.

One of these days, he’s gonna poison everyone and it’ll not be his problem.

Early morning the next day, Albus stirs before the sun is out. James is lying on the floor beside him, on his stomach, shirtless and spindly. While Lily sleeps open mouthed, one feet dangling on the floor, on the sloppy makeshift bed they had been provided. Ofcourse, their had been more rooms and more beds but splitting is not something even James would have been comfortable with.

Courtesy of which, he was now lying in the floor. His back must be hurting, Albus thought, getting up from his perch on the other bed in he room. He had offered to share but James, being the stubborn, noble ass Gryffindor, had refused to. They had discussed, finally, about what was gonna happen and the discussion had depressed him for days to come.

The time Turner had burst, that much they knew. They could not go out and buy another because they were only available at the ministry and apparently, “Voldemort” is there. Albus can't believe it half the time. He is in the same time as his father. He wonders if his Dad would feel as hysterical as he is. Because the answer had been moot. Unless, Dumbledore manages to retrieve them a turned and they manage to work that thing like a charm, they are stuck here. Lily vetoed the suggestion for sneaking in the ministry stating it was too dangerous. James vetoed sneaking out to some foreign country and living as nomads. Albus, well, Albus had no more ideas his siblings could veto. So now they are stuck here and their only hope is an old man with a penchant for amusing dishonesty. Bravo.

Gritting his teeth, Albus donned the only shirt he has on his back and leaves to get a glass of water. Perhaps to cook something if he could find his bearings. Looking around, as he passed the stairs. He could not help but notice that the rest of the house was exactly, if not more, foul smelling than the kitchen. The rotten elf heads did not help and not did the severed leg troll stand. The carpet did not match the drapes.

Quietly making his way through the house, and it was almost instinctual how he walked with his feet pressed into the earth, not creating any sounds. He almost hoped to find a shred of malice just so he could shove it in James' face and they could leave this godforsaken place. But it was not to be so. 

Especially when he opened the kitchen and laughter assaulted his ears, apparently he hadn't got the memo for the party. Looking around, he found his grandmother, Molly Weasley, on the stove gripping the wooden spatula and letting the bacon burn on it as she took in his appearance and promptly got stunned into stopping time. Remus Lupin, he recognised from the old pictures at the Tonks’ house, put his coffee down. He remembered the man gripping down the gaunt eyed man last night, who he now recalled was Sirius Black. Ms. Tonks’ hair, turned a dark shade of blue and it promptly reminded him of Teddy. Arthur, his grandfather, focused his eyes on the paper, perhaps trying to not make him feel unconscious which bought a smile to his lips and finally, Sirius Black who stared at him over his coffee with an expression Albus couldn't quiet put down. Still…

“Hi,” Albus grunted and it seemed a jolt went through everyone as they all turned back to the things they were doing though Albus could still feel the eyes on his back as he walked up to the stove where his grandmother still stared. He looked at her and then down at the bacon and then back up, but Molly never waivered. “Um..”

Blinking, she asked, clearing her throat, a flush creeping up her cheeks. “Do you need something dear?”

“Uh…I think…you are burning that,” he pointed out and Molly gasped turning the stove off.

“Damnit,” she muttered, flushing further. “Sorry about that!”

“Uh, it's all good!” He waivered as she turned to put it in the trash. “ so…”

“I promise, I can make better food than that!” Molly said.

“Yeah, I know–”

“I swear, I am a good cook–” and continued.

“I can understand–”

“You tell me what you want!” she asked, enthusiastically. “Anything!”

“Uh…” At that point, Albus felt more lost than when Dumbledore had landed a stunner on him. He was used to his grandmother and he was so used to helping her out in the kitchen that this nervous version of her was throwing him off. “Uh…”

“Cat got your tongue?” A gravely voice rang out behind him, silencing every other conversation in the kitchen except the sound of the sizzling bacon on the pan. He turned his head around to find Sirius looking at him with that look he has been giving him since he arrived.

Albus, having heard about him from his parents and not caring one kick, raises an eyebrow and turned back to his grandmum. “Do you need help?”

“Help…?”

Albus entered the kitchen through the side, surprising her and taking over the vegetable section. Rolling up his sleeves he said, “I am feeling omelettes. I will get the veggies, you get the eggs.”

“Huh?” Molly muttered dumbfounded.

“Eggs. Veggies. Chop-chop!”

“Wh…what are you doing?” Molly asked, as baffled as everyone else in the room. 

Albus sighed and turned around,” I get the veggies. You do the cooking. We eat breakfast? Unless you want me to jump out of that window which is very tempting but oh my god, James would kill me and I’ll break a few bones which is not good for either of us because we are both cry babies about it.”

Silence descended upon the room as Albus looked around, then he snatched the spatula..”Fine! I’ll make it.”

“What? No!” Finally stirred by the spatula grabbing, Molly gripped it back and muttered. “I’ll get the eggs…”

And Albus, well he got the veggies.

“Did you make this?” Twenty minutes of comfortable silence and a morning full of menial work later, Albus put a plate in front of James who came down all sleepy and half naked and started asking him ungrateful questions.

“If Albus made it, I am not eating it,” Lily frowned, poking her sunny side up with her fork.

“I did not make it!” Albus griped. He had burned water once. ONCE! "and if I had, you should be grateful, you little–

“Al…”

“Oh, C’mon!”

Lily showed him tongue before taking a bite of her plate. “Oh, this is good.”

“It is.”

“She made it,” Albus jerked his head toward his grandmum who sat beside Arthur and immediately blushed when Lily looked at her and grinned.

“Of Course, she did! Thank you for the food!” Lily grinned. “If Albus had made the food we’d know.”

“Yes you would,” Albus replied, staring at her from under his lashes. “From all the poison I’d put in it for you to die a slow, painful death.”

“You would kill me? You?” Lily scoffed, turning around to look at Tonks as if she was providing a thrilling tale. “I saw him cry when his Tamagotchi died!”

“That Tamagotchi was years of work!”

“It was a Tamagotchi!”

“Shut it or!”

“Or what? You gonna hit me with your glasses? Pipe down."

“James, shut her up or I’ll kill her.”

“Lily, let him eat–”

“You hear that!”

“–its the only time he doesn't wail.”

Albus scowled while Lily and James snorted at his face. “One of these days…”

“So, um…” this time, the interruption came from Molly Weasley who looked nervously between them as her eyes flitted from James to him. “I hope you kids are settling fine. If there’s anything you need…”

“We are fine, g—ahhhhh!” Lily yelped before she could finish her sentence, no doubt having received both the kicks from him and James, finally realising and clamping up promptly. One thing you could not count Lily Potter to do: lying. Perhaps that was why he was so nervous when Dumbledore had zeroed in on her last night. 

“We are good,” James completed for her.

“Great.”

“Splendid.”

“Excellent.”

“Fine.”

“Exce–”

“Albus.”

“Sorry,” he replied, under a mouthful of food then turned to Molly. “I get carried away. It's ADHD.”

“Oh,” Molly muttered, deflating and turning around the table for help, every one of whom looked reluctant to speak..”Well…that's…”

“If you want to ask about Dad, you can–ow!”

Gasps echoed through the room when James rapped a blow at the back of his head. He couldn't help it. He felt as if he had been walking on eggshells since he met all of these people and now that he looked at them, he felt a bit of relief. So what if they came from the future? They can deal with talking giants but not them? Pfft. They live in a magical society...

“So Harry is your father…” it was Sirius who said it, almost in wonder, as he took them, or mostly him  as if he hadn't seen him last night when he was dragging them back in. The table seemed to have quieted down waiting for his response.

“Yes, he is.” James answered curtly before he could.

“...and you are named after Dumbledore.”

“Actually–”

“For the love of–Shut up, Albus!”

“And you are named after James and Lily…after his parents.”

“Yes.”

The atmosphere that had been light so far turned grim in an instant. All light-heartedness had vanished to be replaced with a grim understanding that they were thirty years back and if discovered, they could be the reason for the defeat of their father and everything he has worked for. 

Since last night, he hadn't given it much thought. All he wanted to do was get back his freedom. Go back to his Slytherin dorm, share food with David and read books over Scorpius’s shoulder then annoy him with commentary but now they are here.... Here where there is a constant death threat. In the house of Black. An ex convict, a werewolf, two old people and an auror. Not to forget his long dead namesake whose only solution was delusion...

He could handle it himself…but Lily…who had recently made it to her fifth year, hadn't even had a chat with Dad about all the shit he went through as he and James did. She was blissfully unaware of all the things not specifically public which is why, she had not yet grasped the grim reality of the situation as he and James had last night. They were aware and as James had chastised him last night, one wrong step and their existence could be erased. The last time he had touched a time Turner, it had haunted him for years on end and he wasn't perfectly over it yet to be honest. He can also see James doing mental gymnastics with every interaction and that left him more exhausted than not.

“So,” Tonks joined in, breaking the silence with a bright smile, looking around the table. “You kids were really having fun with Time Turner's huh? Harry must be high up.”

Instinctively they turned to each other and then James who frowned deeply at the question.

“Don't worry about it! Dumbledore said we’ll be obliviated at one point or another. He said we can ask questions,” Tonks grinned, leaning her face in her hands, her spiky hair framing her heart shaped face lightly. “If you want to, ofcourse.”

“Yeah…” James muttered, blinking at him. Careful with the answers. “He is high up.” A beat. “We weren't playing with Time Turner's though–”

“We were stealing icecream from the fridge when the spawn of Satan came bounding up–”

“How was I supposed to know it's fragile!”

“It says there in big, bold letters–”

“When Lily,” James spoke over them. “Stole one from Dad’s office cause she thought it’d be fun and then our cat jumped on it…and now we are here.”

“And now we are here.”

“Damn,” Tonks muttered. “You kids are making all kinds of trouble. You hear that Remus? This is why I'd never have kids.”

When all three sets of eyes turned to her, her hair turned a deep shape of red as she regarded them curiously. “Do I have kids?”

When nothing but silence dragged on, Molly prompted them and Albus could just feel the barely contained excitement of her’s. Still, he wasn't keen on hearing another lecture from Dad and James and so he kept quiet. 

After much prompting, James’ skin flushed as he tried to think of a way out of this situation. He even saw Arthur leaning in curious, perhaps ditching his stance to just observe when, all of a sudden, the lights went out and a giant crash assaulted their ears with high pitched female screams from the top floor. That was when all hell broke loose... thankfully, he had finished his eggs.