Chapter 1
The Potters Apparated at the start of the snowy walkway leading to Potter Manor. They could have Apparated nearer, inside the Manor or even used the Floo or a Portkey since they were keyed into the wards. The couple however did not have a lot of opportunities and they wanted to use this one to take a walk outside.
“So, another long and boring meeting today...” said James once they had started to walk.
“James, you know that these meetings are important.” answered Lily, rolling her eyes.
“I know dear. I just can’t help but think that way. Why do they alwaaays speeeak sooo slooowly.”
Lily made a sound that sounded like a mix of a chuckle and a giggle. She often laughed at her husband’s antics. The couple hadn’t had it easy after their graduation because of the war but they had clung to each other during even the darkest of times. Lily never once regretted asking James out for a date. “It isn’t a History class with Professor Binns James, you’ll be alright.”
“I hope so...” said James before he took a deep breath. “I missed the smell of winter.”
“The smell of winter?”
“Yep. You never realised that each season has a specific smell?”
“I didn’t but now that you mention it...”
“Winter smell icy and cold, obviously. Spring smell like flowers and fruits and do often smell a bit wet, Summer smell like heat and pavement and Fall smell like leaves and rain.”
Lily snorted. “If you say so, James.”
“Well, it does!” he answered with made Lily roll her eyes again. After a few more minutes of walking, James asked “Do you know if the Longbottoms will be present today? They weren’t last month.”
“Yes. Alice told me yesterday that she, Frank and little Neville would come. I can’t wait to see our godson...” she said, smiling.
Arriving at the Manor, James knocked on the door. They didn’t have to wait long before the door opened and a tall and thin woman, with hair that was seemingly fighting between being black and being white, opened the door. “James! Lily! Harry! Come on in!”
“Hey Mum!” greeted James while Lily said “Hi Euphemia!” The younger Potters entered the Manor.
“Fleamont, they are here!” shouted James’ mother toward the hall before she turned back to the young couple and looked in admiration at Harry. “And here is my grandson.”
“Harry fell asleep shortly before he left. I don’t think he will wake up before quite some time.” said Lily.
“Not like there is a lot of chances of him being awake with the meeting going on.”
“James, not again... You know how important these meetings are.” complained Euphemia. “Anyway, I have a feeling that today won’t be boring at all!”
“Yes Mum, I know.” said James with a roll of the eyes. He often complained how boring these meetings were but he himself knew how important they were. He was mostly saying it as a running joke.
Lily gave Harry to Euphemia while the couple removed their coats and winter hats and stowed them in the wardrobe in the entrance hall. James’ black hair had become even more messier than usual after he removed his winter hat while Lily’s auburn hair stayed perfectly straight. James took back Harry and together they walked toward the hall of the Manor. The Hall of Potter Manor was slightly under a third of the size of the Great Hall of Hogwarts but it was big enough for the Potters. Actually, the Potters generally preferred small and cozy homes which was one of the reasons why James and Lily stayed at their cottage instead of Potter Manor.
Entering the Hall, they saw that they were the last ones to arrive. The members of the Orders were all talking to each other in small groups. Euphemia walked toward one group while James and Lily joined another. They were Frank and Alice Longbottom talking to Sirius, Remus and Layla Spinster, a muggleborn witch who had attended Hogwarts a year under them before she became Sirius’s girlfriend after her graduation. Peter Pettigrew wasn’t there but it was expected as he had to take care of his sick mother. Frank had the five months old Neville in his arms.
“Ah and they are finally here! Prongs, Flower and Prongslet finally gracing us with their noble presences!”
“Well greetings to you too Padfoot, you sarcastic shit!” answered Lily before the group burst out into laughter. “How are you doing Remus? We haven’t seen you in quite some time...”
“I’m fine, personally. I just came back from my last assignment and...” he started before glancing worryingly at James, Sirius and Frank.
“And..?” pushed James.
“Imighthavemetsomeone.” said Remus quickly and quietly before he blushed like a teenager.
“What?” said the men while the women said “Oh!”
“What is it?” asked Sirius to his girlfriend.
Layla said “Remus just said that he met someone!”
Sirius, Frank and James all looked at Remus before James said “Moony, you old wolf!” with a tone of pride in his voice.
“Who’s the lucky lady?” teased Frank.
“Maria McKinnon.”
“Maria McKinnon? As in the younger sister of Marlene McKinnon?” said Alice with surprise.
“Yes.” answered Remus with the head high, showing that he wouldn’t let the teasing affect him.
“Are you together then?” asked Lily.
“Yes.”
“Congrats Moony!” said James. “I would pat you on the back but I have Harry in my arms.”
“That’s fine.” laughed Remus.
“Gather around everyone! Everyone takes a seat!” shouted Fleamont from the other side of the hall. As the host of the meeting, Fleamont sat on one end of the table. On his left were in order: Euphemia, James, Lily (and Harry) and on his right were Remus, Sirius, Layla, Alice and Frank. At the other end of the table sat Albus Dumbledore and the various seat between Fleamont and Albus were filled by members of the Order. The table could seat around forty guests and almost every seat was taken. Only around six seats were left available, including the two on Lily’s left side. Lily couldn’t help but feel like they were reserved for someone. She just didn’t know who yet.
“Let’s open the meeting by noting that today is the 15th of January 1981. Now, the first order of business...” started Dumbledore.
James Potter might make a lot of jokes about how boring the monthly Order-wide meetings were but he was also right. Usually, all of the important stuff would be talked about in the first thirty minutes of the meeting, leaving a few hours of boredom for most members.
The Potters and their friends were being bored to death. James, Sirius, Alice and Layla had all fallen into light sleep. Remus, Frank, Lily and the elder Potters managed to stay awake. Remus’ eyes were heavily blinking while Frank and Lily kept awake by quietly playing with their toddlers. Fleamont and Euphemia were just too much used to these meetings to fall asleep in the middle of them. It was a good thing that Dumbledore was at the other end of the table.
Suddenly, a bright golden light flashed consecutively three times on top of the table. Everyone withdrew their wands and stayed on guard, including the few that were asleep mere seconds ago. The first two times the golden light flashed, a heavy mass landed on top of the table. The third time, did but the light stayed on and started to slowly dim down. As the golden lights dimmed down, the masses were recognised as being actual persons standing on the table.
Albus Dumbledore had the Elder Wand pointed at the duo and asked loudly “Who are you? Identify yourself!”
The lights had now dimmed enough that half of the table was now able to see that the duo in question were composed of a man and a woman and that the woman had a young baby in her arms. Lily couldn’t help but feel like the man was familiar. The man then spoke.
“Damn Hermione, we arrived in the middle of an Order meeting!”
“Crap.” said the woman named Hermione.
“How did you breach the wards?” asked Fleamont with anger. “Only a Potter could possibly Apparate in the Manor and... oh bloody hell...” he finished while everyone else gasped. The light had finally gone out and everyone could recognise the man. He looked like a clone of James! There were a few differences however. The main one was the lightning bolt scar. The man was also a bit smaller and skinnier than James and his facial features looked slightly different. And his eyes were green, just like Lily. Actually, they were the exact same eyes.
“What the fuck!?” shouted Sirius in shock.
“What in the bloody hell...” started Frank...
“Hello...” said the woman, Hermione, shyly.
James looked at his ‘twin’ with wide eyes and asked “Who are you? If we weren’t the last of the Potters, I would say that you are family but...”
“Well, you see...” interrupted the man, “You aren’t completely wrong. We are indeed family. Does someone have Veritaserum? We are ready to reveal our identities under the truth serum so that you guys can be sure we aren’t lying. We have a pretty unbelievable story to tell.”
“We do, just give us your wands first.” said Albus.
“Sure, as long as you don’t curse us.” said the man before he withdrew his wand and threw it on the table. Albus’ eyes widened for a few instants when he recognised the wand. It was the brother wand to Tom Riddle’s. The woman also threw her wand before they jumped down the table. They each took a seat on Lily’s left. “I’ll go first.” said the man when Alastor Moody arrived with the bottle.
Alastor put six drops, double the usual dose, before asking the question everyone wanted to know.
“What is your name?”
The man’s eyes glazed before he answered “Harry James Potter.”
Pandemonium.
There were various shouts of “He’s lying!” or “That’s not possible!” or anything similar which made baby Harry and Neville wake up screaming. Their parents quickly worked on calming them.
“SILENCE!” shouted Hermione. When everyone shut up, she looked at Alastor and said “Continue.”
“What is the date of your birth?”
“31st of July 1980”
Again, nearly everyone started shouting again. The only ones who didn’t talk were Alastor, Albus, Hermione and the Potters. James and Lily were alternating between looking at Harry the adult and Harry the baby. Their eyes were wide open. They didn't need any more confirmation to know that the man sitting beside them was their son who had somehow travelled back in time.
Hermione banged the table with her fist three times before she shouted again “OI! How many times do we have to tell you? SILENCE!”
“He’s lying!”
“He can’t lie, you bittering idiot!” shouted back Alastor Moody. “He’s under the influence of SIX drops of Veritaserum which is double the usual dosage. It’s impossible to lie under so much Veritaserum!”
“You can lie under Veritaserum!” shouted Sirius.
“Only if you are a Master Occlumens and only if you received less than four drops Sirius!” shouted back Hermione. “Harry received six ones which I’m sure Alastor did under the good deed of Constant Vigilance!”
“Damn right lass.” answered Alastor before she looked at everyone else and said “Now that you know he can’t lie, will you all shut up and let me finish?” When he received a few nods from the Order, he asked “What are the full names of your parents.”
“James Fleamont Potter and Lily Julia Potter née Evans.” finished Harry before Alastor gave him the antidote. Now that they knew that the man couldn’t lie, they understood the truth. This was James and Lily’s son. And he was the same age as his parents. He had travelled back in time!
“Your turn lass.” said Alastor to Hermione. Hermione answered by opening her mouth. With six drops in her system, her eyes glazed over. “What is your name?”
“Hermione Jean Potter, née Granger.” he said which resulted in gaps from the Potters, excluding the older Harry. She was their (grand-)daughter-in-law! The Potters now looked at the baby in her arms, was that...
“What is the date of your birth?”
“19th of September 1979”
“What is your relationship with Harry James Potter?”
“He’s my husband.” she answered. Harry looked proud and smug.
“What are the full names of your parents?”
“Daniel Adrian Granger and Emma Geraldine Granger, née Wilkins.”
“Who are you holding in your arms?”
“Rose Lily Potter, my daughter.” said Hermione which resulted in two squeaks of delight from Euphemia and Lily. The older Harry looked at them, grinning with pride. Alastor gave her the antidote as well.
“I have a granddaughter?” asked Lily with awe.
“I have a great-granddaughter?” asked Euphemia with the same voice.
“I have a grand-goddaughter?” asked Sirius before everyone looked at him. “What?” he said. The Potter side of the table burst out laughing.
Harry quickly realised however that his mother wasn’t laughing however. She was looking at him with a lot of emotion reflected in her eyes. “Look at you... You are all grown-up!”
Harry smiled. “Hey Mum...”
Lily put the younger Harry in James’ arms before she raised to her feet and threw herself in the older ones’ arms. Harry barely had time to raise up before he had to catch Lily. Both mother and son were the exact same height. Harry melted in his mother’s embrace. It was the first time, in his memory at least, that he being hugged by his mother and was hugging back. He felt tears slowly leaking out of his eyes and he could just feel that her mother wasn’t in any better state. He guessed that Hermione probably had tears in her eyes as well since she knew how much that hug meant for Harry. Hermione put her available hand on his back, slowly rubbing it to show her support.
“I-I love you Mum.” he whispered in Lily’s ear. She tightened her hold on his body and Harry heard her softly crying in his left shoulder. “I love you too Harry...” she muttered between sobs. Harry then felt a hand on his right shoulder and he looked around, still holding Lily. James was looking at him with pride. Just like Lily, he had tears in his eyes. “Hey son.”
“Hey Prongs.” answered Harry with emotion. Both of them chuckled at Harry’s use of James’ Marauder nickname. He noticed that Remus was now the one holding his younger counterpart. James took both his son and wife in his arms. Harry wasn’t even sure that Lily noticed as she was still sobbing on his shoulder, although she had calmed down.
“And, I’m guessing you are my daughter-in-law?” asked James to Hermione.
“Yes Mr. Potter.”
“Please, don’t call me Mr. Potter. Mr. Potter is my old man there.” he said smirking before he gave a nod toward his father. “Just call me James.”
“Just James then.” smiled Hermione. “Do you want to hold Rose while we introduce ourselves to the others?”
Lily suddenly lifted her head up from Harry’s shoulder and quickly said “I want to hold her!” before James could even answer. Hermione chuckled while she handed Rose to her grandmother. Lily looked at Rose with awe before she said “I’m twenty years old, nearly twenty-one and I already have a granddaughter!” she said which earned a few chuckles around the table.
“Don’t forget our son. He’s five months old and he already has a daughter!” said James while looking at Rose. A few people laughed.
Meanwhile, Harry and Hermione had approached the next generation of Potters. “Hi, you are my grandparents, right?” asked Harry. Fleamont raised an eyebrow. Shouldn’t Harry already know that? Euphemia however just took one look at Harry before she took him in his arms. She was nearly as happy at seeing the adult Harry that Lily was. Unlike her however, she wasn’t crying emotionally. Actually, she looked like she was giggling!
“Are you alright?” asked Harry, mildly amused.
“Don’t worry about that son.” answered Fleamont. He had the same grin that Hermione had often see Harry wear, one that she had just noticed on James’ face as well when he was looking at Rose. “She usually giggles like a teenager when she’s happy.”
“Fleamont!” answered Euphemia, blushing slightly.
“And she blushes like one as well!” he added which made Euphemia slap him on the arm. The same type of friendly slap Hermione often gave her husband when she was trying not to laugh at something stupid he had said.
“Can we see our great-granddaughter?” asked Euphemia.
“Of course!” answered Hermione. “She’s currently in Lily’s arms.” she said. The elder Potter couple nodded before they went toward James and Lily. Harry and Hermione were now meeting Remus, Sirius, Frank, Alice and Layla.
“Hello Moony and Padfoot. I’m guessing you two are Frank and Alice since you both look a lot like our good friend Neville Longbottom.” said Harry. Frank and Alice only nodded in answer, grinning. Harry then looked at Layla and said “I’m sorry, but I don’t think I know you...”
“I’m Layla Spinster.” she answered before offering her hand. Both Harry and Hermione shook it.
“Nice to meet you Layla.” said Hermione.
“Is that me?” asked Harry with wide eyes, looking at the toddler in Remus’ arms.
“Yep!” answered Sirius. “My godson, Harry Prongslet Potter!”
“Aww, you were such a cute baby!” said Hermione to Harry.
“Hermione!” gasped in shock a red-faced Harry while the others laughed. “And that’s not my middle name Sirius!”
“Maybe Padfoot will name one of his children after his Animagus form.” said Remus which made both Sirius and Layla blush.
“Oh!” Hermione said suddenly in understanding, looking between Sirius and Layla. "Are you two dating?”
“Oh yes they are!” answered Remus with amusement.
“And what about you and Maria?” shot back Sirius. It was Remus’ turn to blush.
Harry and Hermione’s eyes widened. “Moony, you old wolf!” said Harry with a tone of pride. Neither he nor Hermione understood why everyone else in their group burst out laughing.
“If we had any doubts that he’s James son, I think they can be put to rest!” laughed Layla.
At the look of confusion on Harry and Hermione’s faces, Alice told them “James said the exact same words in the exact same tone of voice when we learned about his relationship a few hours ago.”
“Ah.” laughed Harry and Hermione.
Meanwhile, James, Lily, Fleamont and Euphemia were all admiring Rose. She was currently starting to wake up.
“She looks like Hermione but she seems to have the infamous messy Potter hair.” said Fleamont.
“Yes, but see, it seems to be the same colour as Hermione’s hair so that’s a Potter with brown hair!” said Euphemia with a tone of amusement.
Rose woke up and opened her eyes. Lily gasped loudly. Hermione heard her and came toward the group. Harry and the rest followed her. Rose looked back at Lily with bright green eyes. Her father’s eyes. Her eyes.
“Lily, she has your eyes!” said James with surprise.
“I can see that.” answered Lily, smiling.
Once the rest arrived, Hermione smiled and said “Rose Lily Potter. We named her following the apparent naming tradition of the Evans family and also gave her the name of her grandmother.” She heard a few gasps from their friends who were now just noticing Rose’s eyes.
When Rose heard her mother’s voice, she looked at her and extended her arms toward Hermione and started babbling. Getting the message that Rose was unknowing sending, Lily gave her back to her mother before she said “Thank you.” with emotion. She didn’t need to specify that it was both about allowing her to hold Rose and naming her after herself.
“No worries.” grinned Hermione. Lily took back the younger Harry in her arms.
Someone behind them cleared their throat. It was Albus Dumbledore.
“While I do not wish to interrupt this family reunion, we have to ask. Why did you travel back in time?”
“You better sit down, it’s a long story.”