Marauders in Time

Potions

"What is wrong with your son Prongs?" Sirius asked the next morning as they walked towards the Great Hall for breakfast.

"I have no idea," James admitted. "But I am going to find out."

The 4 friends stuck close by each other as the chatter by the other students surrounded them. After Dumbledore's warning, Remus had the fear of being recognized somehow. Harry and McGonagall looked as though they might have saw something in James. Sure enough, when they entered the Great Hall and took their seats, McGonagall was eyeing them watchfully.

"This feels weird," Peter admitted, shying away from some fourth-year students sitting down near him.

"I know Wormtail," James said. "But we just have to live through it. Like Dumbledore said."

Remus looked up at James, "Can we not use our nicknames? I mean, we have to be sticking to our fake names."

"But no one knows of our real names or our nicknames."

"What if they did?" Remus pointed out.

"You worry too much Moony," Sirius smirked, grabbing some bacon to put on his plate.

Remus looked mad all of a sudden, "Do I? I don't know if you have noticed but we are currently stuck 20 years in the future. And according to Dumbledore, we will be here for the whole of fifth year. Ron already said that You-Know-Who was defeated once, there is no telling what other surprises there are. What if in this timeline, people have actually found out about our secret names? Explains why you need to change your appearance."

He nodded to James, who seemed to be thinking about what Remus said. Finally he sighed, "He's right. We should be expecting the worst. We don't know what's in store for us or what people actually know from 20 years ago so we have to act like we don't know anything."

"That's gonna be tough," Sirius shrugged, stuffing bacon in his mouth.

Remus rolled his eyes. Sirius and James were the brightest wizards of their age, but they were as cocky and arrogant as they were talented. So to pretend to be clueless and not cause trouble would be a difficult task. Especially Sirius, who was drawing attention from some girls at the Ravenclaw table.

"Listen," Remus whispered so that only the 4 of them could hear. "Can you just promise that we won't do anything rash? Just lay low and speak only when spoken to. Stick to the fake story. Don't go spreading stuff about how you hate Lucius or anything like that."

Peter nodded ferociously, evidently scared of the situation and trying to find any way to keep himself alive. James contemplated before agreeing. Sirius, however, continued to munch down on his breakfast. Remus hadn't even touched his.

"Sirius!" Remus hissed. "Do you promise?"

Sirius looked up at him and when he realized the worry in his friend's eye, he nodded sincerely. 

More people started to enter the Great Hall, including Lily who was accompanied by the two girls Lavender and Parvati. Soon, Harry entered, looking as grim as the night before, with Ron and another girl behind him. The girl had bushy hair and when she said something to Ron, her front teeth were a bit larger than usual. The 3 sat fairly close to the Marauders, whereas Lily chose to avoid them, particularly James, who hadn't even noticed she had entered.

"Hey," Ron sat near Remus.

"Hey."

Ron started to stuff himself with some bacon as well, mirroring Sirius. If they kept it up, they could turn into Peter, who was now onto his fourth serving. Remus had barely finished his first serving when he turned to Ron.

"What lesson have you got first?" Remus asked.

"Potions," Ron answered, not looking up from his plate.

The girl who entered with Ron sighed at him before turning to Remus, "You must be Tom. I'm Hermione Granger."

She introduced herself with a lot of confidence, making Ron choke a little. Hermione ignored him and held out her hand to which Remus shook.

"You must be Daniel, Reuben and Sam," she nodded to the others. "Pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise," James smiled, not the cheeky smile he usually gave but a sincere, warm one.

Harry, who had said nothing, sat by himself and ate almost as slow as Remus. He didn't look up, even though James seemed to be trying to get his attention. Remus gave his friend one warning look and he stopped.

"So," Hermione started. "I heard you were homeschooled. How does that work?"

"Well its pretty obvious isn't it?" Sirius replied. "We were taught at home."

Ron stiffled a laugh as he swallowed his food before looking away from Hermione's glare. Clearly, she didn't take Sirius's answer too kindly. So she kept quiet, occasionally giving sideways glances to Harry, who kept clenching his left hand as though in pain. Soon enough, all 7 had finished eating, Peter complaining that he was full, and stood up. Ron led the way to Potions that was held in the dungeons. James tried to stay close to Harry but was too scared to say anything. There was something about his attitude that was not right.

"Who did you say was the Potions teacher?" Remus asked Ron as they reached the classroom.

"Snape," Ron replied.

"SNAPE?!?!" James and Sirius almost screamed, causing Remus to hang his head in defeat.

"Yes. Do you know Snape?" Ron asked curiously.

James and Sirius stared at him in a few seconds of shock before both snickered at each other, "We have met a few times."

As they entered the class, there was no mistaking the smell of potions being brewed in cauldrons. Sirius took a seat next to James while Remus sat next to Peter, knowing how incapable he was in Potions. Lily then came in and giving one annoyed glance at James's back, she went to sit next to Remus.

"How are you doing?" Lily asked. "I know you're the more sensible one out of the 4."

"Thanks," Remus grinned. "And I'm doing fine. Have you heard who the Potions teacher is?"

"No. who is-"

Her question was to be answered as soon as the back door swung shut. Swiftly entering the room was a man in full black robes, with a crooked nose and grim face. He strode to the front of the class, not looking at anyone and his robes gliding across the floor. As he reached the front, he turned around and glared at Harry, with the same amount of hatred Remus recognized everytime he encountered James.

Snape's POV

I looked around the room, the fear in most people's eyes evident. I glanced over at 3 students I had not seen before. Dumbledore warned me that there would be new students in Gryffindor. I saw 2 boys, both looking rather shocked at my entrance. One was rather plump and resembled Longbottom a lot, who I noticed had dropped his scales already. The other bore scars on his cheek, his eyes looking tired and worn out and his robes more ripped and dirty than the Weasleys. I thought that they looked familiar. But it was the girl that caught my attention. Nothing about her seemed special.

Except her eyes.

I only recognized those eyes so clearly. They looked almost the same as Potter. She was staring back at him with equal curiosity and shock. Not the same kind of shock as the two boys with her. But the fact that she seemed to recognize me. How could she? I have never seen her before in my life. Or have I? Those eyes I know too well. But she was dead. And she had red hair, not golden brown.

I heard two boys snicker, not the usual type of laugh from Malfoy. But two laughs I hadn't heard in almost 20 years. I turned to see two boys, also new. One of them I seemed to recognize. Or did he just look so familiar to who I was thinking of. The boy next to him, I didn't think I knew. He had blonde hair and square glasses. Not like the appearance of the one I so very hated in my past. The mere memory made me grasp my wand even tighter. It couldn't be them. They were dead. And it was almost 20 years ago. Or had Dumbledore not told me something?