Putting The 'M' in Mystery~ Hinny/Jily

His Eyes

Lily blinked. "Sorry, sir?"

Harry was staring at her, as though amazed that this was the only reaction he'd received.

"Lily - we've decided that it needs to come out. I won't tell you the whole story, but... we're from the future and the long and short is that I'm yours and James' son. And, well obviously we're here for a reason, but maybe we'd better explain about that when you've taken this in properly. Erm, d'you want a cup of tea or something?"

"Harry love, you're rambling," Ginny said softly, touching his flushed cheek. She turned to Lily. "I know he sounds mental, (it's probably just his lousy people skills), but it's actually true. We decided to tell you because, it felt - right. We realised that if it was going to happen, it was meant to happen if you get my drift and. I'm rambling too, aren't I?"

James nodded mutely, moving to place a hand on Lily's shoulder. She'd gone white.

"You're lying," she whispered, her voice choked, yet controlled, "You know, I might just have believe you for a second if you didn't spend such a high percentage of your time trying to wind people up. Really, great acting skills, have you guys been to stage school?"

Her voice cracked on the word 'school', and her thunderous face was a living contradiction to the lightness of her words. Harry's mouth tightened.

"Lily, why the hell would I joke about something like this? Do you have any idea how much this is killing me, not just from a selfish point of view but also for your own sakes? The only reason I'm even telling you is because I have to explain why I have to let this happen. It's not my choice, damn it!"

Lily gave a humourless snort. "Oh, I'm so sure that if you (hypothetically) time travelled, you'd tell us about it. God, do you have to insult my intelligence with your little joke? Does that give you some kind of kick?" She checked herself, remembering that she was talking to a teacher and adding a muttered, 'sir'.

James still hadn't said anything; he was staring at the blank spot that Harry had stood in when the truth had come out. Lily had resumed her scolding.

"So, can you please admit that you're joking while it's still possible to laugh over it, because the joke's wearing thin!"

"Lily..."

"Lily, let them talk," James said, his voice quiet and careful. She turned to him in disbelief, and he continued, "Look, I'm not being funny, but there's something going on, and if you think about it, it sort of makes sense."

The whole room was staring at him now. He shifted, shoving his hands deep into his pockets and muttering to the floor.

"Think about it. The thing about how he looks exactly like me? And has the same surname. I didn't mention it because I didn't want to sound paranoid, but to tell the truth, it's been unnerving me all year. And the thing about surviving Avada Kedavra? Don't you think we'd have heard about that? It'll be in front page of the news!"

Harry sighed. "We weren't terribly subtle, were we?"

"No, but that's the thing!" James carried on, "You don't work something that farfetched out by yourself, do you? I mean, you come here, the Mysterious Duo, you've fought a load of battles and you've got weird skills and you're actually decent teachers? You kind of accept the strange things because you think that there must be a logical explanation, but there's so much that's obviously happened to you that the explanation kind of gets lost, if you follow me."

Lily could barely believe her ears. But not because James seemed to believe the two teachers, but because she realised that he'd hit the nail right on the head. Suddenly it seemed almost believable, now that he put it that way. She searched the faces of the room - James; realisation, Sirius; disbelief, to give his expression one word, Remus; dawning comprehension, Peter; well, Peter looked baffled, and that was a nice way of putting it. Ginny - resigned almost, biting her lip and gripping Harry's hand, and Harry... his face was hard to read. She tried to find some obvious sign on his face, be it honesty or amusement. But then it occurred to her.