under the mistletoe || jegulus

twelve

"Can we talk for a moment?" James asked Regulus swiftly, looking forwards and trying to be as casual as possible. Regulus imitated him as he responded.

"No, you're right next to my brother," he hissed back, and when James opened his mouth to argue, he continued as quietly as possible, "it's too risky, idiot!"

"Come on, just for a minute," James whispered back, attempting to keep his voice low but accidentally raising it, making Sirius turn to him with an amused look. Regulus' breath hitched in his throat and he started to inch away, disappearing in the excited crowd.

James groaned and turned to Sirius, who was smirking, "what?"

"Were you talking to yourself?" He asked. Remus and Peter both turned to him, and he just stayed silent. Sirius waited for a response patiently, but as James just stared back, he got impatient and went back to his conversation with Remus.

James turned to his left, expecting Regulus to still be there, but the boy had gone. He rolled his eyes and then turned back to his friends, "Where are we going, again?"

Remus responded, a look of slight concern on his face, "To your wedding, obviously—did you forget already, Prongs?"

That was when James realized; he frantically looked down and saw he was wearing a fancy suit. James looked around and realized where they were at; the place he always dreamed of as his wedding spot. His childhood beach.

"Who's the bride?" He asked, inwardly cursing at himself. Remus and Sirius both turned to him suspiciously, and they stared at him with a weird look; James nervously laughed.

"Lily, of course. How could you forget?" Remus narrowed his eyes at James, who was now grinning; he was getting married to Lily. But then his smile dropped.

"What day is it? What year is it?" He ignored Remus' question. Sirius started to laugh at him while Peter watched, amused at his friend.

"When did you become so forgetful, Prongs? It's June of 1979," Sirius informed, a look mixed with disbelief and worry on his face. James opened his mouth to speak, but suddenly:

He sat up immediately, a layer of sweat glistening on his forehead. James realized what had happened; a stupid dream. He groaned and laid back down.

Just as he was about to fall asleep again, someone whispered rather loudly, "Prongs! Prongs, look at this. I found something,"

James pushed himself up and shoved his glasses onto his face. He turned to Sirius, whose eyes were gleaming with mischief. "What d'you want? Breakfast hasn't even started yet,"

He held something up, which made James raise an eyebrow. He pulled over his curtains, and the light came flooding in. He turned back to the ball, which made him gasp. "Where did you get that?!"

Sirius smirked triumphantly, "Stole it from Hanlon. Maya Hanlon, not the other one." he continued in a louder voice, but still quiet enough for only James to hear, "anyways, wanna use it?"

"'Course, you don't even need to ask," James grinned as Sirius walked away and waited for him change. He hurriedly shoved on his shoes and then left with Sirius, who explained he didn't want to tell Remus or Peter.

James took the shiny time turner from Sirius' hands and admired it, "it's really pretty. What do you want to try to do? I don't want to go back too far,"

Sirius smiled brightly and without having to pause to think, as though he had already had it planned in his mind, "The future, duh! I wanna see what happens,"

"How many times do we turn it?" James asked. Sirius shrugged and proceeded to turn the hourglass randomly, and James managed to count twenty times before he got dizzy and stopped counting.

And the place around the duo dissolved; there was a blur of colors that rushed quickly by the two, fast enough for them to be unable to see what was happening. After a few moments of the two looking around them in astonishment, they finally felt solid ground underneath their feet and their surroundings came into focus again.

"We probably shouldn't be here anymore, I turned the hourglass thingy a lot. Wait, there's—" James grabbed Sirius' forearm roughly and pulled him behind the corridor. They both peeked from the corner and saw a couple of students he'd never seen in his life walk towards them, talking in a hushed whisper.

Sirius and James shared a glance before started to run off into a new corridor, laughing. They had gone into the future!

"Can I tell you something?" James asked quietly as they sat down at the astronomy tower. Barely anyone went there except a couple teachers and the Bloody Baron, so they decided to hide there.

Sirius nodded and looked out up at the stars, "Sure. We should probably try to leave Hogwarts soon, though, since it's super risky here,"

James laid down onto the cold floor and also stared at the stars, his eyes lingering on Sirius' star. He then started, "I had this dream—that I was getting married. In the future. It felt so real, y'know? I think that it could be the timeline we're in now, actually—"

Sirius cut him off, looking and sounding both delighted and shocked at once, "It's the beach you said you wanted to have it at, right? Let's go there, now, and see your wedding! We just have to figure out how to leave the school,"

James nodded, agreeing. He paused for a moment and thought long and hard about something, but then Sirius cut off his train of thoughts and announced, "We can swim. Right?"

James shrugged, "We can try to leave the apparition barrier and Apparate. I've seen my mum and dad do it multiple times, I think I can do it, " he added confidently. Sirius considered it.

"I suppose. But wouldn't we have to go into the water, since that's where the barrier is gone? I mean, I'm sure the water is really cold—"

Sirius cut himself off and then shook his head, getting up. "Never mind, let's go!"

James looked around in wonderment; although his hair clung to his face and his clothes were completely soaked, he didn't care. Sirius seemed to share his thoughts and an excited grin flitted across his face.

"We need to look out for our future selves," he warned James, who nodded. They started and tried to hide behind a few thin trees, and it seemed successful. Until James and Sirius, who were laughing nervously and smiling and joking around turned to them and stared at the two directly in the eye.

"What the fuck?" James quickly attempted to hide behind the tree again, and so did Sirius, but the two were already starting towards them. Oops. They couldn't do anything but watch as looks of glee filled their future selves.

Sirius' future self and Sirius in the present immediately started asking each other questions and stuff. James turned to his other self and simply looked at him. He really liked the suit. "Um, don't freak out—"

James shook his head with a grin, "Why would I freak out? This is awesome! I actually knew you were going to come here. So, um, I just want you to go back and fix something. So, tonight back at Hogwarts, you're going to run into Reg."

James wondered when his future self started calling the other a nickname, but continued to listen intently. "And I want you to fix it, okay? And say yes."

He stared at his future self, who looked somewhat desperate and firm at the same time. James couldn't help but question him, "Why?"

Future James glanced behind him, noticing Remus and Peter going up to them. He hurriedly turned back and whispered, "Ten turns should do it, I think. Don't ask, just do it—okay? Hurry up!"

Future Sirius and James covered the two and started to have a swift conversation with Remus and Peter. James turned to Sirius, "We have to go back to the past." Before waiting for the boy to say a word, he put the fine chain around the two and turned the mini hourglass ten times, like James told him to.

i hope u enjoy this short chapter. i cant find the motivation to write anything these days—so sorry about that!! and a storm is happening rn with a flood warning, so im kinda scared—just barely over 1400 words!