Let It Be Slytherin ⟶ A Harry Potter Time Travel Fic

Some Quality Time With Lily

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It was the end of the first day of school and Harry was already losing his mind. His first encounter with James had not gone at all to plan and Harry could not stop replaying the conversation in his mind.

"You're a Slytherin. A conniving, filthy—" James glared.

Harry felt so confused. James had completely dismissed him just because he was a Slytherin. Sirius had blown him off. And then Remus— well, Remus had ignored the whole thing (which didn't make Harry feel any better). Lily had been the only one to stand up for him. To her boyfriend, at that. Harry's respect for his mother grew several sizes.

But James? Harry turned the corner on his way to runes and glared at the wall as he thought again to his father's words. Harry forced himself to breath out slowly. There was no point in being angry. The war here was real and Harry was a Slytherin. The Slytherins were death eaters. Even Professor McGonagall had snapped at him in Transfiguration class when he asked for the page number. Wouldn't Harry do the same in James' position?

But as Harry thought back to his Hogwarts, to Draco Malfoy and days long ago, he couldn't remember ever treating someone that way unprovoked.

There had to be a reason, Harry rationalized. There was no way James was always this horrible. Otherwise Lily wouldn't date him, he wouldn't be so popular, and Harry's friends and mentors wouldn't love him so much. Hagrid had even said he was "nice". Harry closed his eyes and tried to reconcile the James Potter he thought he knew with the James Potter that existed and came up blank.

Finally approaching the empty runes classroom, Harry glanced at his watch. Ten minutes early. He glanced around a little hopelessly. With no one to talk to, there was nothing else to do. He missed Ron and Hermione. He missed Ginny. He even missed his training sessions with Shacklebolt they had started after Dumbledore died. Now, he was nothing but a Slytherin, hated for no reason other than his green robes.

The classroom was light, the walls made up of windows, in an obscure corner of the castle. Why he had signed up for runes, Harry didn't understand. A small part of him had hoped that Lily or Remus might be there but now he braced himself for contentious Gryffindors or Slytherins, whoever might come first.

He took a seat in the front corner, thinking Hermione would be proud of him for sitting in the front, and waited for someone to show up.

For the first time that day, Harry's luck had his back.

Lily Evans walked in the door. Alone. No boyfriend, no Gryffindors, no friends. Just Lily. Harry could have cheered.

She stared at him in surprise for a moment, her expression guarded. Harry could only imagine what she was thinking— all she knew was that he was the guy who eavesdropped on her last night. But Harry decided he wouldn't let this moment pass.

"Hi, Lily!" He greeted brightly. Lily glanced around at the empty classroom before taking to the seat next to him. Harry tried not to be creepy but he couldn't help but smile. His mother was sitting next to him!

"Fletcher." She greeted, smiling but surface level, the kind of friendly you are to grocery store employees. "Look. About last night—"

"I won't tell anyone." Harry said understandingly.

She only stared at him, her green eyes (Harry's eyes, Harry noticed) trying to hide confusion. "There's nothing to tell." She said determinedly.

Harry cocked his head at her. "Does James know?"