runnin' with

               ‘  you’re  such  a  right  cunt, ’  james  laughed ;  shocked  by  the  sudden  comments.  the  male  then PUSHING  sirius  off  &  knocking  him  across  the  arm  in  a  rough ,  playful  manner.  his  glasses falling  down  to  the  edge  of  his  nose  with  his  light   c u r l s   ruffled.  ‘ stop  trying  to  fuck  my  family ,  black !  are  there  not  enough  birds  &  gentlemen  around  here  to  keep  you  from  MOUNTING  some  member  of  my  ancestry?  you’re  such  a  tosser  ,  seriously.  ’  tears  glossed  in  his  eyes , chest  in  slight  pain  from  laughing  so  hard. 

“been  talking to everyone here-- half of them are your family! have to keep my options open!” sirius had accepted the push, catching james’s elbow on the back of it. he was laughing too, now. he’d always laughed more at james’s reactions than he had at any joke that was being told. “so, are you and evans sympatico here? i talked to her earlier and she had some interesting information. seventh year, so you’ve been at it for over a year, then? need to know where i’m at. no spoilers.”

“apparently, yeah.” he responded with a smile. “though according to the girl i spoke to, it’s a short lived occupation.” he shrugged lightly. “i thought that too. but no, apparently it’s defence against the dark arts. i reckon i’d be pretty good at that.” and, according to ginny, he was. “i don’t think you could, they’re kind of stuck there, right?” he raised an eyebrow, but then his face fell. “they’re here? merlin. you’ve spoken to them? are they alright what do they remember?”

“well, defense has always been short-lived, hasn’t it? honestly, until i put together that they all died or got sacked, i just thought that it was a fun thing that the school did to diversify our education.” he thought about that implication for a moment. “please don’t die. do everything that you can to get sacked, i guess. if those are your two options. or quit?” he made a small sound, trying to recall all the details. “they’re school aged, the both of them. evans said they’d been dating about a year, i think? they don’t remember anything. i think we should keep it that way.”

pansy couldn’t help the laugh that escaped at draco’s words. “he really is such an empty-head.” truthfully, she thought harry potter was a bit of a loser. sure, he’d become a badass in the end, but it didn’t change how she felt. “it’s possible. i wouldn’t mind taking a crack at these, might make me better in the real ones.”

“you’ll need to start studying now. the standards are completely different. time travel used to be standard practice for things that students learned about. honestly, that’s one of my running theories for what went wrong here, given that we were all pulled to the school. but it might have just been a nexus. and there’s always the chance that these our our final newt grades. which i’ve woken up in a sweat thinking about three times.”

“wait, hold on a second… you got my child who is a baby, a broom. i really hope i hit you for it and yelled at james who probably encouraged you to get it.” she said crossing her arms with a playful smirk. “but yeah, i met my granddaughter who is named after me.”

“i’m not a sociopath! i got it for him for his birthday! he was already toddling around and everything. it was completely safe.” the truth was that lily hadn’t had the occasion to hit sirius. he hadn’t seen them since they went into hiding, and only had their letters. “before you get too big in the head, one of them’s named after me, too. firstborn, actually. think you’re somewhere down the list.”

   Petunia heard her last name but it wasn’t from a familiar voice. She turned her attention directly at who was speaking to her. She stared at the male, confused as to how he even knew her name. Petunia had never met any of Lily’s friends except for Severus. She tilted her head at the statement, “Are you talking about Harry?” She questioned him. “I wasn’t sure that Potter had family.” She was too tired to insult, she didn’t have the energy to fight right now. 

“yeah, harry. harry potter.” he knew he didn’t have any right to be mad at petunia, at least not from what he knew about the situation. there were ten things keeping him apart from harry, petunia not in charge of any of them. he consciously unclenched his jaw and lowered his shoulders. “i’m his godfather. james’s best mate. you do have him, then? not here, i’d think, but--”

“exactly.” remus agreed with a smile. he had never been the type to turn anyone away, even when he had been struggling himself. it was always james or sirius or peter that made him feel better, though sirius had always had a different effect to the others. “and when have you ever known me to be selfish?” he raised an eyebrow. “pretty dull, if i’m honest. i ran into arthur weasleys’ daughter, she told me i become a teacher at hogwarts in the future, which i think is pretty cool. have you done anything?”

“you’re going to be a professor?” sirius turned more fully to remus. as a consequence, his other arm fell on top of him into a full spoon. he pulled him in tighter. “did she tell you what you’re going to teach, at least? i’ll bet it’s history of magic. maybe they run two units. can you sack a ghost? oh, i think i made myself sad. let’s see. today? oh. merlin!! prongs!! and evans!! they’re here!!!!!!!”

“do you think potter spares you as much thought as you do him?” pansy raised an eyebrow, her tone slightly teasing. “i have, i happen to be your longest standing friends. your best, even.” she reminded, with a playful eye roll. “oh please, is granger not the type to get excited about doing her exams more than once?”

“it isn’t about the thought that he spares. potter would lose his own head were it not attached.” he seemed to reach where he was going, the entrance of the slytherin common room, and he lingered there. “well, as much as i would not mind a practice run, what if they locked the grades in here??”

        “Not just Albus. His full name is Albus Severus Potter,” She shook her head, “wasn’t lucky in the name department.” Her eyes grew wide and she wanted to smack herself for not making the connection sooner. “Fleamont Potter,” she repeated with a chuckle. “I believe you’re my great-grandfather.”

“great-grandfather?” his eyes widened, but he never lost his smile. “oh. well. i’m not even a father yet. i wasn’t expecting to meet my great-granddaughter today. i feel like i should be giving you a knut and a candy broom and sending you out to the garden to play. your father’s name is harry? i was going to try so hard and let this naming tradition die out.”

        Mia looked at her husband with amusement. He was practically like a child at Christmas and she had to admit, she liked holding on to the surprise. “No, that’s not all that I found out,” and that was all she said.

monty managed to hold a rigid expression for a second and a half before he broke. he picked up mia, spinning her around quickly. “in sickness and health! you promised to share with me, mrs. potter.”

        Astoria nodded since she had to agree, it was nice to get out. She was trying to enjoy her newfound freedom. “I haven’t,” she said and looked up at him. “Honestly, I only just arrived.”

“so the spell wasn’t just a one-time event. that’s interesting.” draco dug a small notebook out of his bag and made a note. “i’ve been working with a few people to learn more about what happened here. is there anything else you want to tell me?”

             ‘ there’s  always  room  for  improvement  ,  love ’  a  strong  hand  claps  the  other  on  the  back  ;  his  lips  thinning  into  a  SMUG  smirk.  god ,  this  felt  good.  for  a  moment  james  was  afraid  he  was  alone  in  all  this.  a  single  piece  of  a  whole  set  traversing  alone  was  a  scary  thing.  james  feeling  relieved  in  the   k n o w l e d g e   sirius  would  be  here  along  for  the  ride.  ‘  shut  the  fuck  up  man–  i  always  knew  you  fancied  my  mum  ;  i  knew  it.  her  baking  was  NEVER  that  great  but  you  always  ate  it  up  too  eagerly. ’

sirius wasn’t about to shy away from that, and he threw his arm around his friend. the tremor that had been at the base of his throat was gone. it was like no time had passed, and there was nothing different between them. if he’d realized that one day things might be back to ‘normal,’ his face didn’t betray that. “your mum? no. oh, no. she’s a firecracker, that one, but i wanted to fuck your dad. it’s the dimples. you know, were it not for good old uncle al, rest his merry soul... you know, who knows what i would have done for some of that sleekeazy gold?"

* ╰    “  HOW  ARE  you  so  sure  about  that  ?  ”  she  tilted  her  head  ,  a  grin  seeping  with  mockery  growing  on  her  face  ,  “  we  don’t  know  ANYTHING  about  time  travel  .  we  can  all  go  back  to  normal  and  nobody  will  remember  a  WORD  you  said  .  ”  her  voice  was  snarky  ,  nothing  unusual  for  her  .  “  JUST  A  NUMBER  ,  black  ?  i’m  heartbroken  -  here  i  was  thinking  we  were  connecting  .  ”

“i see you’ve discovered the other half of my plan. live like i’m dying while i’m here. not a lot of drugs and rock and roll in 1928, but i think i’m covering my grounds on the sex. are you interested? sounds like you might be. know that you’ve always thought about it.” his eyebrows rose, mouth not betraying anything. 

“surely you’re over your little rivalry by now, draco?” pansy raised an eyebrow. honestly, part of her knew it was more than just that, but it was tiresome either way. "i’m not surprised at that, but you’re fine, as traumatic as it must have been.” and she sympathized. “hermione granger? potters little friend. i thought you despised her?”

“it isn’t a rivalry! it’s potter. i don’t feel like i need to re-state any of this. you’ve been here the whole time.” he fixed the strap on his bag as he strode. a tic more than anything. “the enemy of my enemy. and my current enemy is the idea of taking my newts in the 1920′s. the standards are different!”

the truth was that remus had decided his stance a long time ago. he had fancied sirius black since he was fifteen, and the only reason he’d never done anything about it was down to his worry of it affecting anything. but here, it was like nothing actually existed, they weren’t supposed to be here, and there was nothing in the way anymore. he had found a slight amusement in the fourty eight hour period. after how long he had waited it seemed only fair to do the same to sirius. he smiled fondly, making his way over. “gladly.” he nodded. “though i don’t get much of a choice.” he added with a smile, opening his arms for sirius to come in for a hug, just like they’d find themselves doing so often at hogwarts, particularly near the full moons.

sirius jammed his cold fingers against remus’s warm skin, finding his way under his friend’s shirt. he’d always hated to be cold, and it was one more thing about azkaban that drove itself under his skin. the sort of thing that he never stopped feeling. he tossed the covers over them. “of course you don’t have a choice. i suppose you could kick me to the floor, but that would be very selfish of you. how, may i ask, was your day today?”

lily laughed softly at his reply shaking her head softly. “well i met my granddaughter who is named after me with the last name potter, so i guess we really are made for each other. though first year me would’ve called you mad if you said that. but in all honesty, i always thought james was joking about liking me growing up. that he just did to annoy me and snape.”

regulus shrugged, backing away as sirius stepped in closer. obviously he was weary of his brother, and frankly he just didn’t know what was on his mind. ‘yeah. you don’t know anything, sirius. how’d i die? what was i doing? even i don’t know. what happened to you? after i died? you’re like.. 24 turning 25? so i think i’m 22. i don’t know, i didn’t die like this. i think i’m older. and i missed years and i wish i’d never come back but here i am. i don’t know what happened with the dark lord after i died. so fill in some blanks here?’