The morning after the full moon seemed brutal; as usual Harry’s whole body hurt and he was dizzy, but he did not really want to remember what had happened, because the room was filled with blood, his stomach was oddly bloated, and he felt as though he’d eaten a bit too much. It took several minutes for him to remember the events before his transformation, but when he did, he was confused. Why was he alive? Where was Voldemort and the rest of his followers?
Harry’s questions were cut short when he heard Remus groaning at his side. Remus was covered in about as much blood as Harry, and he seemed just as disorientated.
“Harry?” Remus said hesitantly. “What happened?”
Before Remus or Harry could say more, the door flew open with a crash that caused both boys to cradle their aching heads as the sound echoed painfully within their skulls.
“Oh, good job, Potter!” Harry heard Severus growl.
Harry glanced up, trying to figure out what he’d done to earn that comment, but the question died in his mouth when he saw James Potter standing beside Severus with a sheepish look on his face.
This makes no sense, he thought to himself. Either this was a vivid dream or a crazy hallucination.
* * *
By the time the Harry and Remus were settled back in at the Hogwarts infirmary, Remus, James, and even Sirius had been told everything about Harry. It turned out that Sirius had some really helpful information about time travel situations like Harry’s. They didn’t happen often, but when they did, the soul would grow in the new time until the point of its original conception. At that point, Harry would revert back to himself and essentially be reborn and grow up a second time. He might even retain some memories from his “past life”.
“It happened to my grandmother; she had two childhoods,” Sirius explained to the group. “Actually, when she was originally born, she was born to a different father because the timeline got screwed up.”
Harry frowned, wondering how much he had changed his own timeline; killing Voldemort alone was going to alter things drastically, but what else might be different? Might he be born into a life without war or tragedy?
“So, Harry? How does it feel to be the first Potter sorted into Slytherin?”
James’ question brought the group of boys to a conversation that took the tense relationship between James and Severus, and turned into something closer to friendship–and soon, the Marauders were born. For the sake of keeping Remus and Harry company during their transformations, James, Sirius, and Severus became animagus. Not that it was completely necessary, as Harry not only successfully created his wolfsbane potion, but went on to perfect it in a way that made the transformation virtually painless and enabled werewolves to remain lucid.
Time moved forward, and things changed. Harry chose to stay with the Snape family, but also spend time at the Potter household, much to the shock of James’ family. Finally, one day in November of 1979, Harry found himself fading away, and he knew he was leaving. He only had time to hug Eileen goodbye, for Severus was away. Harry knew Eileen would pass the message to Severus, and almost before Harry knew it, he was gone to his new life. But one day he would see them all again…
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