Hello, all! So, I got an itch for a new story and simply had to oblige. This one will have chapters. It won't be just a one-shot. I'm not sure how regular updating will be. I guess it depends on how the story is received.

This fic involves an older, post-war Harry who by some accident, has ended up in the Marauder era. I've always been interested in the idea of role reversal - that is, Harry as the adult, and his teachers and parents as the children. While time-travel is an aspect of this story, it will not be the main focus. This is going to be a story about how Harry touches and changes the lives of those around him, and how, in some cases, a person's destiny simply cannot be changed.

Enjoy! Please let me know what you think. Your reviews will help me determine if I should continue.

Unknown

Chapter 1: The Hogwarts Express

Severus Snape walked with his shoulders hunched and his head down. It wouldn't do to attract too much attention, especially as he could already hear the laughter and shouting of Potter and Black. He dared look up only once as he passed their compartment on the Hogwarts Express, in the hopes that she might be there, too. But it was only Potter, Black, Lupin, and that pathetic excuse for a wizard Pettigrew. Severus brought his head down quickly and moved by their compartment before they noticed him, even though his hand strayed to his wand and a curse hovered on the tip of his tongue.

The rear of the train was quieter, though nearly all the compartments were still full. He passed a few knots of Slytherins here and there, and though they nodded and greeted him, they did not invite him to sit down. It was not until he reached the very last compartment on the train that a welcome voice spoke his name.

"Severus. Sit with me."

He turned at once. Vendra Irmandis stood there, smiling blandly at him from behind dark purple bangs. She was a tiny little witch in his year, Slytherin, with cropped purple hair and the brightest blue eyes at Hogwarts. The other students tended to ignore Vendra, for despite her size - she barely reached Severus's chest - she was out-spoken, brilliant, quick with both wand and wit, and had a speculative amount of creature blood running through her veins. Yet, since their first year together at Hogwarts, Vendra had taken a liking to Severus. And Vendra's likings were not things to be ignored.

Severus entered her compartment and sat down by the window. She took the seat opposite him and fixed him with her round eyes.

"Did you have a pleasant summer?" she asked. He raised one fine black eyebrow in answer, and Vendra's lips twitched. "Yes, mine was dismal as well." She paused momentarily before continuing, hesitantly, "Your father?"

"Blessedly absent," replied Severus promptly, with a twisted little smile. "For most of the holiday, anyway."

Vendra nodded as if she expected nothing less. "Of course. You'll be coming of age, soon. He has reason to be absent."

Severus looked out the window as his smile turned genuine. Seventeen. That's how old he would be, come January. And then his father would no longer have wizard law to hide behind. Severus would be able to do magic.

"I think we should throw you a birthday party," said Vendra, and Severus lost his smile immediately.

"Absolutely not," he snapped. He turned his head sharply toward her. She smiled innocently at him. "No, Vendra."

She rolled her eyes. "You always try to ruin all of my fun, Severus."

"I'm not trying," he said smoothly. "I actually am ruining all of your fun. There will be no such thing as a party. Ever."

Vendra laughed. "That's okay. I don't really need a party. Not when a different kind of fun has stopped just outside the door." She laughed again. "Do come in, won't you?"

The compartment door slid open, and Severus felt his whole body tighten. His fingers twitched imperceptibly toward his wand, though he made no greater move than that. He stayed seated, and kept his eyes on the newcomers, and whispered to Vendra, "You have a much miscalculated interpretation of fun, love."

She giggled.

Potter and Black, standing side by side in the doorway, glanced between the two of them. Black sneered in disgust. "Finally got yourself a girl then, Snivellus? Figures it would be someone like her."

"Oh, Sirius, I'm flattered," said Vendra wistfully. "Though I was rather hoping to see dear Remus. Is he with you?"

Another head poked around the corner, this one with shaggy light brown hair. Tawny eyes crinkled at the corners as he smiled. "Hi, Vendra."

She darted forward. In one smooth motion she had Potter and Black shoved out of her way and Lupin pulled past them into the compartment. Severus watched them hug with a black hole in his stomach. He had no idea what little Vendra saw in Lupin.

"You smell good, Remus," she whispered. "Like the moon, and like skin that's been in the sunshine." She let go of him only very reluctantly, but then laughed again as Severus grabbed her hand and pulled her away just as Black grabbed Lupin's hand and pulled him away.

"What have you done to him, witch?" snarled Black. He had his wand out now, and Severus took that as his cue to stand. Black, despite his immaturity, was a capable and often dangerous wizard, and now, with his grey eyes stormy, Severus didn't want to take any chances.

But before anyone could make a move, Lupin said in a voice half soothing, half exasperated, "Oh, stop, Sirius. You know Vendra was in my O.W.L. study group last term."

"She's a Slytherin," said Potter, and his hazel eyes, narrow behind his glasses, slid toward Severus. For a moment, before he looked away, they were full of loathing.

"And she helped me get an Outstanding in History of Magic, so just drop it," said Remus, finally losing patience.

"Doesn't mean I have to like her," said Black almost pleasantly, though his teeth were bared not in a smile, but in a snarl.

"Trust me, Black," said Severus for the first time, "the sentiment is most assuredly returned."

Black turned his snarl on Severus and finally raised his wand. It was the moment Severus had been waiting for. His wand was in his hand in an instant, and his nonverbal shield was raised just as Black cast a nonverbal jinx that sent a bolt of red light through the compartment. Severus felt it sizzle over his head.

"Boys!" snapped Vendra loudly. She stepped between them, her hands raised. "Play nicely. You don't really want detention before term even starts, do you?"

Black continued to growl wordlessly while Potter looked between them, his wand raised too. Severus stood there, a curse and a shield waiting in his mind, until Black sniffed haughtily and turned away.

"Come on," he said. "We don't need to hang around filth like these two. Trolley's at the other end, anyway. I think Peter's getting us snacks."

Lupin, with a smile for Vendra and an apologetic shrug of the shoulders, followed Black out of the compartment. Potter, still with wand in hand, lingered.

He looked between Severus and Vendra for a moment before narrowing his gaze on the former. "If you try to approach Lily Evans at all this term," he said, slowly and clearly, "I will personally maim those hands of yours. What will you do when you have no potions to hide behind?"

Severus had his wand raised and hex half-formed before Vendra grasped his wrist.

Potter sneered at them. "I'm warning you, Snivellus, stay away from Lily."

And then he, too, vanished from the compartment. Severus stalked forward and slid the door closed with a bang. He turned, fuming, to find Vendra sitting calmly by the window again, her knees pulled up under her chin.

"Why did you stop me?" he asked her.

She looked at him like he was stupid. "Because I don't want you to get in trouble," she answered. "And because you weren't the only one ready to throw a hex, or did you not notice the tip of his wand glowing?"

Severus sat down and hunched his shoulders. "I can handle James Potter."

Vendra smiled indulgently. "I have no doubt of that," she said. "But you underestimate him, Severus. You underestimate all of them."

"I assure you I do not," he returned stiffly. His mind glanced briefly to a time, not so long ago, when he had been hanging upside down near the lake, unable to free himself. "I surely do not."

Vendra just shook her head. After a moment of silence, she tried to change the subject. "I saw her earlier, you know. Evans, I mean."

Severus looked up. "You saw Lily? Is she –" He paused and licked his lips. "Is she well?"

"Quite," said Vendra. "She said she had a lovely holiday, but that she's looking forward to seeing her mates again and she's excited about the challenge that N.E.W.T. level classes will bring."

"Did she," Severus began, but had to stop and clear his throat. "Did she say if she spent holiday with her family?"

Vendra gave him such a pitying smile that Severus had to look away. "She spent most of it with her family. And a week with James Potter."

There it was. Severus closed his eyes. "A week with Potter."

He didn't say it as a question, but Vendra answered anyway. "Yes."

Severus opened his eyes and glared out the window. "She told me she was done with me. She told me. But somehow I'd hoped…" He stood suddenly and, pointing his wand at the shelf above the seats, said, "Reducto!"

The shelf blasted off the wall. There was a very loud crash, a squeal from Vendra, a whispered Reparo! from Severus, and then they were both sitting still again. By unspoken agreement, they mentioned neither James nor Lily for the rest of the train ride. Severus spent most of the ride staring out the window, watching the clouds as they grew steadily darker.

"Have you ever had a train ride without rain?" he asked at one point.

Vendra tilted her head to one side and blinked her blue eyes. "Now that you mention it, no."

She bought a variety of sweets when the trolley made it down their end, half of which she thrust at Severus, valiantly ignoring his attempts to return them. "You're too skinny," she said simply, while biting into a Pumpkin Pasty.

Rain started sliding down the window. Severus tracked the drops with his eyes and occasionally ate what Vendra pushed into his hands. They were not disturbed apart from one time, when the Head Boy, a Ravenclaw named Turner Parks stepped in to inquire about the crash that Severus had caused.

"Are you sure it was our compartment?" asked Vendra politely. "As you can see, nothing here is amiss."

Parks gave the compartment a quick glance, nodded, and left. Soon, after it was dark and with rain still falling, the train came to a halt in Hogsmeade station. Severus and Vendra left together, and managed to find a school carriage that had only two fourth-year Hufflepuffs, both of whom were too frightened of Slytherins to even glance at their new companions. Vendra patted the thestral, invisible to most, as she climbed into the carriage; Severus only gave its skeletal face a cool glance. Part of him, a very small, child-like part, regretted being able to see the thestral. But the war had made sure he could see it.

The ride to the castle was silent, though Vendra gazed quite openly at the poor Hufflepuffs, who started trembling halfway through the ride and bolted from the carriage the moment it stopped. Severus grinned after them, but the grin dropped off his face as he and Vendra tramped up to the castle with the other students. He could see Potter and Black and Lupin ahead, and Lily was with them, though she seemed to be ignoring Potter in favor of Lupin. Severus stared at her red hair until Vendra tugged on his hand.

"Come on," she said. She pulled him up the steps and into the Great Hall, where they took seats at the Slytherin table and waited for the feast to begin. Severus sat facing the Gryffindors. He preferred never to have his back to that lot if it could be helped. It took him several minutes to realize that his caution, at least tonight, was unnecessary. Most of the Gryffindors, in reality most of the school, were staring up at the staff table and whispering excitedly.

A moment later, accompanying Vendra's whisper of "Who is that?", Severus spotted the source of all the commotion. He felt the world fall away from him, and for several long seconds all he could see was the young man sitting between Dumbledore and Slughorn, emanating what had to be the most fascinating aura Severus had ever felt.

And then Headmaster Dumbledore rose to his feet, raised his hands, and silence spread across the hall.

"Welcome back," he said, his voice low and soothing, yet bright and buoyant, "to Hogwarts."