Author's Note: Hello, my wonderful readers! Just so you know, this takes place the summer after Harry's sixth year. Dumbledore is dead in their time, but Harry and Ginny are still together. Ron and Hermione are still awkwardly crushing on each other but too stubborn to admit it, and horcruxes do, in fact, exist.

DISCLAIMER: I'm not JK Rowling and I don't own the Harry Potter universe. And I am still a starving, penniless student.

Harry and Dumbledore dove headfirst into the pensieve.

Harry gave him a quick recap of his six Hogwarts years and Dumbledore, catching sight of his older self, drew in a breath, "Oh." That was all he said throughout the entire time.

By the time they had exited the pensieve, however, he was deep in concentration. "Severus Snape killed me?" He asked it very casually, but Harry could tell he was thinking very hard about something.

Harry nodded, uncomfortable.

"Do you mind- Can I see that memory?" The old wizard asked.

"Um, sir, don't you think it might be a bit traumatizing, to see yourself die?" He was worried about those last moments in particular. How would Dumbledore react to seeing himself beg? Hate welled up in Harry at the thought of Snape, at the thought of his betrayal.

"I just want to confirm something," Dumbledore said mildly. "Don't worry."

So Harry reluctantly extracted another memory and placed it into the pensieve. "You'll have to go this one alone," he said weakly. "I don't want to see it again."

Dumbledore touched Harry's shoulder comfortingly and then ducked into the silvery bowl.

When he came back, he said, very simply, "Ah."

Harry waited for more, but the headmaster didn't say anything else.

Dumbledore began pacing the length of his office, his hands and wand clasped behind him. "I saw the memories: the horcruxes, my death, your lovely group, Dumbledore's Army…" He paused in his musings to beam at Harry, "I must say, that was very sweet of you to name it after me; I'm touched. Can you explain the time travel again?"

"All I was hoping for," Harry began, "was a couple more days with you, to figure out some sort of plan for the horcruxes, to learn what I needed to learn, to ask you all those questions I never asked you-" His voice broke and he could feel his eyes welling up. "I'm sorry," he hastily wiped his eyes. "I just wanted a little more time.

"Hermione was on it, said that Time-Turners wouldn't work for the job, but that she would look into the theory. Pretty soon the whole DA was in on it; we were meeting in the Room of Requirement every day - some of us even stayed overnight there - Hermione and the Ravenclaws came up with an idea, and it was almost ready, and we decided that it should just be me, Ron, and Hermione, that the rest of the DA would help us out with research and stuff from the Room of Requirement. And then Hermione had this epiphany or something and she went into a frenzy and she organized some sort of spell, had the older years working on some Arithmancy calculations, and it was almost perfect, and she stopped to breathe for a second, and then-"

Dumbledore nodded, he had seen the memory. Neville Longbottom had come running into the room; Snape had seen him enter Hogwarts and he had given him the slip at the trick staircase, before bolting over to the Room of Requirement. Unfortunately, he hadn't been expecting the new developments in the room: Hermione's intricate spell patterns, the barriers, the sheer number of feverishly working students.

Dumbledore closed his eyes and remembered the look of surprise on the boy's face as he tripped over a spell barrier, Hermione, eyes wide, reaching for his elbow, the redhead boy, Ronald, diving for her, Harry diving for Ronald, and Ginny, grabbing desperately for the sleeve of Harry's robe. He saw the bright lights, the spinning, and then, THUD: their dramatic appearance in front of the Marauders on Hogwarts grounds.

"Well," Dumbledore said cheerfully. "Now I am up to speed."

"So what do we do?"

"What do we do?" Dumbledore asked, looking surprised. "Why exactly what you were planning to do in the first place."

"Sir?"

"Make a plan. However, we must be very careful how we go about this. We cannot risk the repercussions of changing the future. Therefore, I will need to Obliviate myself."

"Is that necessary?"

"Most definitely. Even I can be tempted." Dumbledore's eyes got a faraway look in them, but he snapped out of his reverie almost immediately. "First things first, however," he said rather abruptly, "let's go fetch your friends. We'll need to decide some things."

…

MEANWHILE

When the door to the Headmaster's office clicked shut, Lily and James whirled on the time-travelers: "Who are you?" James' hand spasmed towards his wand and then, as if thinking better of it, he snatched it away, settling for glaring at the four of them.

"Um…" Neville looked at Hermione.

Ginny looked at Hermione.

Ron looked at Hermione.

Hermione flushed. "Don't look at me!"

"Don't you think this is all a bit fishy?" James' demanded Lily. His voice rose. "They appear out of thin air, grab Peter, march into Dumbledore's office, and can't give us a straight answer!" He gritted his teeth and in one fluid motion drew his wand.

Ron, who had been avidly following the progress of James' wand hand, was the only one who drew his in time. The two boys faced each other, wands pointed.

Hermione shrieked and Ginny and Neville dove for their wands.

"James," Lily ordered, her voice rather high-pitched. "Put your wand away this instant or-"

But she was interrupted as three boys came sprinting towards them. Skidding to a panting halt, the other Marauders took up ready dueling stances behind James.

Hermione shot an imploring look at Lily, whose hand was inching towards her own weapon.

"Okay," Ron commanded. "Call your guy. I've got James."

"Sirius," Ginny said, narrowing her eyes.

"I'll take Prof- er – Lupin. I've got Lupin." Neville stuttered.

"I don't think we should-" Hermione tried, but Lily drew her wand, and grumbling, Hermione returned the action. "Fine," she snapped. "I've got Lily."

"What about Pettigrew?" Neville asked.

"Oh, please," Ginny flicked her wand lazily in the boy's general direction and Pettigrew gave a sort of squeaky gasp as he stumbled backwards, covering his nose and whimpering as he fell victim to the famous Weasley Bat Bogey Hex.

Everyone stared at Peter for a moment, blinking.

"Wow, Ginny," Neville whispered, awestruck. Ron grinned, impressed, while Hermione mouthed "Nonverbal!"

Sirius was the first of his generation to recover, and he spun to face Ginny, chuckling. "That was hot, sweetheart, and if you'd done it to anyone else I would be Sirius-ly turned on, but as it is, no one hexes my friends." He charged, and Ginny dodged his first spell, and then shot one of her own.

Taking that as their cue, the rest of the duelers started in on each other. Ron and James fought aggressively, Hermione and Lily dueled intelligently, Neville and Lupin's battle was quiet but tense, and Ginny and Sirius danced through the pairs wildly, firing very creative hexes at one another.

Sirius yelped as Ginny's jinx grazed his shoulder, prompting James to turn for a split-second, whereupon he got a face full of Ron's stinging hex. Lily and Hermione scored simultaneous hits on each other, glaring, and Neville, backed into a corner by an orange-spotted Lupin, made a daring shot and spun right around him, grabbing the wall to steady himself when Lupin's Jelly Legs Jinx found its mark.

The pairs were extremely well-matched, and had they not been interrupted by an angry McGonagall, the fights may have lasted well into the next day. However, the tartan-robe-clad woman rushed onto the scene, wand a-ready, and, after gaping at her students (future and present) for a few moments, she raised her wand above her head to emit sparks and a loud "BANG!" noise.

She waited. Her expression went from disapproval to outrage when the students continued dueling, oblivious to her arrival.

Sirius, being chased down the hallway by Ginny, fired a desperate spell in the girl's direction and bunny ears pushed their way through her unruly red hair. Pumping his arm triumphantly, the boy spun, only to run straight into McGonagall. His heart nearly stopped. Ginny slid to a breathless stop beside him, flinching when she realized who stood over her. Neville looked over his shoulder at the professor in horror, and Remus hit him with a stunner, not realizing until he turned. Hermione, in the process of dodging a hex from Lily gasped, and Lily, in pursuit, caught sight of her professor and stumbled forward. James, the last to realize, landed a muggle punch across Ron's jaw and tackled him. They fell in a pile at McGonagall's feet, eyes wide.

United in terror, the students, as one, slowly looked up to meet McGonagall's furious gaze.

For a few seconds she just glared silently at all of them. And then, "EXACTLY WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?"

…

Harry pushed open the door to the headmaster's office, wondering what his friends had done while he was talking to Dumbledore, and nearly tripped over a body.

What the hell?

He looked down and saw a prostrate Peter Pettigrew who had bats flying out of his nose and attacking his face. He smirked. Thank you, Ginny.

But then he saw the rest of the scene. His eyes traveled incredulously over a bearded Lily with a green, prickly wand-hand, a red-faced Hermione covered in fish scales, a James with a swollen, pink face and a nosebleed pinning the arms of an irritated-looking Ron, whose jaw was bruised, an unconscious Neville who smelled like rotten eggs, an orange-spotted Lupin who looked like he would rather be anywhere but where he was, a panting Sirius who had a growth of mushrooms and was covered in worms, a windswept Ginny, who, despite having the ears of a rabbit and tulips sticking out of her left arm, looked very beautiful to Harry, and finally, to a McGonagall who looked like she could breathe fire.

Harry blinked. He opened his mouth, and then tried to close it, but his jaw hung open. Behind him, Dumbledore opened the door again and made to exit the office, but paused when he saw that Harry wasn't moving.

The old wizard's twinkling eyes took in the pile of students and the irate McGonagall with an unfazed expression. "Well, you had all better come back in here," he said genially. He generously reached out, and, with one wrinkled hand, closed Harry's mouth for him. He led the way back inside his office, humming to himself.

"Well, you heard him," McGonagall said tightly. "Get in there, all of you!"

Ron pushed James off of him roughly and got to his feet. Remus stepped away from Neville's body. Lily and Hermione followed Dumbledore, both looking upset, and Sirius helped Peter to his feet.

McGonagall paused over Neville, "Ennervate."

Neville rolled over, spluttering, saw McGonagall, and swiftly sheathed his wand. Ron gave him a hand up, and they joined Harry at the door.

"What the hell?" Harry asked.

Ron shot a glance at McGonagall, who was following them, beady eyes slitted, and shook his head.

They filed obediently into the office and McGonagall shut the door behind them with a very scary click. The silence was overwhelming for a while. Everyone stared at Dumbledore, who was sitting in his chair, sucking on a lemon drop and staring very thoughtfully out into space, seemingly oblivious to the tension in the air.

He finally seemed to notice everyone staring, because he looked up and a smile automatically unraveled across his face. "But where are my manners?" Dumbledore asked, reaching for his bowl of sweets. "Does anyone want a lemon drop?"

"Do you by chance have any headache potion?" McGonagall asked, leaning back into a chair and massaging her temples tiredly.

The headmaster gave her a sympathetic look and Lily, Remus, and Hermione looked guilty.

"Would you like to tell me what is going on, Albus? Who are these children?"

A/N: As always, my dear readers, please, please, pretty please with sugar on top…..REVIEW. I love reviews. I love them a lot. Hope you enjoyed!