The Perks of Being a Time-Traveller

Chapter One: A Blast From the Past

"Give it to me, Sirius. Now!" Remus Lupin held out a hand expectantly as he glared at the grinning 16-year-old boy in front of him.

"I don't know... James, what do you think? I mean, think of all the pranks we could get away with now," Sirius Black said, his voice filled with mischief, as he dangled the time-turner out of Remus's reach. He held a cup of firewhiskey in his other hand.

James Potter shot up from his bed, spilling some of his own drink. "You're right! And, I could use it to get Evans."

"Absolutely not! Dumbledore gave that to me and specifically told me not to use it for anything but academics."

James and Sirius burst into laughter. Sirius spun the timepiece by the chain casually. "Well, then maybe you should have put it somewhere I wouldn't find it," Sirius said.

"It was inside a locked box, at the bottom of my trunk, with a disillusionment charm on it!"

"Exactly. Now, I think the first academic thing to do is go back fifteen minutes and shove Snivelly's face in his soup."

"Sirius...this is why we are best friends," James said, walking over to stand beside him.

Remus crossed his arms and smiled smugly. "Too bad you don't know how to use it."

Sirius frowned in disappointment.

James quickly looped the chain around both of them. "It's a good thing I do," he said and spun the hand half a turn as Sirius held it tightly in his grip.

Sirius and James watched as Remus moved in reverse and exited the room. The two boys stood still for a moment before looking at each other and mirroring mischievous grins.

"I think it worked." Sirius broke the silence.

"Of course it did, Remus just walked out of the room backwards. Come on, let's go!" James yelled. The two boys set their drinks down on the floor in a hurry and ran for the door, shoving each other as they did.

They ran wildly down the stairs, running through the empty common room and out the portrait.

They sprinted down the corridors. James swung out an arm, stopping Sirius, once they reached the moving staircases.

"Okay, so the main thing here is we can't let ourselves see ourselves," James said wisely.

Sirius nodded. "Right. Unless we see ourselves."

James nodded back. "Right. Onward!"

James jumped onto the railing and began to slide down, Sirius following suit, both boys hopping off at the bend and then running down the final set of stairs.

"Moony, up ahead!" Sirius yelled, spotting their friend in front of the doors to the Great Hall.

"Got it!" James whipped out his invisibility cloak, throwing it over himself and Sirius as they continued running at a mad pace.

They slowed down as they neared their friend. The werewolf looked confused as he stared in their direction before shaking his head and walking away.

The two boys laughed quietly and pulled off the cloak.

"It's a good thing we used the secret passageway earlier back to the dorm," James said casually as he pushed open the doors to the Great Hall.

Remus watched his friends disappear. "Bollocks," he said just before a loud bang from behind startled him. He spun around to see James and Sirius enter the room, gasping for breath.

"Time travel is exhausting," James said, plopping down onto the floor.

"But rewarding. That was brilliant!" Sirius exclaimed, dropping down beside the other boy. They both reached over, picking up their abandoned drinks.

"I can't believe that you used the time turner just to dunk Snape's head in soup. We have soup all the time."

Sirius and James looked at each other in shock before turning to Remus and gaping at him.

"He doesn't know," Sirius gasped.

James shook his head in disappointment. "Remus, do you know how often we have split pea soup?"

"Not nearly enough," Sirius interjected. "I was torn up when I realized we had missed our chance tonight," he said, sipping his drink.

"I know. But we fixed it. With time travel. All is right with the world again. A toast!" James said, raising his glass.

"To green-faced Snivellies!" Sirius lifted his cup, hitting it against the other boy's.

Remus fought a smile, relaxing now that the boys were back without any noticeable harm having been caused.

"How did you do that!"

Three heads turned to see an angry Lily Evans standing in the doorway, breathing heavily.

"Do what? Get so incredibly good-looking?" Sirius dead-panned as James sat staring in awe at her.

"No! I saw you two duck into a passageway behind a gargoyle statue on my way to the Great Hall and then when I walked in, you two were standing behind Severus! That's not possible!" Lily fumed.

"You were watching me?" James asked, a look of disbelief on his face.

Remus took a step forward, holding his hands out as he spoke. "Lily, you're clearly mistaken. As you said yourself, that's not possible," he said, trying to cover for his friends and himself.

Lily's anger seemed to melt as she considered her fellow prefect's words. "Yeah, I guess you're-"

"-With this!" Sirius yelled gleefully, interrupting the girl and brandishing the time turner in the air.

Remus covered his face and groaned.

"What is that? That's a time turner, isn't it! Give me that!" Lily yelled, advancing on a drunken Sirius. She tried to grab the magical object from his hand but failed as he lifted it higher into the air.

"Ah-ah, Evans. Time turners are not to be played with," Sirius chastised, once again taking advantage of his height. He ignored the jumping girl as he took another drink from his cup.

James stood up. "Sirius, stop being an arse."

Sirius turned to his friend. "Well, tell your tart of a girlfriend to stop trying to assault me. I don't think Remus appreciates it."

"Sirius, shut up. Now," Remus warned, moving closer to the group.

The girl stepped back, pausing in her attempts, to snarl, "I am NOT his girlfriend. Nor will I ever be!"

James pulled out his wand, pointing it at his best friend. "How dare you call her that! You take that back! Right now, Sirius!"

Sirius feigned an apologetic look, still holding the time turner in the air. "You're right, James. I'm sorry…. She's not your girlfriend."

James let out an angry yell and flicked his wrist. Sirius threw his hands in front of his face to protect it from the blue hex flying towards him.

The blue light hit the hand on the time turner, causing it to spin forward at an alarming speed.

Sirius looked down at the spinning timepiece, dropping it as it began to heat up. "That's not good."

The four Gryffindors edged closer to the object, looking down curiously, as it began to vibrate and glow, the hand speeding faster and faster.

"Seems harmless enough," James said, shrugging his shoulders, before a blinding light flashed out of the time turner, enveloping the four students, and exploding.

Sirius, James, Remus and Lily laid spread out on the floor of the boys' dorm.

"Hey, where'd my drink go?" Sirius asked, looking around on the floor for his cup.

"You two are ridiculous! You could have killed us!" Lily yelled, pushing herself off the floor.

"Does it smell differently in here to you guys?" Remus asked, as he too pushed himself off the floor.

"I would have never let you die, Evans," James protested, pushing himself up.

"Guys. Seriously. It smells really weird in here," Remus said nervously as he began to walk around inspecting the room.

Lily put her hands on her hips. "I don't need you to protect me, Potter. You need to accept the fact that we will never, ever, ever be together."

Sirius let out a small laugh before turning and walking over to his corner of the room. He stopped, staring at where his trunk once was. "Whose trunk is this?" he asked, leaning over to read the name inscribed. "Ronald Weasley… Who is that?" he asked angrily. He popped open the lid and began to toss the contents onto the floor.

"This is bad, really bad," Remus mumbled to himself as he leaned over and sniffed the pillow on his bed.

James smiled winningly at the girl in front of him, ignoring her aggression. "Evans. There is no need to deny it anymore. I know that you have feelings for me, and that you want nothing more than to have my baby." He waggled his eyebrows.

"Now, I'm going to set it all on fire," Sirius said matter-of-factly, lifting his wand and pointing it at the contents on the floor.

"Sirius, what does your pillow smell like?" Remus asked, his voice rising in intensity as he leaned over, smelling another pillow.

Lily glowered, her face turning a deep red, "Potter, I-"

"Bloody hell! My stuff! My stuff!"

Harry, Ron and Hermione sat on a couch by the unlit fireplace in the Gryffindor Common Room.

"I feel awful," Harry moaned, holding his head.

"Harry, Professor Snape is only trying to help you. You need to learn Occlumency to protect yourself from Voldemort," Hermione said quietly, concern lacing her tone.

"Yeah, right. Snape doesn't care about Harry. He's probably trying to make it easier for Voldemort to access his mind. I don't trust him," Ron said in a conspiratorial voice.

Harry nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you're prob-"

"-Is that smoke? Do you smell smoke?" Hermione asked, standing up and walking towards the stairs to the boys' dormitories.

The two boys stood up, following her.

"I think you're right, Hermione," Harry said, running up the steps, his two friends following closely behind him. They stopped in front of the fifth-year dorm.

"This might be a trap," Hermione whispered, putting a finger up to her lips to tell the boys to be quiet. They heard yells from inside the room. One voice louder than the rest.

"Burn! Burn! That's what you get for messing with Sirius Black's things!"

"What the-" Harry pushed the door open, to reveal a confusing scene. His mouth dropped open, his eyes instantly drawn to the fire by Ron's bed, standing in front of it was a black-haired boy cackling madly. Harry's eyes shot over quickly to a sandy-haired boy, who was leaned over and frantically smelling his pillow.

"Bloody hell! My stuff! My stuff!" Ron yelped, running towards the flames, eyes wide with fear.

"Oh my, Merlin! There are two of me!"

Harry's head jerked towards the words, to find himself staring at a spitting image of himself, a red-haired girl standing by his side.

"Mum? Dad?"

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