tfw u finally post after a four year hiatus

anyway here's chapter eighteen! i haven't been on here in forever but i want to finish this before i go to college, so here we are.

as always, unbeta'd, and this was written across like two years, so i apologize for any inconsistency in writing style.

thanks for reading :)

Disclaimer-I don't own Harry Potter, nor any affiliated characters or plots.

1995

The hall was as grand as expected, with high vaulted ceilings and a luxurious, though dusty carpet over the dark wood floors. A few members of the Order were crowded around the large table in the center of the room, the vase of scraggly flowers it had once held broken and spread across the carpet in front of an old armchair.

"Rich purebloods confuse me," Tonks was saying brightly to Sirius and Kingsley. "Why's this table even here, just to take up space? It's an entrance hall. No one eats in here."

"Tell me about it," Sirius replied gruffly. Kingsley was stifling a laugh. Mrs. Weasley stood behind him, looking much less relaxed, a wand clutched tightly in her right hand like she had just left a duel.

"Ginny! Harry! Ron!" she shouted, abruptly, turning toward the teenagers. She pressed all of them in a hug, even Hermione who had walked in a few moments after the first group. Finally, Ginny was pulled away by her mother, but not before she sent a roll of her eyes over her shoulder at Harry. Ron followed behind her, reluctant.

The three Weasleys were talking in the corner, their faces animated and a mix of angry and sad, when Albus reached the table. Sirius and Tonks smiled at him, but Kingsley managed a stern glare.

Mrs. Weasley had returned, Ron and Ginny hovering angrily hovering behind her.

There was a moment of silence. Al shifted nervously, wondering what expression he was supposed to be wearing. The adrenaline was fading from his system and was replaced by fatigue and an intense knot in his stomach from the knowledge that Rose was with Bellatrix.

"The Death Eaters got away, right, Harry?" Sirius asked, finally. Albus managed a purse of his lips and a nod.

"Well done, anyway. If there's anyone who deserves to get his stuffy old house torn up, it's Malfoy." Sirius was grinning as he clapped Al on the shoulder.

Mrs. Weasley frowned and crossed her arms across her chest. "Sirius, stop being irresponsible. You're encouraging him. He's going to get hurt!"

"I'm not encouraging him, Molly. No one else has gotten this close to Malfoy Manor ever. We should be congratulating him for even getting in. Besides, if the Order had decided to intervene, none of them would've even been here." Sirius mirrored Mrs. Weasley's position, his gaze switching between her and Albus, gauging their reactions.

Al felt inclined to agree with him, but before he could Mrs. Weasley interrupted.

"It's foolish that anyone even considered going!" Her voice was beginning to rise in volume. "We don't know anything about this girl. For all we know this was a trap and we just barely managed to avoid. Harry, you must understand how risky this was."

Disappearing would feel really nice right now, Albus thought. If only he had the invisibility cloak. He wanted to shrink under the gaze of the adults at the table, their eyes boring into him. A library would also be nice. If only he could look up the solution to all of his problems in a book.

"Well?" Mrs. Weasley prompted.

"Harry, we do need to know why you did this, if only to help clear up the situation. We've asked the others too, of course, but to my understanding you were sort of the leader." Kingsley put a hand on Sirius's shoulder as he spoke, trying to calm him down.

Rose is the only person here from my time. Rose is the only person who understands how weird this situation is. Rose could help me figure out a way back home. Rose is my best friend. Rose is with Bellatrix right now. Instead of all that, "My cousin." slipped out of his mouth.

The mood in the room went from somber to incredulous in the span of a few moments. "Dudley?" Sirius asked.

"I-" The way he saw it, Albus had two options. He could lie and possibly have to go through a Ministry hearing and 5th year pretending to be his father, or he could tell them everything and hope they could get him home. He felt like he'd just taken a cold shower after a long nap-everything felt clearer. "She's my cousin."

"Your cousin?" Tonks said, eyebrows furrowed.

"Harry," Mrs. Weasley said, as if she was reassuring him after he'd had a bout of amnesia. "You've got one cousin. Dudley."

Albus wished desperately for Lily and wondered why no one understood.

"Harry-" Sirius started.

"-I'm not Harry!" he cried.

There was dead silence, so noticeable that the few other Order members in the room turned to look.

"Harry," Hermione said, moving to stand next to Tonks. "What does that mean?"

"I'm not Harry."

The adults exchanged glances, while Hermione, Ginny, and Ron were still frowning at Albus.

"Wha- who else would you be?" Sirius demanded, a strong hand on Al's shoulder. He shrunk away, the weight of everything becoming oppressive. They didn't believe him. Were the walls of the intimidating entrance hall really caving inwards to suffocate him, or was that his imagination? He was going to be stuck in 1995 forever, doomed to pretend to be his dad for the rest of his life. He wondered if this was what had happened the first time around, too. Was he supposed to be his own father?

"I think Harry needs a good rest," Mrs. Weasley was saying. "Maybe he's even been confunded." There were murmurs of agreement.

"Albus." The murmurs stopped, people turning to stare at him. "I'm Albus."

"Like Dumbledore?" Ron muttered to Hermione. She swatted him away, still staring at Albus in concern.

Someone had grabbed his arm and was gently leading him out of the concerned crowd. The person murmured, "It'll be alright, Harry." and he realized that it was Tonks, her shocking pink hair in the corner of his vision.

He sighed, and let himself follow her.

1975

If anyone in the Gryffindor common room had a problem with Lily Evans following the Marauders up to the boy's dormitories, they kept their mouths shut about it. It seemed the girls from Lily's year had long since abandoned their game, as the chess pieces were strewn around the floor between two groups of second years.

The boy's dormitory mirrored the girls, except that it smelled more like dirty socks. There were the same unmade beds and open trunks with clothing spilling out-disorganization transcended gender, apparently. Shooting Lily a sheepish smile, James made to move a stack of various transfiguration textbooks off of the room's only armchair.

"Don't bother," Lily assured him, jumping up onto what she assumed was Sirius's four-poster.

James looked uncomfortable, but he put the books back.

"So, Potter, who'd you marry?" Sirius asked, happily clambering up the chair to sit on top of the books. Lily caught a look of affectionate exasperation cross James's face.

"I'm not married," Lily replied.

"So you're like, a cousin a couple times removed or something?" James asked, sounding hopeful.

"Have you got any aunts and uncles?" she said, raising an eyebrow. Sirius smirked and leaned back against the wall, teetering atop the stack of books. Remus let out a wry breath. Peter, huddled in the corner with his arms crossed, bit down on his upper lip.

James was staring at her in shock. "No. What's going on? I don't understand."

Lily wrung her hands in her lap, unsure of how to respond. She was painfully aware of the weight of the Marauders' gazes focused on her. "I-" she started, and then stopped. How was she supposed to explain everything? All of her History of Magic was coming back to her, hours spent in a dusty old classroom with a ghost explaining how her grandparents and their friends all died. How was she supposed to tell them all of that?

"Okay, let's start with something. Why don't you explain Snape?" Remus said, gently.

Lily clenched her hands together and pressed her lips into a thin line. "He…" she paused. "Do you know what Death Eaters are?"

It was like she'd just thrown a frog into their laps. Sirius jolted backwards so hard that he almost fell off of the stack of textbooks. James burst from his seat to tower over Lily, and then seemed to realize his mistake and stood awkwardly in the middle of the room, running his hand through his hair. Remus had not moved, but was watching her with wide eyes.

"If you're saying Snape is a Death Eater-" James started.

"That's a serious accusation," Remus finished.

"It's true though," James continued, beginning to pace. "It almost makes sense, doesn't it? Snape's a dirty Slytherin-"

Lily flinched.

"-he's started slinging slurs at Lily, he hangs around Mulciber and Avery, we've always known he was slimy and awful, we always have-"

"James," Peter said quietly from the far corner of the room.

"Peter, I'm not kidding! We should-"

"We've got to get rid of him," Sirius said. He met Remus's surprised look with a glare. "I'm not kidding. If he's a Death Eater, he's dangerous."

"I don't even know what a Death Eater is," Peter muttered mournfully.

He was ignored. "Sirius, what do you mean, get rid of him?" Remus asked.

"Scare him off, right?" James interrupted. "Make the Slytherins pay for what they've done. The bastards, the snakes-"

Sirius laughed, loud and bitter. "Scare him off? Scare him off? Are you joking, mate? Death Eaters murder people. They're sick and sadistic and I don't even think getting them expelled would be good enough, we've got to go further if we really want to get rid of them."

"Sirius, I think that's a little-"

"You don't understand, Moony, you don't live with a bunch of them, they don't-" he came to an abrupt stop.

"They don't what?" Remus demanded. "Hate me? Hunt people like me for fun? "

All three of the boys were standing in the middle of the room, glaring at each other as a tense silence fell over the group.

"That's only another reason we need to deal with them!" James declared. "This isn't just a petty feud anymore. This is about real world issues, this could get them expelled-"

"You sound like you're running for Minister," Lily cut in. They turned to her, as if they'd forgotten she was there.

James was frowning. "What are you talking about? You don't run for Minister, you get appointed."

"What? That's ridiculous." How was Wizarding Britain supposed to call itself a democracy if they didn't even elect their own Minister? Had that much really changed?

All four boys in the room were now staring at her. "It's not ridiculous, it's just how it works," James explained with a shrug.

"You can't really call it a democracy then," Lily said, but Sirius and Remus had already resumed their argument.

"Padfoot, you can't just go in with your wand blazing! You've met your family. That's never going to work."

"Remus-" Peter started.

Sirius threw his arms above his head in frustration. "I don't know what else we're supposed to do! I can't just go home for the summer with them and do nothing when I know they're recruiting students. We're supposed to be the most dangerous things at Hogwarts. We might as well prove it!"

Lily pulled her knees to her chest as the room seemed to explode.

"Sirius!-"

"Sirius that's insane, you can't-"

"SHUT UP!"

Peter was standing, out of the corner he'd delegated himself to and into the light, with his fists clenched at his sides. "Sirius, you're being ridiculous and you're going to get yourself killed. Maybe we should ask the time traveler what's going on, considering that's what we came up here to do in the first place." He took a long stuttering breath, as if he had spent all of his self-control on those few sentences.

James spoke. "You really are a time traveler, then?" He looked up at Lily, who was still curled up on the four-poster. She reluctantly loosened her hold on her shins and turned to face him directly.

"You were so sure an hour ago."

"Confidence is important in a confrontation," he said.

Lily breathed deeply. "I think so, yes."

"How?" Remus asked.

"I...I broke a time turner and woke up here, when you thought I was pulling a prank. I don't know where Lily Evans is. My brother, Al was there too, and I don't know where he is either." And I don't know how to find him, echoed in Lily's head. She was supposed to be the one who came up with plans, but all she had were a few inaccurate time travel books from the library. What if Al was dead? What if Al was hurt? She wanted to think she'd feel it, but she couldn't be sure.

In one motion James leaped onto the bed and gripped Lily's shoulder. "If you're named after Lily-You are, right?" Lily nodded. "Right, and your last name is Potter, does that mean we get married in the future?"

Sirius groaned. "James," said Remus, sounding tired. Peter huffed and shoved his hands deep into his pockets.

"I'm not answering that," Lily replied.

"Now, for the second order of business," said Sirius, "are you sure about Snape as a Death Eater?"

"Positive." Lily, knew, sort of, that Snape had been alright in the end, according to her dad-after all, Albus was named after him. But it was always better to air on the side of caution, especially in an unfamiliar time, right?

"Positive positive?" Peter asked, wringing his hands together.

"Positive positive."

"Okay," James said, reemerging as the leader of the group. "Okay, so what do we do now? Confront Snape? Try to spy on him?"

"We could use my brother for information," offered Sirius.

Lily, who had been pacing in the center of the room, stopped to frown at him. "Or, we could tell McGonagall."

"No."

"No way."

"That is not how we do things."

"I don't think that's a good idea."

She rolled her eyes. "Really, Peter? Why don't you think it's a good idea?"

It appeared as if Peter was trying to shrink until Lily couldn't see him anymore. "Um-"

"Nevermind. Look, this isn't something we can handle by ourselves. Sirius, you said that the Death Eaters have killed people, and that they're mixed up with your family and that your family's crazy, and you still want us, a bunch of teenagers, to confront them by ourselves?"

The four Marauders were silent, watching Lily as she paced.

"It's a bad idea. Telling McGonagall makes sense. Dumbledore isn't here, and she can get in contact with the proper authorities and everything. It'll make our lives easier." She was already turning around, ready to burst out of the room with her new plan of action-McGonagall would help, and maybe in the process of finding Snape she would find something to help Al.

"There's one flaw in your brilliant plan, Ms. Potter," Sirius said, smirking.

"What's that?"

"You have to tell McGonagall that you're a time traveller. And if she's going to help us, she has to believe you."

"Don't be ridiculous," Lily replied, one hand on the brass knob of the door to the rest of the tower. "I've done all that already."

The house was different from the last time Snape had been summoned. No one had told them - him, Crabbe, Gibbon, and Crouch - where they would be arriving when they caught the portkey in Hogsmeade, but the air was distinctly warmer than it had been in Scotland, and it smelled like the sea.

The house itself was grand and old, as they always were - Lucius Malfoy must've been in charge of picking the meeting locations lately. The room they were in was draped in silver and green, covering the windows but leaving the air heavy with dust.

They had been in this side room since they had arrived, told to stay by Bellatrix Black, who had winked as she left, to Snape's disgust. Crouch let out a raucous laugh, high pitched enough to match Bellatrix's, that one which Snape knew so well. Crabbe and Gibbon both looked like they were about to throw up. Snape had his fists clenched.

None of them were going to get the mark today, not until they passed some sort of orientation that had yet to be explained. They'd discussed it, meeting in Gibbon's dormitory. Crabbe thought they would have to burn something, the sort of paltry disruption that covered the front pages these days. Gibbon had replied with a sort of horror that they'd probably have to kill someone, and Crouch has laughed that same ridiculous laugh.

Snape didn't know if he wanted to kill anything, but he wanted to be able to, to be expected to, to have the sort of power that he could if he wanted to. If he could pull this off, he would not be going back to Spinner's End this summer.

A more junior member that Snape didn't know was the one to fetch them instead of Bellatrix- she must've greeted them just to be off-putting. They were brought to the end of a long hallway, where a large engraved wooden door blocked their path.

"The Lord," the man said, his thin nose and protruding brow casting an ugly shadow on the door behind him, "wishes to hear the information you have brought for him."

"Will we be inducted today, if what we provide is sufficient?" Crouch asked, serious for once in his life.

"No. There will be another task," the man replied, a hand on the doorknob. "Do not speak until you are spoken to, remember to bow, and do not embarrass yourselves." He swung open the door.

The space had once been some sort of formal dining room, and the tables whose legs had borne the marks in the middle of the carpet had been pushed to the edge of the room, where Death Eaters were seated in two long rows. Snape kept his eyes at his feet as he walked, but he could pick out the whispered voices of Bellatrix, Lucius Malfoy, and at least three more Slytherin classmates from his year.

The man who had fetched them stopped in front of the them, where Snape could see the wrinkled carpet ended.

A gravelly voice with a precise accent sounded, and the rest of the room quieted. "Thank you, Selwyn."

There was a moment of silence.

"Look up," commanded Lord Voldemort. Snape did. He was seated in a tall backed chair with green upholstery, and dressed in a long black robe. A large snake was curled around the armrests, its head in the crook of the Lord's elbow. But the most surprising thing about him was his face, which Snape had never seen before. He could still be identified as human, but something about the pallor of his skin, the veins visible under his cheeks and stretched across his forehead, and the unnatural slant of his nose made him seem...something else. A little more, perhaps, than human.

"You have been tasked with collecting information for the cause at Hogwarts," the Lord stated. "What have you brought for us?" The snake hissed as he finished, and slithered upward so her head rested on the shoulder of its master, its beady eyes glaring at the four students.

"My Lord -" Crouch and Snape began at the same time. They were cut off by laughter around the room, Bellatrix's shrieking laugh settling on top of all of the other Death Eaters'.

The Lord chuckled, in tune with the hissing of his snake. "Eager, are we?"

Crouch seemed dumbstruck and unused to being interrupted, red coloring the apples of his cheeks. Snape stepped forward so that he was standing alone on the hardwood floor in front of Lord Voldemort, and listened with satisfaction as the room dissolved into mutterings around him.

"My Lord." He bowed his head for a moment, and then straightened and looked him in the eye.

Lord Voldemort looked back, and the mood of the room turned serious. "The half-blood dares to speak."

"My Lord," Snape repeated. "I have information regarding the Hogwarts student known as Lily Potter."

The tension in the room broke as Lord Voldemort leaned back and grinned, amused. "You are misguided. No such student exists."

"No," Snape agreed. "Not yet."

-

Thanks for reading! And sorry for the terrible formatting. I haven't used 's publisher thing in forever.