"Come back here, you ferret!"

Harry, Ron and Hermione were chasing Draco Malfoy through a deserted corridor after a balloon filled with red paint 'accidentally' slipped from his hands and burst on the trio.

The bronze torches of fire flickered as they ran past, casting an eerie shadow on the walls. Four longs shadows, stretched rushed across marble tiled floors and stone walls. Spells and jinxes were flying everywhere, all of which, ricocheted off the walls and missed all four of them.

"Hey, Weasley! My grandmother could run faster than you," sneered Draco as he ran.

"Shut up, Malfoy," Ron yelled as a jet of red light flashed from Harry's wand.

As Malfoy jumped over something invisible that seemed to be lying on the floor, he laughed and said, "Hey, Weasel-bee, watch your step."

"What does he-" Ron said but was cut short as all three of them tripped over a rope on the floor. They gave a 'whoa' as Harry and Hermione bounced off the floor and landed on their sides. Ron, on the other hand, did a butt walk and tumbled to sitting position. "Ouch," Harry said, rubbing his head which bore his trademark messy jet black hair. Draco Malfoy ran around the corner laughing, not bothering to look back. They saw, holding on to the other end of the rope, was none other than Peeves the school poltergeist.

"Potty and friends fell! Anyway, you lot should be in your beddy-bye by now," he said gleefully with a cackle and flew away.

"That little-" Harry began, his tone, angry. But his sentence stopped abruptly as a bright, white light appeared right in front of them.

"Uhh, guys," Ron said. "I don't know about you, but I don't think that's supposed to happen."

"Me neither," Hermione added in an intrigued undertone.

The light began to take the shape of four seemingly rectangular objects. There was a small explosion of light as the torches dies out. The light grew bright. Too bright. Harry, Ron and Hermione shielded their eyes with their arms and looked away. Another explosion rang and the light died down. Three teenage boys and a girl soon became visible. The newcomers, except for the girl, seemed completely surprised.

After awhile, they noticed each other's presence. There was a moment of silence as both groups stared at each other.

One of the boys stepped forward, helped Harry up to his feet and began to speak, "Hello there, I'm James Potter. This is Remus Lupin, Sirius Black and Lily Evans."

"I'm Ron, this is Harry and Hermione," said Ron scrambling to his feet and helping Hermione. "And we don't usually cover ourselves with red paint," he said with a nervous laugh. Too nervous that it sounded hollow.

Sirius snickered, took out his wand and flicked it. The red paint disappeared.

"As I was saying-" began James but was interrupted by Lily. "What year is this?" she asked, pushing James away. James stumbled, and started to fall, but was caught by Sirius. "Watch you step mate," Ron heard him mutter.

"Nineteen…nineteen…nineteen," stuttered Harry amazed to see the younger versions of his father, mother, godfather and former teacher.

"Nineteen nineteen nineteen?" asked James confused. "Did we go that far into the future?"

"I don't think we did, mate," said Sirius. "And I don't think there's such thing as the year nineteen nineteen nineteen." He added in a deep thought voice.

"It's nineteen ninety seven," Hermione corrected them.

"So, we didn't get that far, after all," said James half relieved, half disappointed.

"Of course we didn't," said Remus. "Hogwarts would probably be gone by the year nineteen nineteen nineteen."

"Don't have much hope for Hogwarts, don't you?" Sirius muttered sarcastically.

"Anyway, it is your fault that we're here, Potter," said Lily turning to James, who took a few steps back.

"My fault?" said James, raising an arm to his chest, as though he found the idea absurd. "I do not see how this is my fault. Anyway, it was your Time Turner." It was Lily's turn to take a step back.

"Yes, it was my Time Turner, but it was your fault we're here in this time," Lily retorted.

"You were the one who dropped it," said James.

"Because you tried to grab it and restart the day for fun," said Lily.

"I wanted another chance to ask you out," said James.

"I've said it once and I'll say it again, I would never go out with you if I had to choose between you and a mountain troll," Lily burst out.

"Bad luck, mate," Sirius said, leaning against a nearby wall.

"Come on, Evans," said James. "Get your hopes up. This is the future, one of these could be our kid," said James motioning to Harry, Ron and Hermione.

"Yeah, right, keep on dreaming," Lily said, crossing her arm and turning away from the group.

"Come to think of it," said Remus loudly. "That one looks a lot like you, James," he said looking at Harry.

"He kind of does," said James looking at Harry more closely. They were of the same height, had the same messy, black hair, same face with glasses and wore the same house robes. To the both of them, it was as though looking into a mirror but with a few minor errors.

"His eyes are different from mine," said James looking at Harry's eyes. "His eyes are green," he said thoughtfully. "Lily's eyes are green," he added, with a grin, now looking at Lily. Lily adverted her eyes to the group.

"Don't get any ideas, Potter," Lily said warningly.

"What did you say your name was?" asked James, now looking back at Harry.

"Harry," Harry said looking at James.

"Harry, what?" James asked eagerly.

"Harry Potter," said Harry now looking at Lily.

"I knew it!" said Sirius.

"What is your mother's name?" James asked looking at Harry with much interest. "Maiden name, please," he added now smiling.

Lily looked at Harry as though begging him not to say her name but she also looked determined that it isn't her. "Lily Evans," Harry said.

Lily's jaw dropped. James turned around and looked at Lily triumphantly.

"It looks like this is our kid, Evans," said James. "Or should I say, Honey?" he added which earned him a tight slap.

"Ouch, that's gotta hurt," muttered Remus.

"You can't be serious," said Lily ignoring Remus and now looking at Harry as though he had played a very un-funny joke.

"No, actually I am," said Sirius stepping forward. Ron stifled a snicker.

"I'm serious," said Harry now smiling at Lily's shocked face.

"I thought I made it clear that I am Sirius," said Sirius also smiling while looking from Harry, to James, to Lily and back again. The snickers from Ron grew louder.

"This is not the time for jokes, Black," said Lily still looking at Harry with disbelief. "I will be married to this dummy in the future?" asked Lily in disbelief motioning to James who was smiling broadly. Harry nodded and Lily groaned.

"Anyway," said Hermione suddenly as she looked at her wristwatch. "It's thirty minutes past eleven," she said, but when everyone seemed clueless about what she trying to point out, she sighed. "We're out past our curfew. Way past our curfew," she added. "We need to get to the common room, if Filch catches us, we're dead."

"What are we waiting for?" said Lily frantically. "Let's go, go, go."