Hey everyone!

Thank you so SO much for all the lovely reviews! They truly make me smile and I really REALLY should've replied to them!
My life kind of went all over the place, and it's no excuse, but I really have no other to offer...

I'm not promissing to go and reply to them now, because it's not just the reviews on this story, but my others as well... I WILL however promis to respond to the reviews I get from here on!

Some of you sent me a few comments in PMs and reviews that I'm really taking to heart. And a fair few were responding to the 'not being able to change time' idea. I would like to quickly say something about that. I hoped I explained this in the second chapter, but I will do my best to explain it again.

I'm not really trying to discuss the possibillities of time-travel, because I'm not entirely sure what I believe at this particular moment. Instead I'm working with the theory that seemed most logical to me from reading 'The Prisoner of Azkaban'. In this book, everything Hermione and Harry did while using the time-turner had already happened. They didn't actually change time from their own POV at the moment they stood in the hospital wing and turned the time-turner.
Going with this, Harry would've had everything that he changes in the past already as a memory. Say that he goes back and kills Dumbledore, he would've never met the guy. Knowing that he was headmaster at Hogwarts when he went there at age eleven, makes him absolutely positive that there's no way he can kill Dumbledore in the past.
So, yes, his being in the past has an impact, but Harry's past and the past's future are one and the same.

On the note that Severus couldn't possibly do stuff when he would know the outcome of said actions... I won't really say that now, because it would be spoilerous! But trust me...

I hope that made it a bit more clear.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything Harry Potter, just my imagination!

"Alright," I said with a smile. "I need to make sure I don't stand out too much, which means I need to know my father's skill in magic."

Snape huffed. "Skill? Don't make me laugh."

"I'd like to actually," I smirked. "Never seen you smile before."

The boy gave me a sneer that almost equaled the ones he threw me when I was younger. Almost.

"You should also try and not miss too many classes? Hmm?" he said and I quickly cast a tempus charm to tell the time. My next class was in less than fifteen minutes. He sighed and threw up a hand. "Fine," he said. "Stick to Black's level of incompetence in most classes but Arithmancy and Charms. Potter has sometalent for the latter, but the former he couldn't do to save his life."

Well, that was at least oneproblem solved.

"However," Snape said. "He is taking some tutelage from Ravens, a sixth year Gryffindor with an obvious crush on your father. Try not to bed her and snap yourself out of existence."

I chuckled as he walked away from me. "Don't worry," I said. "I'm hardly interested in someone 20 years my senior."

He glanced back over his shoulder with a strange look on his face before he left the classroom.

.

The day passed slowly, endless classes of lessons I'd already learned. I tried to take notes, knowing my father would need them when he got his body back, it was the most I could do to try and not ruin his academic life. Most of my energy went into making sure I'd use the correct level of skill, I wasn't about to repeat my mistake in Defence.

Charms was the hardest, because Flitwick was very aware of James's talent and seemed to know exactly what he could and could not do. I'd never been particularly talented in charms, though my real age and experience made sure I could handle whatever my dad could. The wand did help, it seemed like it 'liked' doing charms.

Last class of the day was double potions, together with the Slytherins, and Snape. I was distracted by my thoughts, making it harder to make the mistakes my dad would make. True, I'd never been very good at potions, but The Half Blood Prince's book had helped me more than the adult Snape ever had. The same book he was scribbling in right now.

I chanced a look and noticed how his long fingers curled around the quill, how his hair slowly slid forwards and hid my side of his face from view, how said fingers absentmindedly reached up and stroked it back behind his ear. Damn these seventeen year old bodies, I could feel myself getting hard, from just looking at Snape. Snape! Oh God!

Sirius's hand on my shoulder snapped my attention back to my own table. "James!" he hissed. "Stop staring at Snivellus! Whatever you're planning, staring at him will just get us caught!"

I shrugged. "I'm not planning anything," I answered. "I was actually wondering why we keep messing with him."

Sirius looked at me horrified. "Who the hell are you and what did you do to my friend?" he asked.

My heart was beating wildly in my chest and I stared at him with wide eyes. He knew I wasn't James, he knew it and he would probably do something horrible to me. How on earth would I get out of this? I glanced at Snape, hoping he'd be aware of what was going on, maybe he could help me.

Then Sirius started laughing. I think you hit your head harder than you thought last night," he smirked. "No wonder me and Remus had to drag you back up to bed."

"Yeah," I answered, wanting to know what he was on about. "I'm not actually sure what happened though."

Sirius leaned in closer and started whispering. "We don't even know," he said. "You started shaking while you were changing back, you know? And then you just fell down. We didn't know if we should take you to the hospital wing, but we figured we could always do that in the morning. Didn't really fancy explaining the whole animagus bit and the being out after curfew."

"Yeah, good call," I replied a bit dazed. Okay, so I got into my dad's body while he was changing from Prongs back into James. But then, where did my dad go? It was all great if I could get to my own body, but he'd need to come back, right? I didn't think he was in here with me. I'd need to talk about this with Snape, maybe he had an idea.

"Mr Potter," I heard behind me. I turned and saw Professor Slughorn standing there, a little younger than when I knew him, but the same nervous and kind expression on his face.

"Yes, Professor?" I replied.

"Don't put that in there, my boy," he said, pointing at the belladonna seeds I was crushing. "It could blow up the whole classroom! Read your text carefully."

With those words he turned and strode to the next table, smiling at Lily. "Well done," he told her, peering over her cauldron. I couldn't help but want to talk to her. There were so many things I wanted to know. Sirius and Remus always told me about my father, but all I knew about my mum, was that she had the same eyes I did, and that she died for me.

I'd never been this close to a chance to know who my mother was, but seeing how her eyes turned cold again when she caught mine staring at her, I knew I might as well be twenty years into the future.

I sighed and stared back at my own cauldron, the contents were a messy shade of greenish brown, very much like the color of Sirius's concoction. At least I didn't do something stupid here, like making an acceptable potion in the required time.

When the class was finally dismissed, I let myself be lead out of the classroom by Sirius and Remus, Pettigrew trailing after us.

When we reached the staircase to Gryffindor tower, a boy with an uncanny likeness to Oliver Wood in Slytherin robes stood waiting. "Evans!" he called out, looking past us.

I turned to see Lily looking mildly annoyed at the boy. He walked up to her and slid his hands down her upper arm, making her shiver slightly.

"Evans," he said with a charming smile. "You can't really avoid me, you know? I knowyour game, you do want to come with me to Slughorn's dinner party, we both know it, so why don't you just give in now?"

"No, Mark, I already told you, I do not. Please leave me alone," she said and tried to walk past him, but he backed her up against the wall.

"Oh, come on, Evans," he drawled. "I want you, and I always get what I want. Why fight this? I know you want me too."

"No, I don't! Let me go!" she hissed. He just smirked and slid a hand to her waist.

"She said no," I shouted while coming up behind him, laying my hand on his shoulder to pull him back.

He turned and clucked my chin with his fist. "Stay out of it, Potter," he spat and turned back to face my mother, who looked at me with wide eyes.

"I will not," I said and shoved him to the side. "Go, L-Lily, I can handle it."

She stood frozen, eyes still wide and her mouth now slightly opened.

"Bloody Gryffindors," the boy murmured and lashed out again. This time he hit me in the nose, pain flaring through my head. It didn't feel broken though, and I wanted to hit him back, my temper quickly rising. But before I could move, Remus and Sirius were standing between us.

"I think it's time you left, Scabior," Remus said. "Four against one, even a Slytherin can walk away from that without wounding his pride."

The boy glared at me over Remus's shoulder, growled and stamped down the flight of stairs towards the great hall.

I shifted my attention back to my mother. "I could've handled him myself," she said, the conviction in her voice not reaching her eyes.

"I know you could," I answered with a genuine smile. No one would everbe able to tell me that Lily Evans didn't know how to handle herself. "But you didn't have to, Gryffindors should stand up for one another."

Her eyes flared with something close to fury. "You should do well to remember that, when you're picking on the younger ones," she snapped.

"You could just say 'thank you'," Sirius said sarcastically, but I held up my hand to stop him from making any further comments.

"Yeah, you're right," I told her. "I should."

I saw my mother's eyes go wide again with shock just before I turned on my heels and climbed the rest of the stairs towards the portrait of the fat lady.

Remus threw an arm over my shoulder, leaning in close to my ear. "If I didn't know any better, I'd almost say you were growing up on us," he whispered.

"Well, it's about time, don't you think? And I kind of like her," I answered, trying to shrug away his arm.

"Couldn't agree more," he said. "Though Sirius doesn't like it."

I snuck a peek at my dad's best friend over my shoulder, he was glaring at me with squinted eyes.

"Sirius can shove it," I muttered. "We can't spend the rest of our lives acting like arrogant brats."

Remus chuckled. "Been hanging out with Snivellus much? Sounds just like something he would say."

"He would be right," I said and waited until Remus told the portrait the password to the Gryffindor common room.

.

We had two more hours until dinner and I decided I'd do well seeing what the deal was with Ravens, though I didn't have a clue who she was, or what her given name was. I didn't think my dad would go around calling his fellow Gryffindors by their surnames.

Well, I wasn't almost sorted into Slytherin for nothing, now was I? I took my arithmancy book and sat down at one of the small desks in the common room, opening it to the last few pages that looked like they had been read through.

With a lot of sighing and huffing, I pretended to figure out what it was about. Honestly, it didn't take me a lot of acting to feign complete failure to understand the text, the symbols looked like gibberish to me. I'd have to actually read it from the start to pull off any sense of understanding.

After about twenty minutes I slammed the book shut, exclaiming loudly "This is useless!" and banging my forehead down on the leather cover. I didn't lift my head back up and as expected a shadow leaned over me.

"James," a nice girly voice said. "I thought you understood last week's lesson. Do you want me to go over it with you again?"

I looked up and smiled sheepishly at the pretty girl standing next to me. "Would you?" I asked. "I mean, when you explain it, it all makes sense, but once I'm trying it by myself, I'm at a complete loss!"

"Sure, not a problem," she answered. "I don't mind helping you. Is tomorrow evening alright with you?"

"Thanks," I said.

"Cassandra!" another girl called out and the girl snapped her head around. "We're going to the library, are you coming with us?"

"Yeah, just give me a second," she called back before she turned back to me. "So I'll meet you here after dinner, okay, James?"

"I'll be here," I replied and threw her another smile.

Still, I'd better spend the evening and night reading the rest of the book if I was going to pull this off. Though what I really wanted, was working on my other problem. Maybe Snape already had an idea, or we could search for information in the library together.

Of course it had nothing to do with him, no not at all. It wasn't like I was interested in him for anything other than the help he could give me. No. Absolutely not.

I tried to set my mind on something or someone else by looking around the now almost deserted common room. Sirius and Remus were laughing over some magazines while Pettigrew was trying to get into the conversation in the corner. Some younger students were reading near the fireplace and on the far end of the room, Lily was writing on a piece of parchment by herself.

I stood up and got the box of liquorice wands Sirius returned to me during Transfiguration from my robe pocket. I made my way to my mother and casually sat on the corner of her desk, holding out the box.

"Want one?" I asked nicely and smiled when she looked up.

"No, thank you," she said, turning her attention back to the parchment.

"What are you writing?" I asked, my eyes fixed on her, without peeking at the words. Still I couldn't help but read my aunt's name. 'DearPetunia,' it said. I wondered if she would still write the letter if she knew what her sister was really like, or what she would be like in the future. I'd often wondered what my mother would've said about the treatment I received in my childhood. I'd like to think she would be angry, but I couldn't be completely sure. This was all the time I would ever consciously have with her. Right now, for as long as I would be here.

"A letter home," she said without looking up. "To my sister."

"Does she write to you often?" I asked.

Her quill stilled and a small pained sound came from her tender frame. "No," she answered in a soft voice. "Not really."

I gently placed my hand on the parchment she was writing on. "She should," I said. "If you were my sister, I'd write to you every day."

She looked up at me and threw me a hesitant smile. I returned it without thinking really. It was one of the best feelings I ever had, to have her smile at me, even if it wasn't really me she was smiling at.

From what I've seen so far, she was kind, though fierce. She really didn't like my dad much, but was obviously willing to change her opinion. She was also talented and a bit of a loner. And she seemed to be missing her sister a lot, even if the feeling wasn't returned.

I lingered for a moment, widening my smile just a bit. I could really feel proud, for her to be my mother.

"You know," she said and hesitated before she continued. "It's kind of ironic for you to stand up to Mark Scabior like that."

"How's that?" I asked slightly confused.

"You're usually not that different from him, to be honest," she replied. "You seem different somehow."

I remembered what my dad had said to my mum in Snape's memory and I could hit myself for not realizing that sooner. "Maybe I learnt the meaning of the word no," I said, plucking at the corner of the parchment.

"Or maybe you're going at it in a different way," she retorted.

"Well, if you want me to go away..." I tried, looking her in the eyes while hoping she wouldn't say she did.

"I do want to finish this letter before dinner," she said and I could feel my smile falter. "But I like this change. The new and improved James doesn't seem that bad."

The smile reappeared and might've turned a tad crooked.

"Let's see how long you can keep it up," she continued and winked.

I chuckled and got up from the desk. "Good luck with your letter," I said and stalked off to join my dad's friends in the corner.

Hope you liked it!