It was a bright summer day at the end of August, 1985, when the fireplace in Professor Snape’s quarters flared. Severus was concentrating on the final preparations for the new school year – his third year as Potions Professor at Hogwarts.

“Severus, I am sorry, but I need you to do me a favour today,” he could hear the voice of his mentor, Albus Dumbledore, and went over to the fireplace to kneel down in front of the fire. “Could you please come to my office for a moment?”

Severus groaned inwardly, but answered, “Yes, Albus, I will be there shortly.” He put away the parchments he had just been working on, pulled his black robes straight and left his quarters to head for the Headmaster’s Office where he was greeted in the headmaster’s usual lemon-drop manner. Hoping that the old wizard would come to the point quickly, he sat down and gave him an enquiring look.

Albus sighed and said, “Thank you for coming immediately, my boy. I am very sorry to disturb your preparations, but I really need your help in a certain matter…” he trailed off. Seeing the impatient expression on Severus’ face, the Headmaster hurried to continue, “I am sure you know Arabella Figg, don’t you, my boy?”

Severus nodded and motioned him to continue, so he went on, “I just got a report from her about Harry.”

Severus straightened in his chair. Harry was his second cousin; although he had always hated his cousin James from the time when they had started Hogwarts, Harry was still a small child, about five years old if he had calculated correctly, and he had no reason to hate him. His mentor’s voice brought his thoughts back to Hogwarts.

“… which is not too encouraging concerning little Harry. She told me that she has not seen him for a few weeks, and when she saw him the last time his face and arms were full of bruises and welts. When she asked Mrs. Dursley about it, she told her that Harry had fallen down the stairs, but somehow Arabella thinks it cannot be true and believes Harry might be mistreated there. Anyway, I am a bit worried about the boy, therefore I would like you to go over and have a quick check on him.”

Severus rubbed his forehead as if to get rid of an approaching headache, sighed and relented. “Alright, I will go and check on the boy. I will report to you immediately after my return.” He left the headmaster’s office and returned to his quarters, where he changed his clothes into muggle attire before he stepped into the fireplace and shouted, “Arabella Figg’s place.”

-----

Severus listened impatiently to the cat lady’s babbling, before he walked over to the Dursleys' residence. On his knock, a small whale opened the door – a boy who looked about the same age but otherwise nothing like Harry must look at this age. Severus hadn’t seen his second cousin now for four years, but as the little one had looked so much like his father, he could very well imagine how Harry looked now.

“I am here to speak to Harry Potter,” he stated in a voice he normally used for his students, when they showed up for detentions.

“Ah, err… one moment please,” the whale squeaked and screamed for his mother, who appeared and let out a gasp at the sight of Severus.

“You!” she screeched as well.

Severus however countered, “Hello to you too, Petunia. What about letting me into your house for a moment, or do you wish the whole street to listen to our conversation?”

Petunia quickly opened the door fully and grudgingly invited him into the kitchen. “I came to speak with Harry for a moment,” Severus repeated, throwing the woman a stern glance.

Petunia was quick to explain that Harry was unavailable at the moment. “Oh, he is not here. He has gone to play with his babysitter, Mrs. Figg for the day.”

Severus frowned and held his wand in the hand within seconds. At Petunia’s loud gasp, he hissed angrily, “You know as well as I do that this is not true. The boy is not at Mrs. Figg’s home, so he must be here, and you have exactly two possibilities: You either show me to his room immediately or you allow that I search every inch of your house. Be assured, it won’t take me longer than two minutes to find the boy, no matter where he is.”

At Severus’ smirk, Petunia suddenly burst into tears. Pointing to the cupboard under the stairs, she sobbed. “I knew they would know, but Vernon, he… he… he hates him so much. Just go and look, and take him away from here.” Petunia was caught in a sobbing fit.

Severus was at the cupboard’s door in an instant. His ‘Alohomora’ broke all the locks in an instant. He quickly opened the door, waiting for a child to climb out. But no, nothing happened. ‘What the h…,’ he thought and carefully climbed into the small place, where he let out a gasp.

Huddled under a baby blanket, which Severus recognized as the one he had given Lily and James when Harry was born, was a very small child. It didn’t move and Severus couldn’t even hear a sound. Was it even alive?

Severus crawled over to the much-too-small baby mattress, where he could now hear the child’s unnaturally loud breathing. He carefully took the child into his arms. The boy let out a small whimper when Severus moved him, obviously in pain. Putting a hand to his neck, Severus let out a sigh. The child felt very hot to the touch and his pulse was much too weak. Severus frowned. His small cousin seemed to be in a very bad condition. He quickly cast a Lumos Charm and saw that the boy’s arms and legs were hanging from the body at strange angles and were full of bruises and welts. The child’s cheeks were flushed, and dried blood covered the child’s pale skin everywhere.

Hearing the boy’s laboured breathing, Severus feared that a broken rib was puncturing the child’s lung. He quickly checked on the small boy by waving his wand at him, confirming his assumption. Holding the unconscious boy as close and firmly as possible, he apparated away immediately and ran all the way from the apparition border up to the castle as fast as he could. Severus tried to move as evenly as possible in order not to harm the boy further. He hurried straight into the Hospital Wing and shouted for Madam Pomfrey, who fortunately came out of her office the second she heard him.

“What…” Whatever she intended to say was interrupted by her loud gasp. Hurrying over to the child Severus had put on the bed nearest to her office, she summarized his bad condition and threw a confused look at Severus.

“Who is this child?” she asked carefully, confused why the stern professor brought such a small child to her.

Severus smirked. “This, dear Poppy, is Harry Potter, who seems to have been battered by his own uncle.”

Poppy rushed back to her office, fetched several potion phials, and turned to the child. “Severus, please fetch a bucket with lukewarm water and a clean cloth and start cleaning him. I don’t think we have much time to spare.” She waved her wand over Harry a few times, until she held three pages of notes in her hand to assess the child’s condition.

“Oh my…” she mumbled to herself. “We must heal the broken ribs first as they are puncturing a lung.

While Severus cleaned the child up, Poppy started to heal the broken bones. Both of them worked intently on the child for about three hours before they had finished everything that could be done at the moment. Then they both sat down on two chairs Severus had pulled up next to the bed. Finally, Severus called a house elf to fetch the Headmaster and to bring tea for himself and the Healer, who obviously was shattered. Both of them looked sadly at the child until the Headmaster entered the Hospital Wing.

Poppy sighed and started to give Dumbledore a summary of what they had done for the child during the last three hours. Then she sighed again and said, “I am sorry, Albus, but his condition is still very bad. He is suffering from a bad infection, he has a dangerously high temperature, his eyes are probably irreparably damaged, and one of the bruises on his foot is so infected that I don’t know if we will be able to save the foot. Apart from this, he is still unconscious. Maybe he will be able to see a bit, but not very well. He probably will survive, but I’m not sure yet; the only thing we can do now is wait.” She slowly trailed off, and tears started to well in her eyes.

The Headmaster sunk down into a chair, mumbling to himself, “I placed him there, because I thought he would be safe with his relatives. Oh my…, what have I done to the poor boy?” He unconsciously pulled a lemon drop out of his robes pocket, popping it into his mouth.

Severus put a hand on the Headmaster’s shoulder and said softly, “You couldn’t have known, Albus.” He sat back into his chair, losing himself in his thoughts.

As much as he had disliked James, he had always been good friends with Lily. ‘Maybe I should have protested when Albus gave the baby to his relatives. But at that time I was a Death Eater, so it would have endangered the child even more,’ he thought, trying to remember why he hadn’t tried to convince the Headmaster to let him take Harry in.

“If Harry survives, I will take him in, Albus, just to let you know. As much as I have always hated my cousin, it is not Harry’s fault and he is still my second cousin,” he told the Headmaster firmly.

Dumbledore gave him a short nod, his blue eyes full of tears.

-----

A week later, Harry’s condition was still unchanged. Severus spent much time at his bedside, thinking about what the small child had to endure in spite of being only five years old.

At the Welcoming Feast, Minerva McGonagall worriedly eyed her young colleague; he looked as if he hadn’t slept in days, although he seemed to hide it well. She, however, knew him too well to be misled. Was he ill?

“Severus,” she addressed the professor behind the headmaster’s back, “What is wrong with you? Are you ill?”

Severus slightly shook his head and whispered back, “Can we meet in Albus’ office tonight after curfew? I would like to discuss something with the two of you.”

Minerva agreed immediately, and Albus said, “That we will do, my dear boy.”

Severus now tried to keep his thoughts at Hogwarts. Specifically, he thought about what he had to tell his new first years. The first House meeting took place directly after dinner. He didn’t notice that Minerva was still watching him closely.

-----

Later in the evening, Severus strolled through the empty halls of Hogwarts, his black robes billowing behind him. In the Headmaster’s office Minerva and Albus were waiting for him. He refused the offered lemon drop with a glare in the headmaster’s direction. Tonight, he didn’t come to the office just for fun.

“I have to discuss something with you,” Severus told the Headmaster sternly. “It is a very serious discussion, so please listen to me until I finish. I have thought about a plan, which involves going back four years into the past in order to save the lives of Lily and James and give Harry a second chance for a childhood.”

In fact, Severus had thought about doing that for Lily for quite a while. He had known Lily from when they were children, and she had always been the only true friend he had possessed. However, the thought of a time travel had somehow seemed too unrealistic, especially as Severus didn’t have an idea how to save his friend’s life. If he just warned Lily and James about Peter betraying them, Voldemort would search and probably find a different way to kill them. Maybe he would even succeed in killing Harry at that time. Moreover, Severus didn’t think that Albus would allow him easily to travel into the past in order to change the future.

However, with Albus feeling so guilty about Harry’s bad condition, Severus was sure that the Headmaster wouldn’t object to the idea now. While he was sitting at Harry’s bedside during the last two weeks, he had a lot of time to think about the matter and had finally found a satisfying and relatively fool proof solution to the problem. He had also had enough time to consider a way to travel into the past and back.

Ignoring Minerva’s gasp Severus continued to explain, “Last week, I have started researching Floo powder. I want to invent Floo powder, which can take me to the past and back to the future again. As soon as I have managed to invent this, I want to go back to the past.” As shortly but precisely as possible, he explained to the two stunned professors what he intended to do.

“However,” he continued, “I need help. I need someone to go with me; someone the Potters and my younger self know well. I don’t intend to speak with the Potters in the past, but you never know exactly what will happen. Therefore, considering this point, I have thought about maybe asking Remus Lupin to accompany me; however, his condition might be a problem. That’s all I have thought about so far. What do you think?”

The room remained silent for a few minutes, until Minerva spoke first. “Would it help, if I went with you?”

Severus’ head shot up and he threw Minerva an astonished glance.

“You?” Albus asked, and the twinkle in his eyes had stopped for the moment.

“As eloquent as ever, Albus; Frankly speaking I had not thought about you going with me at all, but, YES, Minerva, it would help greatly, and I would appreciate your help very much.”

Severus turned to Albus, “Headmaster, would it be possible for you to give us a letter for your younger self and ask him to let us stay at Hogwarts during the time we will be in the past? He would also have to know that he has to invite Minerva’s younger self in order for her to know that her older self is running around in the castle as well as the young Remus Lupin in case we need his help. And we will need my younger self too.”

Albus chuckled and said, “Of course, my dear boy, I will arrange everything with my younger self, and I am sure he will help you as much as he can. Under these circumstances, it might be a good idea to have Minerva with you, as she is the one person in the world I have and will always have the most confidence in. My younger self will believe any story she tells.”

He remained pensive for a short moment, before he added, “Severus, nobody knows about this, so I must insist that you do not tell anyone about what I am going to tell you now, but Minerva is my wife. We have been married for about twenty years now.” His eyes had returned to their normal twinkling selves.

Minerva could not hide a blush, and Severus smirked. “Oh, well, this is indeed a surprise. However, I’m very glad for you both as I’ve always imagined the two of you being a well fitting couple.”

“Very well,” Severus added and stood up from his chair. “Thank you for listening, understanding, and for your cooperation; I really appreciate it. I will have to invent the floo powder first, so I think it will be a few days, maybe weeks, until we can go. We should have another discussion in a few days, and maybe all of us can think a bit about everything, for example how long we should stay in the past and so on.”

When the two older professors nodded their agreement, Severus bade them good night and left the Headmaster’s office. On his way back to the dungeons, he went by the Hospital Wing in order to spend a few hours with Harry thinking about his plan as he had done every night during the last week.

-----

Harry was shifting from a deep coma to a very slight unconscious state and was nearly ready to just fall into a deep sleep when he registered the presence of another person and a faint smell of herbs, which stirred something that was deep within his consciousness.

Severus was sitting on a chair next to the child’s bed, lost in deep thoughts. However, suddenly he noticed that something had changed. Throwing a glance at Harry, he noticed that the boy was slightly moving his limbs. Was he conscious? Severus decided to talk to him, but what should he tell the child? He wouldn’t even know who he was.

Harry heard a quiet, silky voice, speaking to him. It was so nice and calming and it told about Lily and James. Who were Lily and James? Oh, he remembered, they were his parents, but they had died when he was a baby. Wait; why was someone talking about his parents? Did that mean that he was dead now too? Had Uncle Vernon beat him so much that he finally could be together with his parents? Just the thought of his uncle sent him into a panic attack. He woke up and noticed that he couldn’t breathe. But then again, the quiet, silky voice was there, and someone placed a cool hand on his burning forehead.

“Calm down, Harry; everything is alright; you are safe here,” he heard the voice say, while the cool hand still rested on his forehead, and the slight smell of herbs surrounded him.

Harry slowly tried to open his eyes, but he could hardly see anything; everything he could see was black, until he finally could make out a face directly in front of his own. “Harry,” the voice said again and continued, “you won’t remember me, but I am your second cousin Severus; I am your father’s cousin. You are safe here, and your Uncle Vernon is not here; everything is alright.”

“Am I dead?” Harry croaked, wondering why he couldn’t see properly.

Severus held his hand out to stop him and said, “Don’t talk yet. Let me go and get you a glass of water; all right? Wait for a moment.”

Harry could make out a tall black figure moving away from him, and before he was able to store all information, the figure came back again and held out something for him. “Drink it, Harry, it’s water, and you’ll feel better afterwards,” he said and held the glass for Harry to prevent him drinking too greedily.

“Am I dead?” Harry repeated the question, noticing that the water indeed had helped and it was easier to talk now.

The silky voice, which felt so calming to Harry, could be heard again, when the man – what did he say was his name, cousin Sevus – explained, “No, Harry, you’re not dead. However, your uncle hurt you very much. By chance, I found you and brought you here to Hogwarts, the school I am teaching at. Our Healer, Madam Pomfrey, healed you as far as she could.”

Noticing Harry’s confused look, Severus added, “You will never have to go back to the Dursleys, and if you want to you can stay with me in the future.”

Harry looked down at his hands, which he could hardly see, trying to hide how much they were shaking, when he whispered, “But… but… I am only a freak and a burden, and nobody wants me.”

Fortunately, Harry couldn’t see the angry expression in Severus’ face, when Severus said in a soft but firm voice, “Harry, you are neither a freak nor a burden, and I want you to live with me. However, you are still very ill and you’ll have to stay here in the Hospital wing for a few more days or possibly weeks.”

Harry gave Severus a small smile, but it did not reach his eyes; everything just hurt so much. Severus noticed the pain written clearly in his eyes and asked, “Harry, you’re in pain, aren’t you? Can you tell me where it hurts?”

Harry fidgeted in his bed and blushed. Nobody had asked him such a question before. What was he supposed to say? He cleared his throat and said, “I’m fine, sir.”

Severus snorted and told him sternly, “Harry, I know that you are not fine at all, and I can only help you when you tell me exactly what hurts. But if you don’t want to talk about it, I will get Madam Pomfrey for you. She’ll check on you and be able to help you, all right?”

Harry threw him an unsure glance, and Severus said calmingly, “Everything is alright; Pomfrey is nice, she is the one who saved your life by healing you. However, when she asks you questions, you have to answer them in order for her to help you properly.”

Harry gave him a small nod and asked in a small voice, “Will you stay with me, cousin Sevus?”

Severus smirked and corrected Harry softly, before he gave him an affirmative answer and went to fetch Poppy. On the way, he worried a bit about what Harry’s reaction might be when he saw her using a wand, but then he remembered Harry’s eyes being quite bad and dismissed the thought immediately.

Harry noticed quickly that Madam Pomfrey was very nice and really wanted to help him. Therefore, he was very forthcoming and was rewarded with several potions and a dreamless sleep potion as dessert. As soon as Harry was asleep, Severus hurried down to the dungeons to get a few hours of sleep, to continue his research on floo powder, and to start brewing the other potion he had invented a few weeks ago.

-----

It took Severus four weeks to develop the powder he needed for travelling to the past and returning. The other potion was nearly ready too; it would only take three more days. One evening at dinner, he asked Albus and Minerva for a meeting at the Headmaster’s office after curfew.

When the three professors met, he told the others, “Please watch the fireplace; a rat should be arriving through the Floo at about 10:30, although it is very difficult to predict the exact time.”

The rat was one minute late and Severus sneered, “All right; there should be one more rat arriving in a few minutes.”

Everyone stared into the fireplace, which indeed flared green after a few minutes, and a second rat arrived.

Albus’ eyes were twinkling merrily. “Do I get it correctly, when I assume that you found the method for your travel, my boy?” he asked gently, and Severus gave him a relieved nod.

The three talked and planned for a few hours, and Minerva and Severus decided to travel on Saturday morning in order to give them leeway for their return over the whole weekend.

-----

During the following days, Severus spent every evening with Harry in the Hospital wing. As he could not be 100 percent sure if he would be back safely during the weekend, he had decided on several precautions concerning Harry. One of them was to tell Harry about Magic. It took a few hours for Harry to understand that magic was real and that they were indeed wizards.

“Harry, I wanted to talk with you about something,” Severus began to speak calmly, sitting down on the edge of the child’s bed this time. Seeing that Harry was listening he continued, “I don’t know if you have noticed that Madam Pomfrey is always using her wand when she checks on you.”

“Her wand? What is a wand?” Harry asked apprehensively.

Severus put a hand on the boy’s shoulder and explained, “Harry, you and I are wizards and Madam Pomfrey is a witch. We can all do magic with the help of a wand.”

Shocked he noticed that Harry flinched back fiercely from his touch the instant Severus used the word ‘magic’. “You know that magic is real, Harry, don’t you? Have you never done any strange things other children couldn’t do?” he asked softly, trying not to upset the boy any more.

“Magic doesn’t exist, and it’s bad, and only freaks like I do strange things,” Harry mumbled in such a small voice that Severus could hardly understand his words. But he took in the boys’ shaking hands, which he was trying to hide under his bed covers.

“Harry, please listen well to me. Magic exists and it’s wonderful. Only due to Madam Pomfrey’s magic you have recovered as much as you have by now. Magic is very good and helpful. And you are a very good boy. You’re not a freak. Did your uncle tell you that?”

Harry gave Severus an anxious glance along with a small nod. “Your uncle is not a good man, Harry. Please believe me when I tell you that you’re a precious little boy and that I’m sure you will become a very good and powerful wizard when you’re big.”

Severus once more put his hand onto Harry’s shoulder, gladly noticing that the boy only flinched slightly but then finally even leaned into the touch.

---

On the next day, Severus introduced Albus Dumbledore to Harry and told him that he too was a good friend of his parents as well as the Headmaster of this school, and that Harry would be safe with him.

On Friday evening, Severus again sat down on the edge of Harry’s bed. He carefully took Harry’s small hand into his larger one, glad that the child didn’t even flinch this time but instead positioned him so that he was a bit nearer to Severus. “Hello Harry, today I’ve good news,” Severus told the boy. “I went to the Ministry of Magic and to your relatives today and gained the guardianship over you. Therefore, you can always stay here at Hogwarts with me and grow up as my son.”

Harry’s brilliant green eyes were twinkling merrily. “Thank you, Uncle Sevus. But are you sure that you really want me to live with you? I’m such a burden and I cost a fortune,” he replied, obviously feeling very unsure.

Severus pulled Harry into a slight hug. “No, Harry, you’re not a burden at all. Your uncle is very bad to tell you such things. I really want you to live with me, Harry.

---

Finally, Severus told the child that Minerva, the nice elder lady he had met the other day, who had conjured the stuffed dragon for him, which Harry was cuddling busily, would travel together with him to the past the next morning in order to try to save his parents’ lives.

“However, we will try to be back tomorrow or the day after, and by then you will already know if we have succeeded. Please Harry,” he continued, “don’t speak to anyone except Albus about this, because he is the only one who knows about it and it should stay like this. Moreover, don’t worry if I am not back tomorrow evening; maybe I will only be back the day after. However, Albus will come to visit you in the evening, and with him you may talk about anything you wish. Now try to sleep, my boy.”

As soon as Harry was asleep, he headed back to the dungeons to confirm once more that everything he would need in the past was neatly stored in his trunk. Several Healing Potions, a few phials with his new Polyjuice potion, one package of Albus’ latest type of lemon drops for Albus’ younger self, one photo of the sick and battered Harry as well as copies of several newspaper clippings from four years ago. Remus had provided the news clippings after Albus had talked to him about the intended journey, and Remus had also given Severus a letter to his younger self, in which he explained everything to the four years younger Remus, asking for his cooperation.

This letter, however – as well as Albus’ letter to the younger Headmaster Severus put into one of the many pockets of his robes he would be wearing the next day. He also put a Calming Draught, two Stomach Potions and two Headache Potions into another pocket as he didn’t know how long this Floo travel would take and how they would feel afterwards. Finally, he fetched his Floo powder for coming back to the future and put one phial into his robes. Just to be on the safe side, although he always used unbreakable phials, he put another one into his trunk. The only thing Severus had to do when he was in the past was to add Elfin Hair, 1 mm for each day, and to mix it into the powder. The Floo powder they would use tomorrow was already waiting on the table. After putting a few robes and underwear into his trunk, he shut it, shrank it, and put it into another of his robes’ pockets. Then he decided to sleep for a few hours and went to bed.

-----

Before breakfast on Saturday morning, he once again paid Harry a short visit and reminded him to stay calm, whatever happened, as he would come back for him in any case. Harry gave him a sad, but trusting smile and slightly hugged him back, only flinching back a little when Severus pulled him into a hug, not letting the boy know how awkward he felt hugging someone.

After breakfast, Minerva and Severus joined Albus in his office to use his fireplace only to travel to the same fireplace in a different time. After a short glance at Minerva’s face, Severus handed her the calming draught, asking, “Do you want it now or later, Minerva?”

Minerva blushed a little, took the phial and said, “Thank you, Severus,” before she downed the potion and gave the empty phial to her husband to keep.

Albus handed both of them a silver necklace with a phoenix pendant and told them it was a Portkey which would take them to his office at Hogwarts at any time. The Headmaster gave each of them a hug and Minerva a kiss on the cheek, before he said, “Now, get into the fireplace together, please. You have to stay together, and I will throw the Floo powder for you. I’ve your spare Floo powder hidden at a safe place, and if you’re not back by Christmas, I’ll come after you to get you back.”

Severus stepped into the fireplace and took Minerva, who joined him immediately, into his arms in order to be able to travel together. Albus threw the floo powder in and shouted, “Headmaster’s office, Hogwarts!”

The world began to spin… and spin… and everything turned around and around – it was horrible and just didn’t want to end. Severus said calmingly, “Close your eyes, Minerva, and try not to vomit your potion; I don’t have any more calming draughts with me.”

It was the evening of October 1, 1981 and Albus Dumbledore was sitting in his office, having tea together with his wife Minerva. She was very upset tonight, because of the – in her opinion – lack of behaviour of Professor Slughorn, the Potions Professor and Head of Slytherin. He was obviously favouring certain students over others.

“I think, Albus, it is time to suggest retirement to the Professor and look for a successor,” she said in a very upset voice.

The Headmaster thought for a moment, before he replied pensively, “What do you think of Severus Snape? As you know, he is on our side now, and he is a Potions Master. In fact, he is the youngest Potions Master England has ever seen, and as he has been in Slytherin, he would be predestined for the job; don’t you think so?

Minerva threw him an unsure glance and enquired, “Are you sure, Albus, that he is really on our side?” Albus gave her an affirmative nod, and she continued, “I know I have already asked you on several occasions, but what is it that makes you so sure?”

Albus sighed and replied patiently, “As I have told you on these occasions, it’s not my secret to share. Let me just tell you so much: It has to do with Lily Evans-Potter.”

“Oh,” Minerva said surprised. Lily had been her student a few years ago, and even now, they were meeting frequently; Lily often brought her baby to Minerva, so that she could baby-sit when Lily and James had to go out and couldn’t take the child with them. Lily was more or less like a daughter to her, and the little tyke, Harry, was even calling her ‘Gwanny’. A giggle from Albus brought her back to reality and she said, “If you think he is the right person, then I will agree.”

-----

Suddenly the fireplace flared green, and two well-known persons were thrown out of the Floo. Within seconds, Minerva and Albus were standing behind the Headmaster’s desk, wands in their hands, and Albus asked in a very stern voice, “Who are you? Reveal yourselves!”

Severus and Minerva were still sitting on the floor, dizzy from the long Floo travel, which had taken about an hour Severus noticed when he glanced at his watch. Severus stood up, put his wand in front of him on the floor, took the letter for Albus out of his pocket and laid it on the desk for Albus to take it. Then he sighed inwardly. Hopefully, the Headmaster and his wife would give them time to explain themselves before they hexed them into next year.

Finally, Severus managed to say, “Sorry, we are both very dizzy; we come from the future by travelling four years into the past and have just travelled by floo powder for about an hour. However, we are who we look like, and if you give us a few minutes, we will explain everything.” He turned to his colleague, “Minerva, are you alright?”

Minerva slightly shook her head and Severus took a Headache Potion and a Stomach Potion out of his pocket, explained to her what they were and asked, “Would one of them help you?”

Minerva nodded and gulped both of them down, before she stood as well and quickly sat down on the next chair, mumbling, “Oh, Albus, that was horrible.”

Past-Minerva was still standing, pointing her wand on the intruders. However, in the meantime Albus had read the letter and told Past-Minerva to ask her counterpart something nobody except from herself would know.

Past-Minerva thought for a moment, before she voiced the question, “When was my wedding day?”

Future-Minerva let out a small laugh and replied, “April 1, 1965.” ‘Go on, younger self, continue asking so easy questions,’ she thought, slightly relieved.

Past-Minerva frowned. ‘Maybe it’s really my future self. Nobody else should know that.’ Confused, she proceeded to ask another question. “Who was playing seeker, when he or she was captain and won the cup for Gryffindor on your 70th birthday?”

Future-Minerva answered in a blink without even thinking about it, “James Potter.”

“You say you come from four years in the future, right?”

Future-Minerva nodded and was questioned, “Who are the fifth years Gryffindors this year?”

“Julia Bottom, Roger Daniels, Kevin Murphy, Andrew Strong, Edith Stone, Aidan McNulty, Adel Cassidy, George McKenzie, Morag Blair and Rachel Brown,” Future-Minerva answered like someone who knew the own students well.

Past-Minerva turned to Dumbledore and confirmed, “Nobody else could have answered these questions so fast and correctly. I am sure this must be my future self.” She relaxed and sat down as well, still not knowing what to think about her future self.

Albus gave her his letter and turned to Severus, “And you, I assume, are Severus Snape?”

Severus nodded and said, “Yes, Albus.” Seeing the astonished but curious glance he received from the headmaster, a sudden thought popped up in his head, and he apologized, “Oh, I am sorry, Professor, I assume that in your time we were not yet on a first-name-basis, is that correct?”

Albus laughed with his usual twinkle in his eyes and assured Severus, “That is correct, but I don’t mind. I’ve read in my future self’s letter, that you’re the Potions Master here in your time; therefore, I don’t mind at all.” He looked at his watch and saw that it was nearly 1 o’clock in the morning. “As much as I would like to hear your story, I think we should all go to sleep and discuss this further tomorrow morning. Are you feeling better, or should we let Madam Pomfrey check on you before we take you to your apartment?” Both of them shook their heads vehemently, and Albus continued, “If the two Minervas don’t mind, I would suggest that you stay in the guest rooms in our quarters. From there you could enter this office and have access to the fireplace without walking around the halls of Hogwarts, which perhaps would not be too good.”

Everyone agreed immediately, and the meeting was adjourned until the next day, which fortunately was a Sunday, after breakfast.

-----

When Severus woke up in the morning, he had the impression that it already was quite late; however, his watch told him that it only was about breakfast time. He groaned inwardly when he remembered being in the past. During the last weeks, he had been very engrossed in researching the Floo powder and the new Polyjuice Potion. Apart from that, he had kept Harry company whenever he had a free minute. Therefore, only now he seemed to realise that his plan wasn’t fool proof at all. Today he would speak with his younger self. Severus quickly took a shower, changed, went out into the Dumbledores’ living room, and couldn’t help laughing aloud.

“What is so funny, Severus?” Future-Minerva asked him, while Past-Minerva was looking at her older self in awe.

Severus replied, smirking, “It’s good that I am not a student any more, otherwise I would have got a shock seeing two of you sitting here together. I remember well that it was even frightening enough standing in front of one of you.” He flinched at the stern glares the two Minervas shot at him and bowed his head a bit as an apology.

Future-Minerva could not hide a snort and Past-Minerva motioned Severus to sit with them and said, “Albus has excused me from breakfast in the Great Hall, so that we can have breakfast here together.” She called Twinkle, the Dumbledores’ family house elf.

Twinkle appeared with a POP and bowed so deep that her ears were touching the floor. She looked at Minerva, and fainted straight away. The two Minervas gasped, while Severus could not hide a chuckle.

“Can we wake her up by ‘enervate’?” he asked and earned a double glare from the two teachers, who looked like twins.

Finally, Future-Minerva explained patiently, “Never use magic on house elves; otherwise you could get in real trouble with all of them.” She conjured a cold, wet towel and laid it on the head of Twinkle, who jumped and was wide-awake immediately.

Throwing frightful glances at the two Minervas, she again bowed deeply and said, “I is very sorry, Mistress Minerva and Mistress Minerva and Master Guest sir, I is just so surprised to see two of you.”

Knowing that Twinkle would keep on apologizing for hours, if she didn’t interrupt, Past-Minerva asked for breakfast, which popped up on the table in a blink, after Twinkle had left with another POP. They had just started to eat, when Albus entered the room and joined them.

“Good morning, Minerva and Severus; I hope you had a good night and feel better on this fine Saturday morning,” he addressed the time travellers, before he glanced at the two versions of his wife and said pensively, “We have to do something about your name, Minerva; how shall I call you to express whom of you I am speaking to?”

Severus sneered suggesting, “That’s easy now, isn’t it? Just call your younger Minerva ‘Nerva’ and her older self ‘Minnie’.”

Albus eyes started to twinkle merrily, while Past-Minerva snorted and Future-Minerva stated in a very upset voice, “Professor Severus Snape, just in case you want to rely on our help for your ‘project’,” she emphasized the word, “I would recommend a little more respect towards ladies who are more than three times your age.”

Severus smirked and replied, “I am sorry, Minerva, then we will call your younger self ‘Minerva’ and you ‘Professor’, how is that?”

Future-Minerva rolled her eyes, but Albus stopped them and said, “All right now, you two, that’s enough. I know that you won’t like it, but I think we will just use ‘Past-Minerva’ and ‘Future-Minerva’. I mean Future-Minerva and Severus have come here in a very noble alas serious matter, and in order to work together efficiently, sometimes one or the other has to live under unfortunate circumstances. Therefore, Past-Minerva and Future-Minerva, please cooperate. We won’t be able to distinguish you most of the time anyway, as you look identically as twins.”

They both looked daggers at Albus and Severus but agreed. As soon as they had finished breakfast, the Headmaster invited them to his office to start their discussion about Severus’ plan.

-----

When everyone was sitting comfortably in the headmaster’s office, Severus started to tell the events that had let to his decision to travel into the past. Seeing the photo of Harry lying in the Hospital wing helpless and nearly blind, Past-Minerva broke into tears and sobbed, “I am sorry, but you must know that he is like a grandson to me, and seeing him like this…” she slowly trailed off.

Albus pulled her into a bear’s hug and said, “Shush, shush, it’s alright, Minerva. Let us hear what Severus has planned, and I promise you now: In the worst case, if his plan doesn’t work for some reason, we will take Harry in; I will not give him to the Dursleys whatever happens. Therefore,” he threw Severus an approving glance, “You have already changed the future for Harry for the better – Congratulations Severus and Minerva! Now I think your plan is about saving Lily and James, am I right?”

Severus nodded with tears welling in his eyes. He was so happy. He had not even thought about it before, but what Albus had said was correct. Just by coming to the past and talking to Minerva and Albus, he had already succeeded in changing the future, at least for the small boy he for some reason cared so much about. He looked at Future-Minerva and stated,

“Min…err… Future-Minerva, I don’t know if I have thanked you in advance for coming with me, but anyway: ‘Thank you very much for accompanying me here and helping me to at least achieve our first goal, to ensure a better future for Harry. I appreciate your help very much!”

Dumbledore jumped into the conversation and said pensively, “What I cannot comprehend is why my future self let you go on something as dangerous as a time travel, Minerva. Do you have an explanation for that?”

Future-Minerva sent him a loving smile and replied, “Yes, Albus, there are several reasons.” She thought for a while before she proceeded to tell the Headmaster about his future self’s motives.

In fact, Future-Albus felt very guilty for leaving Harry with the Dursleys, although they had told him often enough that it was not his fault because he couldn’t know the danger Harry was in. He also was very fond of Severus; in fact, he had a similar relationship to Severus as Minerva had to Lily until she died. Therefore, Albus probably had full confidence in Severus to bring Minerva back safely. Moreover, as it had been Severus who invented the Floo powder, which would take them back into the future, Albus had known that it would work, because Severus was the best Potions Master ever.

To Albus, Future-Minerva explained, “Severus gave you a spare portion of the floo powder, and you told us, if we were not back by Christmas, you would come and get us.”

Severus grinned at her and said teasingly, “For coming here, we needed several meters of freely given elfin hair, which we received from Twinkle. So please be careful not to give her any more frights, as we need her to agree to give us some more hair in order to go back.”

Dumbledore gave him a stern look and asked, “You have not yet prepared the potion that will take you back?”

Severus groaned and rolled his eyes. “Of course I have prepared it, Albus. However elfin hair is the only ingredient that has to be added freshly,” he stated annoyed.

“Ah, I see my boy, and I am sure Twinkle will give it to you.”

“If I could start telling you my plan then,” Severus impatiently changed the topic, and when everyone nodded affirmatively, he started to explain what he had thought of. It took Albus and Past-Minerva a moment after he had finished his explanation to comprehend everything they had been told. After a few minutes of a pensive silence, Albus was the first to speak.

“All right. This is an interesting approach. Whom did you think of?”

Severus looked at his mentor and said flatly, “I am not sure, Albus. Maybe Black?”

Albus thought about it and nodded thoughtfully, “Maybe, yes, however, he is very powerful. We have to think about this later; first of all we will need the help of several people,” he said, then started to list, “Severus Snape Junior,” when Severus interrupted him.

“You see, Minerva and Minerva, we will have the same problem with my name, but I tell you now, dare not call him ‘Sevvie’, or he will never agree to come to Hogwarts to teach the dunderheads.”

Everyone laughed and Albus continued, “As I was saying, we need Severus Junior, Remus Lupin, and we also need to speak to the Potters. I think they should know everything about it.”

“Albus, do you think they would leave their son to me if they knew?” Severus asked doubtfully.

Albus however replied, “Severus, my boy, if we tell them what you and Minerva have taken on to come to the past in order to save their lives, they will trust you enough to leave their son to you. In the meantime, Minerva and I will care for them here at Hogwarts. Moreover, you could promise them that if anything happened to Harry, you would go another day back and prevent it from happening, right?”

Severus nodded and said, “Fortunately I have brought two doses of the powder with me just to be on the safe side, in case we would arrive here at a wrong time.”

-----

“Very well done, my boy,” Albus commended and suggested, “So the first action to take will be to summon Past-Severus. As he is a member of the Order now, this won’t be a problem.” With a flick of his wand, a phoenix Patronus emerged and made his way out of the castle, and a few minutes later, the fireplace flared green and Severus emerged.

“Good day, Headmaster, what is it that I’d find so shocking? Oh,” he stated flatly, finally becoming aware of his other self and the ‘Minerva-twins’. “Excuse me, but what does this mean, Professor?” he asked in an even, silky voice.

His eyes twinkling, Albus ordered Past-Severus in a friendly manner to sit down and listen what he had to say. During Albus’ whole story, Past-Severus managed to keep a blank face showing no emotions at all, although Future-Severus could imagine how his younger self must feel hearing of the death of his beloved Lily.

As soon as Albus had finished, Past-Severus straightened and agreed to help. “Yes, Professors and Severus, I will of course help you. I assume that I will have to work closely together with my older self in order to go through with this plan.”

Future-Severus threw his younger self an approving smile and said, “Thank you very much, Sev. I appreciate your help very much, and I really need your collaboration as you surely understand.”

Albus jumped into the conversation, asking, “Severus, I hope you don’t mind me asking, but what are you doing at the moment?”

At this instant, the older Severus interrupted and said, “I am sorry to interrupt Albus, but I would like to have one word with my younger self.” Seeing the Headmaster agree, he continued, “Severus, in my time I am teaching Potions at Hogwarts and Albus is like a father to me. I would like you to tell him nothing but the truth; he and Minerva may know everything.”

Past-Severus showed a blank face and started to speak to the Headmaster. In fact, at the moment, he wasn’t doing anything special. He was living at Snape Manor, brewing potions for clients, especially the shops in Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade as well as for private persons. He had just invented the Wolfsbane Potion, which helped werewolves to keep their mind during their transformation. Apart from that, he was also working as spy for the Order of the Phoenix and pretending to act as spy for the Dark Lord. Past-Severus threw a scarcely noticeable glance at his older self, who discreetly gave him an encouraging smile, which remained unnoticed by the others.

Albus cleared his throat and turned to Past-Severus again, “Severus, I have two suggestions I would like you to think about. The first one is something Past-Minerva and I were just talking about yesterday, when these two,” he pointed at Severus and the older Minerva, “arrived here. We would like you to come to Hogwarts as our Potions Professor and Head of House for Slytherin from the beginning of the new school year.”

Past-Severus was stunned, and his older version snorted, before he told him, “There is nothing to think about, Sev, I have been teaching here for two years and I can promise that you won’t regret it.”

Past-Severus scowled at his older self but said, “All right, then I fear that I don’t have a choice. However, Headmaster, I would like to insist on still being able to do my work as Potions Master.”

Albus nodded calmingly, “Yes, my dear boy, I know. Severus here has told me everything about it. He is making potions for the Hospital Wing as well as complicated potions like the Wolfsbane, which he sells to the apothecaries.”

Past-Severus glanced at Severus in awe. How nicely he had managed to even the way for him; it was unbelievable. Of course, everything was in the interest of both of them, wasn’t it? He was pulled out of his thoughts, when Albus started to speak again.

“Now, my second suggestion is that you move into the castle as soon as possible. This would have the advantage that you would be better able to help your future self with his mission, and you could directly start brewing potions for the Hospital wing, as Madam Pomfrey is having great difficulties with Professor Slughorn. You wouldn’t be able to use his quarters yet, as he will still be here until the end of the school year, however I could provide you with adequate quarters, which would just have to be connected to the office and the classroom in the summer. You would have a private potions lab, which would be arranged according to your wishes. Now, what do you think?”

Past-Severus threw a discreet glance at his future self receiving a barely noticeable nod in return and agreed easily, “Thank you very much, Headmaster. I appreciate it very much.”

Albus opened his mouth, but before he could call Twinkle, the two Minervas talked him out of it, telling him that Twinkle fainted in the morning when she saw the two of them. Who could know how the elf would react to having two Severus’ there. Everyone laughed and Albus agreed to speak to Twinkle later. He promised the two Severus that he’d let them talk to Twinkle tonight after properly preparing her for the fact that there would be two of them. The twin-like men thanked the headmaster as they wanted to instruct the elf how they wanted to have their private potions lab in their new living quarters.

Dumbledore thanked Past-Severus for cooperating so easily and promised to Floo call the Potters in order to make an appointment with them, if possible, for the afternoon. Then he asked the two Minervas to take their colleagues up to their quarters for lunch, promising that he would call Twinkle while they were on their way.

Before the two pairs left, Albus remembered something. “Past-Minerva, you don’t have to worry about going to the Great Hall or about your students; I have already told our colleagues you were sick, and Rolanda has kindly taken over your Head of House duties.”

The younger Minerva looked daggers at him and made him promise to at least tell Poppy the truth before she came to look for her.

-----

As Albus had been able to make an appointment with the Potters for three o’clock in the afternoon, everyone was sitting in the Headmaster’s office again waiting for them to arrive. Suddenly the fireplace flared, and Lily stepped out with Baby Harry in her arms. She sat him onto the floor and turned to Albus.

“Good day, Headmaster. I am sorry, but James will come in about ten minutes; he is still discussing something with Sirius concerning the mission they have to go on tomorrow.” Receiving a greeting back from Albus, she looked around to take the others into view.

In the meantime, Harry had recognized his Granny and his Uncy Sevvy and was just working on standing up from the floor. However suddenly he noticed that there were two Grannies and two Uncy Sevvies – and at the same time as Lily fainted in shock of seeing everyone twice – Harry, who had just managed to stand up, screamed and fell back into the fireplace, hitting his head as he fell.

Seeing that, the two Minervas and two Severus’ hurried over to the fireplace that Harry had fallen into, and Albus walked around his desk and enervated Lily, who had fainted with shock when she noticed the pair of doppelgangers. Lily sat up and was very confused.

“Albus,” she asked, “what happened?”

Albus hurried to quickly explain that there were two Minervas and two Severus’ and that she had fainted seeing them, when Harry’s whining penetrated their ears and Lily turned around, frantically looking for her baby. In the meantime, the younger Minerva had taken Harry in her arms, trying to calm him.

“Shush, shush, everything is all right, Harry. Look, your mummy is here as well.”

Lily extended her hands to take Harry from Minerva, but he only snuggled deeper into Past-Minerva’s robes and said, “Owee, Gwanny.”

“Where does it hurt, Harry?” Past-Minerva asked calmingly, but Harry just continued to whimper.

Noticing Harry’s whining, one of the Severus’ suggested, “Albus, please call Poppy to look after him.” Seeing that Lily’s face had turned white, he said calmingly, “Just to be on the safe side, you know.”

Poppy came immediately and threw a curious glance around at the doppelgangers, before she checked on Harry and said, “He will be alright; he has a concussion, however, so he cannot run around for a few days and has to rest somewhere, but as there are enough grannies and other people whom he can lie on, it won’t be a problem. Otherwise, he would have to stay in bed. I want to see him again tonight, Lily; can you manage that?”

Lily gave her a thankful nod and replied, “Yes, of course, Poppy. Does he need any potions?”

Poppy sighed and answered, “Yes, but I have to ask that imbecile to brew one first. I don’t have the right potion for a baby in my stock.”

The older Severus jumped into the conversation, “I assume you need the Manicio Potion, right?” When she nodded, he continued, “Show me where I can brew it, and it will be finished in forty minutes.”

Glad to know she wouldn’t have to ask that poor excuse of a teacher she just couldn’t stand, Poppy threw him a relieved glance and nodded thankfully, while Past-Severus went over to his older self and told him, “No, Severus; let me go and brew the potion; you are needed here to tell Lily and James your story.”

His older self nodded and said, “Thank you Sev; you’re right; that’s much better.”

A moment later, Poppy and Past-Severus left the room, amiably talking to each other, and everyone else sat down again, Past-Minerva with the still quietly whimpering Harry in her arms, just when James stepped through the floo gasping at the view of two Minervas.

“At least you only have to see two Minervas, your son and I also had to look at two Severus’,” Lily told him, and Albus explained quickly what had happened, before he called Twinkle and asked for tea and biscuits as well as for pumpkin juice for Harry.

-----

During the next hour until Past-Severus came back with the potion for Harry, the older Severus explained everything about the near future to Lily and James. When he told them about the betrayal by their friend, both of them had a flabbergasted expression on their faces, but shouted at the same time, “No!”

Seeing the confused faces, James explained, “It was not Sirius, it was Peter; he is our secret keeper!”

Everyone in the room except for Baby Harry gasped.

“We can talk about this later; let me first go on with my story, please,” Severus said and went on with the sad story.

When he finished, Lily and James were looking at each other and then back to Severus doubtfully, and tears welled in Lily’s eyes. This was what it was like when you were told you were going to die in four weeks. However, hadn’t Severus just said he knew a way to save them? Lily threw a hopeful glance at Severus and said, “Please, Severus, do what you can – I don’t want to leave my baby behind.”

Severus gave her an encouraging nod and remembered the photo in his pocket. Before he showed them the photo of the five-year-old battered Harry, however, he told them, “Although I don’t know if we will succeed in saving your lives, at least we have already changed the future so far that in case we don’t succeed either Minerva and Albus or I will take Harry in. So please don’t be afraid, you can only win here, even if it is a very unusual and dangerous game that we are playing.”

Seeing the picture of Harry, Lily burst into tears; however, with James soothingly rubbing her back and Severus calmingly telling her in his silky voice that this would not happen to Harry again in the new time line they had just created, she managed to calm down, before Harry even noticed that his Mummy was crying.

When Lily had calmed down, James cleared his throat and, glancing around to know the reaction of the others, he said, “All right, cousin from the future…” Everyone laughed. “I think we have to profoundly thank you and Minerva. We really appreciate what you have already done for our son and of course that you are trying to save our lives. Would you please explain how you are intending to proceed?”

-----

Before Severus could reply however, Past-Severus entered the office, and immediately everyone’s attention was concentrated on Baby Harry. Past-Severus put several phials of two different potions on the table and took one of them over to where Minerva and Harry were sitting. After exchanging a short glance with Minerva, he held the phial to Harry’s lips, and Minerva persuaded Harry into drinking it.

“Look Harry, Uncle Severus has brewed a potion for you, which will make you all better now. Let’s drink it quickly.”

Harry seemed to feel bad enough not to care what he was drinking and greedily drank the potion completely and it only took about half a minute before he seemingly relaxed and said, “Fanks, Uncy Sebby. Hawwy no hawt.” He tried to sit up, but Minerva pushed him back and brought him into a half-sitting position, so that he could at least see everyone in the room. Harry looked around and asked astonished, “Two Gwanny an Uncy Sebby?”

Everyone had to try hard not to laugh, but Lily explained to her son, “The second Granny and Uncle Severus have come from the future in order to help Mummy and Daddy and Harry with something. The Granny who is holding you at the moment is your normal Granny, and the other Granny will be your Granny when you are already five and a big boy.”

Harry looked at her indignantly and pouted, “Hawwy bik, Hawwy no baby.”

At this time, everyone laughed and Albus told Harry, “That’s right, Harry, you are our very good big boy, and good boys always take a nap after they had to get potions because of a headache. Do you think you can do that too?”

Harry threw him an annoyed glance but relented and replied, “Yeah, Gwada, Hawwy can.” He lay back, nestled deeper into Past-Minerva’s robes, and shut his eyes yawningly. Only a minute later, everyone sitting near Minerva could hear that his breathing had evened.

Looking around to see that he had everyone’s attention, Severus proceeded in continuing his story. He explained in detail, how he hoped to be able to save the Potters, and Lily and James were listening intently. In between, James could not help commenting, “You know that I am an Auror, right?”

Everyone laughed at the comment, and Severus sneered, “Do you want me to try saving your lives or not? If not, just tell us and Minerva and I will step into the fireplace to Floo back right now.”

Seeing that Lily was on the verge of panicking, James quickly replied, “No, Severus, please calm down. Of course, I want you to help us, and I really appreciate very much what you are doing for us. I don’t care how many unforgivable curses it will take. Furthermore, if I for any reason won’t be able to continue being an Auror afterwards, I will leave the Auror department and do something else. My family is much more important to me than my job. Please help us, Severus.”

When Severus came to the final part of his plan, Lily’s reaction was exactly as Severus had predicted, however he managed to calm her by saying that he would be with Harry and care for him all the time and that he always could go back in time again if necessary. Finally, Lily and James agreed to the plan.

-----

“James and Lily,” Albus began to speak. “I know there are still four weeks until Halloween; however I would like to suggest that you stay here at Hogwarts for the time being. We will charm the lights in your house and the magic so that everyone passing by would believe you were there, but in reality you would be here in safety and could help to put Severus’ plan through.”

Lily, who suddenly felt very unsure about going back to Godrics Hollow at all, nodded eagerly and threw Albus a grateful glance, but James shook his head and explained, “That won’t work for me, because as you know I am working as an Auror and the Auror Department often Floo-calls me in the evening or even during the night. Therefore, I have to stay at home. Otherwise I would have to let the Ministry know that we were staying at Hogwarts, but as we don’t want anyone to know about it, because I assume that there are several Death Eaters working in the Ministry, Lily and Harry should stay here without me for the time being. I can come and visit them every evening.”

Dumbledore nodded pensively and said, “Yes, James, that would be highly appreciated, as they need you for their comfort and as we need you to help with our planning as well. If you don’t mind, I will ask Twinkle to add one more guest room to our quarters; you know that we already have a nursery, where Harry always sleeps when he is here.”

Lily gave him a relieved nod and declared, “Thank you Albus and Minerva, for letting us stay here. Honestly, after this information from Severus, I will feel much better being here with Harry while James is at work.” Seeing that her son was already awake again, she turned to him, “Harry, what do you think? Shall we stay with Granny and Granddad for a few weeks?”

Harry’s little face lightened up and his marvellous green eyes began to twinkle. Of course, he would like to stay here; he just loved the huge castle and his nice grandparents. He happily clapped his little hands. “Yeah, Mummy. Tay Gwanny Gwada. Yeah.”

Everyone laughed and Harry added, “Uncy Sebby, Uncy Pafoo an Uncy Mooey tay too?”

Past-Minerva laughed and told him, “No, Harry, but both Uncle Severus’, both Grannies and Granddad as well as your Mummy are staying here in Granny’s and Granddad’s home; all right?”

Harry nodded contently and leaned back on his Granny, a little thumb wandering into his mouth, and Minerva carefully lowered him back into a horizontal position. He was asleep again within seconds. The others resumed their conversation and made plans until dinnertime approached.

-----

After dinner, Poppy came to check on Harry and gave him a very light fever reducer and a sleeping potion so that he could rest properly until she would be back to look after him in the morning. Afterwards, she tucked him into his bed in the nursery. Therefore, everyone except for the two Severus spent the whole evening in the Headmaster’s quarters in order not to leave Baby Harry alone. Severus and Severus had gone to visit the new Snape quarters and to instruct the house elves in every little detail on how they wished to have their private lab done.

In the meantime, the conversation revolved about Halloween and other directly connected events. Future-Minerva told the others about details, which Severus still had not managed to tell them. She spoke about how Sirius had hunted down Peter on the day after the fatal night and killed Peter and thirteen muggles as well and that they had not found anything of Peter except for a finger.

“No!” Lily exclaimed with a determinate expression on her face. “That cannot be Sirius who did that. He would play pranks more than anyone can imagine, but he would not kill innocent people only because he wanted to harm or even kill Peter. I am sure. However,” she suddenly continued, “How do they think they know that Sirius killed the muggles and not Peter? He would be capable of such a deed, but not Sirius. Moreover, Peter is an animagus, a rat animagus. He could easily have cut one finger off, transformed into his rat form and ran away, couldn’t he?”

The older Minerva groaned after hearing this. What a huge mistake had been made. It was good that they were in the past and had the ability of preventing their younger selves from making the mistakes they had made before.

“What happened to Sirius then?” Lily suddenly asked, and Minerva told her that he had been condemned to Azkaban without a trial, as even Albus had told the Ministry that Sirius had been their Secret Keeper.

In the meantime, the older Severus had returned and listened in to their conversation with a blank face. Suddenly he jumped into the conversation. “Most of you probably know just how much I hate Black. However, if he is innocent, maybe we should involve not only Lupin but also him in our plan.”

Albus nodded pensively. “Yes,” he said thoughtfully. “That would probably be the best. James,” he addressed Harry’s father. “You are working together with Sirius in the Ministry, aren’t you?” When James gave him a confirming nod, he continued, “Could you please ask him tomorrow to accompany you here tomorrow evening?”

“Yes, Albus. I will bring him here tomorrow evening,” James answered thinking about what Sirius was going to say when he heard he had to work together with Snivellus, and two of them at that! Very thoughtfully, he continued, “I know the hatred between Severus and him is mutual, but as this concerns him as well, I would think he should be a little bit cooperative. Shall I try to contact Remus Lupin as well, or do you want to speak to each of them separately?” he added.

The Headmaster thought about this point for a few minutes, before he said, “Frankly speaking, I don’t know which would be better. Severus, what do you think?”

Severus turned to the two men and stated evenly, “As we definitely know that neither of them is the traitor, we can speak to both of them at the same time. It would be good if I had two people to help me to help me with them apart from my younger self, as his main job will probably be to lure them away. However, if Black does not behave, I will not work with him,” he threatened.

Late in the evening, James returned home only to come back a quarter of an hour later, bringing a huge bag with clothes and other things for Lily and Harry before he left them again, promising that he would come back after work the next day and that he would try to bring Remus and Sirius with him.

-----

On Monday morning, everyone except for the headmaster, who had to eat in the Great Hall, and Harry, who was still asleep, had breakfast together. Afterwards, the younger Minerva excused herself immediately and went to teach her lessons and the two Severus’ took the Hogwarts internal Floo network to their new quarters, which were – of course – not new to the older Severus, in order to brew a few potions together. Lily went to Harry’s room, took him out of his bed, changed his nappy with a flick of her wand and magically changed Harry’s favourite green footie pyjamas into a light blue jump suit with small green dragons, which let out a small roar from time to time. Then Lily took Harry with her to the living room, where the older Minerva was sitting on the sofa in front of the fireplace.

“You can give him to me,” Minerva said when she saw that Lily hat brought Harry. “Is he still asleep?” When Lily nodded, she asked, “How is he?”

Lily shrugged and replied, “If I only knew. You never know with him, because he hardly ever complains. Yesterday it must have been really bad; otherwise, he wouldn’t have cried and complained so much. He is still quite warm.” She handed the baby over to Minerva, who made him lie down on her lap covering him with her robes.

A few minutes later, Albus entered the room with Poppy in tow, who waved her wand to check on Harry before she picked him up and sat him onto her lap in order to wake him and talk to him. “Hello Harry, good morning, my dear. Yes, Harry, it’s Aunt Poppy. I have come to see you and to ask how you feel. Does your head still hurt?”

Harry tiredly rubbed his eyes and threw his Mummy a whiny glance. It was not that he didn’t know Aunt Poppy very well; a few times, she had come and looked after him, when his belly hurt or he had a cold and she had always made him better, but he was still tired and just didn’t feel well today.

“No goo,” he mumbled tiredly.

Poppy pulled two phials out of her robes, a fever reducer and the Manicio potion and made Harry drink both of them. Then she gave him a calming smile and told him in a soft voice that he was a very good boy taking his potions so well and that he could have breakfast now and afterwards he could lie down on either his mummy or his granny and be a very good boy for them too.

Harry replied in a small voice, “Hawwy no wan eat, Hawwy sweep.”

-----

Fortunately, the Headmaster’s quarters were not only huge but also had a small garden on one of the roofs of the castle, which could not be seen into from anywhere else. It was fairly cold outside, but the weather was bright and sunny, and the two women wrapped Harry into a warm blanket and spent the rest of the morning sitting on a bench outside in the garden. Harry, who felt much better after he had drunken the potions, had many questions.

“Gwanny, Mummy, whewe?”

“We’re at Hogwarts, where Granddad and I live,” Future-Minerva answered patiently.

“Gawden?” Baby Harry enquired, looking around curiously.

“This is in the garden belonging to our quarters.”

“An da dewe?” A tiny finger pointed to the sky.

“This is one of the turrets on the roof of Hogwarts. Our garden is here on top of the roof.”

“Hogga?”

“Hogwarts is our school. The castle here is called Hogwarts; you know that, don’t you?”

When Harry slightly shook his head, Future-Minerva continued, “It is a school for little wizards to learn everything about magic.”

“Biza? Madi?”

Lily, who so far had only listened into the conversation, groaned, but Minerva replied patiently, “A wizard is someone who can do magic with a wand like this.” She shifted Harry a little to the side, took her wand out of her robes and conjured a stuffed green dragon, which she handed to Harry. She amusedly watched his green eyes starting to twinkle with joy.

Harry tucked the dragon under his arm, lay back and went to rest for a while, busily cuddling the dragon until lunchtime. When Minerva looked fondly at Harry, he glanced at her and mumbled, “Fanks, Gwanny. Dwago lovvy.”

“Oh, sweetie, I’m glad you like the dragon, and I’m sure he can be a good friend,” Future-Minerva answered, smiling fondly at the child.

-----

The two Severus’ didn’t show up for lunch, and even in the afternoon, there was no sign of each of them. Suddenly Minerva laughed and said, “Severus is always like this. He enjoys potions so much that he forgets everything else. Every second day, I have to call our house elf and ask him to bring Severus lunch or dinner and make sure he would eat it. And to imagine – there are two of them together instigating each other…!”

Lily laughed and mused, “Maybe we will have to send Twinkle to fetch them for dinner.”

Suddenly Harry woke up crying a little. Minerva immediately pulled him up and made him stand on wobbly feet on her lap, asking softly, “What is wrong little one?” She felt his forehead and said to Lily, “He is much cooler now,” and turning to back to Harry she asked, “Does it still hurt?”

Harry slightly shook his head and said, “I hungy.”

Lily let out a relieved sigh and said, “That’s good my baby; you haven’t eaten anything today; you must be very hungry.”

Minerva called Twinkle and asked for a meal for Harry, which to Lily’s horror consisted of mashed potatoes, eggs and… “Spinach,” Lily groaned. “What do these elves think? Do you want to know how your room is going to look like by the time Harry finishes his meal?”

Minerva laughed and told her, “Can you please take your soon-to-be-a-green-monster son off me and put him into his chair, I can’t move with him sitting on me.”

Lily was right, and after a short while, the whole room was having tiny green spots here and there. Harry just didn’t like spinach, and it was so much fun throwing it through the room with his much-too-big-for-him baby spoon. He giggled and tried to aim at the door, which just opened and revealed a guest looking confused with spinach all over his face.

James, who in the meantime had appeared as well, threw his son a proud glance and said confidently, “Maybe he will be a good Chaser, when he comes to Hogwarts.”

Lily aimed her wand at Sirius. “Scourgify. I’m sorry, Sirius; Harry is just having dinner.”

Sirius laughed and said, “Oh, well, I thought having dinner meant ‘eating dinner’ and not practising Quidditch, but maybe things have changed from when I was a baby.”

Harry had just recognized the intruders and shouted happily, “Daddy! Uncy Mooey, Uncy Pafoo!” With a splash, the spinach splattered through the room as he smashed his spoon into the bowl and tried to climb out of his chair.

James just managed to catch the chair together with his son on their way tumbling to the ground. “What are you doing, Harry?” Lily scolded the small boy.

“Oh, don’t scold him, he is so cute,” Remus told her. “Come here to me Harry!”

As fast as his little feet could carry him through the large room, Harry ran over to his Uncy Mooey, however Future-Minerva caught him half way, took him up and looked sternly into his little face. “Harry, do you remember what Aunt Poppy told you? No running around for a few days.” She handed Harry over to her former student.

Remus sat down on a chair and put Harry in a sitting position on his lap, while Minerva told him about the happenings of the arrival of the Potters the day before.

After Twinkle had scourgified all green spots from Harry’s chair, the table and the whole room in general, Minerva sent her to get Severus and Severus, and as soon as they arrived, dinner was served. Harry was sitting on the sofa looking at a book of a wizard story containing many pictures of dragons with great interest until Albus and Past-Minerva returned with Poppy, who checked on Harry and gave him two potions. Minutes later, he was lying on the sofa, tucked into his baby blanket and was fast asleep with his green dragon in the arm.

-----

As soon as dinner was finished, Albus asked everyone to sit around the fireplace for a conversation. When everyone was seated, he called Twinkle and ordered tea and biscuits for everyone. The two Minervas were sitting on either side of Harry, which was a sight for the gods. Seeing that everyone was looking at him expectantly, Severus started to recount his story once more.

When he told them that he had come from the future in order to change the future, Sirius laughed loud and said, “Now, James, that would be something a Marauder should do, wouldn’t it!”

Everyone laughed and Past-Severus sneered, “A pity that none of them had the idea, not to speak of the means to do it.”

With this, Remus spoke up, “Now, Severus, there is no need to become sarcastic; everyone is just acknowledging that you or your older self had a very good idea.”

Severus ignored this and continued to talk. “Can you please stop your nonsense for a moment and listen? It is not just for fun that Minerva and I have taken the risk and come back to the past.”

James nodded his agreement and said, “He is right, Sirius and Remus, this is not a funny story. Please be quiet and listen to what he has to say.”

First, Severus told them about Halloween, and both Sirius and Remus were outright shocked. “Wait,” Sirius interrupted him. “You said they brought Harry to the Dursleys? Why? I am his godfather. They should have brought him to me in the first place.”

Severus snorted and turned to Remus, “Black, be quiet for a moment; Lupin, do you know who Lily’s and James’ Secret Keeper is?”

Remus looked at Severus and frowned before he said in a slightly strange voice, “Sirius.”

Sirius shot up from his chair and shouted, “Do you think I would betray my best friend to Voldemort? Are you crazy?”

“Shut up,” he was reprimanded by Albus immediately, and Severus continued.

“That’s the problem. You didn’t tell anyone, and Lily and James didn’t either. Therefore, everyone thought that you were the traitor and betrayed the Potters to the Dark Lord. Even Albus didn’t know that you had changed with Pettigrew, and that is why Harry was taken to the Dursleys and not to you.”

Sirius stared at Severus with a flabbergasted expression and asked, “So, Harry grew up with the Dursleys? Or did he come to me later, after they found out about the secret keeper?”

Severus sneered and said, “Don’t ask questions, and just let me tell everything. How could they find out about you not being the secret keeper? They couldn’t.” Sirius face turned white, but he kept quiet and Severus continued, “On the next day, Sirius learned what happened and went after Pettigrew. When he found him, he somehow blew the street up and killed thirteen Muggles as well as Pettigrew. At least, that’s what everyone believed including myself.”

Sirius interrupted again and started to shout at Severus, “You are accusing me of murder, Snivellus? How many people did you…”

Sirius suddenly shut up involuntarily, when Albus pulled his wand and threw a silencing charm on him, before he flatly stated, “Now, shut up Sirius. Severus has come to the past to help Harry, Lily and James. However, after talking about your story with Lily, he decided to help you as well. If you are not able to show yourself to be a tiny bit thankful towards someone who took many risks by coming to the past just to help you and your friends, then at least shut up and stop accusing him of anything. Otherwise you may leave.”

Severus sighed and started once again, “As I said, everyone believed it, and you were put into Azkaban without a trial, because even Albus told the Ministry that you had been the Secret Keeper. However, when I told Lily this story, she immediately said that it probably had been the other way round, that Pettigrew blew the street up, cut his finger off and transformed into a rat to get away. I don’t know why I believe her because I remember well the night you tried to kill me during the full moon in our fifth year, but anyway, I believe Lily and have decided to help you in case it will be necessary in the future.”

Past-Severus, who had been quiet so far, nodded his agreement and smirked, “Don’t worry; I will do everything my older self promises to you.”

When Severus continued to speak about Harry’s treatment at the Dursleys, Sirius looked ready to murder someone, but Severus explained that his younger self as well as the younger Albus and Minerva would not let Harry grow up with the Dursleys again. Finally, he showed them the photo of the five-year-old Harry, and Sirius exploded. How dare they doing such things to his precious godson? He jumped up and threw a – quiet – temper tantrum, until Albus threatened to put him under a body bind if he wouldn’t ‘quiet’ down and sit down again immediately.

As soon as Sirius was seated, Severus, who had to try really hard to remain patient with so many interruptions, continued and told them about his plans to prevent Lily and James from being killed.

“That sounds quite realistic I would think,” was Remus’ reaction, while Sirius – without knowing that Albus had cancelled the silencing spell – shouted something about Aurors and unforgivable spells.

Severus only asked coolly, “Do you want your friends and yourself rescued or not? James already promised he would leave the ministry if it were too dangerous for him before he would reveal anything to his fellow Aurors. However, if you prefer to be obliviated, either now or then, we won’t have a problem doing it for you.”

Sirius thought for a while and asked, “Why can’t we just change Secret Keepers once more? Lily and James could just take one of us here as Secret Keeper and nothing would happen.”

Severus frowned and explained, “No, Black, that would solve our problem only partially. You see, when Harry made the curse rebound, it vanished the Dark Lord. I don’t think that he was really gone in fact; however, he was defeated and didn’t show up so far in four years. If he couldn’t get to the Potters now, he would try something else to get to them; therefore he has to be vanquished in order to really save their lives.”

Sirius thought for a moment and finally nodded and said, “All right. You can count on me; I will help you.”

When they finished their lively discussion, it was already three o’clock in the morning, so that James, Sirius and Remus left immediately and everyone else went to bed.

-----

Harry, who had not stirred once on the sofa during the whole evening, was back to full health and fully awake early in the morning. When nobody came to get him out of the annoying cot in spite of his upset crying, he threw such a temper tantrum that he managed to release enough magic to jump over the top rail and into the room and fell down onto the floor with a ‘thud’.

“Owee,” he groaned, but what he saw now let him forget the headache. He had managed to get out of the unwelcome prison. As quickly as the little feet could carry him, he ran over to his Mummy’s room and unsuccessfully tried to climb on her bed. After falling back on the floor three times, he decided on a different method and shouted, “Mummy!”

Lily sat up in her bed immediately, threw an absent glance to the clock, which showed 5:47 and wondered where Harry’s voice had come from, until she noticed her baby lying on the floor next to her bed.

“Harry!” she said astonished. “How did you get out of your cot? Is someone up at this time and took you out?”

Harry put in some effort to get up, finally managed to stand in front of her bed, throwing both arms in the air to be taken up, threw her a big smile and said, “No, Mummy, Hawwy bik, no nee baby cot, Hawwy shupp.”

He jumped? Needless to say that Lily was outright shocked. Harry could not have jumped out of his cot; the rails were much too high for him to be able to jump. The only way he could have jumped out of the bed must have been accidental magic. She pulled Harry up into her bed and gave him a piercing look. “Harry, are you all right? Have you hit your head again? Or does anything else hurt?”

Harry seemed to have decided to ignore her as he lay down, put a thumb into his mouth and closed his eyes. Minutes later, he was fast asleep in his Mummy’s arm. He was still fast asleep when Future-Minerva, Lily and the two Severus had breakfast together.

After breakfast, the two Severus excused themselves to go back to their lab, but Lily insisted,

“I am sorry, Severus, whichever of you, but I would like to discuss something with at least one of you. I know that all of you have already offered to take Harry in, in case Severus doesn’t succeed in rescuing James and me. However, I want to make sure that there won’t be any legal problems. Although you are his second cousin anyway, I would like to make you an additional godfather for Harry, Severus. Would that be all right for you?”

Both Severus threw her an astonished glance, until the older Severus gave Past-Severus a nod and he answered, “Yes of course, Lily; that would be fine with me.”

“All right, thank you, both of you. Then I will ask James tonight to bring the respective papers from the ministry tomorrow in order to get this arranged legally.”

Both gave her a short nod, and Past-Severus already turned to the door, while the older Severus glanced at his watch and asked, “What is wrong with Harry? Is he still asleep? It is already 10 o’clock.”

Lily frowned and went into her room to look after her baby, who was indeed still soundly asleep. She took him up and brought him out into the living room, sitting down with him onto the sofa. Minutes later Poppy arrived apologizing for being so late. Lily sighed and told her what Harry had done in the morning and asked, “Do you think he has hurt himself?”

Poppy frowned and waved her wand over Harry, finally nodding contently. “No, everything is all right. His concussion is a tiny bit worse than yesterday but nonetheless nearly gone. Very well, give him a day more of rest and he will be fine. However, I have to wake him up now to be sure that everything is fine.” She woke Harry up and talked to him in a calming voice. When she asked him what happened this morning and if his head hurt, he told her that he had jumped out of his bed in the morning and that his head hurt from the fall at first, but that it didn’t hurt anymore.

Poppy turned to Lily and said, “For a baby of his age, it is very unusual to show so much magic; he must be an extremely powerful wizard.

-----

Two days later, Harry was finally allowed to run around again, and Albus decided to take him out for a walk around the lake. On Harry’s small feet it took them two hours to arrive back near the Entrance doors, and he was so tired that Albus had to carry him through the castle up to the headmaster’s quarters, while Harry was soundly asleep in Albus’ arms.

In the meantime, Lily concentrated on the guardian papers, which James had brought from the Ministry the evening before. As he had already signed them, Lily only had to fill them out to change their content. She added Severus to the godparents putting him in the first place, while Sirius’ name automatically vanished and reappeared in the second row, the Longbottoms in the third. Under ‘comments’ she added, “Do not – under any circumstances – place my son with my sister Petunia and her husband Vernon Dursley.”

After letting Minerva have a look at the parchment in order to confirm that everything was correct, she signed the parchment and it rolled itself up and disappeared immediately. Early in the afternoon, her copy acknowledged by the Ministry appeared in front of her and she let out a relieved sigh. Everything should be all right now.

Future-Minerva, who had been thinking about the matter while she was watching Lily, suddenly spoke up. “Lily, I have a suggestion; maybe you should make copies of this parchment and leave one with Albus, one with my younger self, one with the younger Severus and one with Poppy.”

Lily gave her a thankful nod and immediately made the copies.

-----

During the next two weeks, they couldn’t do much except to wait for the time to pass. Lily and the two time travellers spent a lot of time with Harry, reading books to him or playing with him either in the Headmaster’s quarters or in the Room of Requirement, which was the optimal place for Harry to rampage. Past-Severus had replaced Professor Slughorn as Potions Master and was eagerly brewing potions for the Hospital Wing as well as for his own customers, while the older Severus spent a lot of time with Harry successfully teaching him to count to twenty in order to give his younger self some space alone in his new lab.

“Now, Harry,” Severus told Harry, “look, here are many cats, can you count them for me?” They had just come to the Room of Requirement, where Harry was sitting on Severus’ lap, looking at a book.

“One,” Harry started to count. “Too, twee, fip…”

“No, Harry, four.”

“Fouw, fip, sik, sebn, ate, nine, ten,” Harry shouted happily. “Uncy Sebby wee boo?”

“You want me to read you the book?” Severus enquired, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah,” Harry cheered. “Ah, no, da dwago boo.”

“The dragon book?” Severus asked, and Harry gave him a pleading look, probably knowing that none of the adults could resist his twinkling green eyes.

Severus read the book to the child, noticing that it was obviously one of Harry’s favourite books as he seemed to know exactly what was coming next. “Now, what do you want to do now?” he asked the child after reading the book three times.

“I fy boo?” Harry suggested.

“Excuse me?” Severus enquired. “Sorry, but I couldn’t understand you.”

“I fy boo!” Harry insisted. Seeing that Severus obviously didn’t understand what he meant – ‘they are all really stupid sometimes,’ he thought – Harry stood in the room and concentrated, whishing for the thing he wanted as he had seen the adults do in that special room. When he opened his eyes again, in front of him were several brooms of different sizes and shapes.

Severus was stunned. ‘Such a concentrated willing magic! My God, Harry must be extremely powerful,’ he thought but was pulled out of his thoughts very quickly when Harry tried to mount one of the brooms. Severus picked up the smallest broom, quickly waved his wand at it to Charm it so that it would only hover a meter above the ground and would only fly very slowly. He also attached a Sticking Charm to the broom, so that Harry couldn’t fall off.

Harry enjoyed flying very much, and when Severus conjured a small Snitch that moved at the same speed as Harry’s broom, the child was over the moon with joy.

-----

They had another meeting with Sirius and Remus in the week before Halloween in which they fixed all final details for the coming activities. Fortunately, this time the conversation went very smoothly and without disturbances from any of the partners. Finally, everything was decided and they could only wait for the time to come.

During the last days before Halloween, Harry had been very whiny, sensing the tense atmosphere. The others could not know that, but Harry felt that everyone was acting strangely, and he feared that something bad was going to occur. However, what could he do? There was nothing he could do to help them, was there? He just didn’t know, because he couldn’t understand the whole commotion at all. On Sunday morning, when Lily told him she would go home together with Severus to prepare breakfast for Daddy, Uncy Sebbus, Uncy Moony and Uncy Pafoo and come back immediately, he burst into tears. Why couldn’t she take him with her? He didn’t know, and all this was too much for his little baby head and it began to ache.

-----

On the morning of October 30th, which fortunately was a Sunday, James, Remus, Sirius, Future-Severus and Peter met for a brunch in Godrics Hollow. Lily had prepared the brunch for them, and when they started to eat, she excused herself, saying she had to floo back to the babysitter, who was taking care of Harry, and returned to Hogwarts immediately.

Shortly after Lily had hurried away, James complained about a stomachache and ran to the bathroom. In the meantime, Sirius questioned Peter.

So far, everything went as they had discussed so many times, and Sirius started to question Peter. “You have told him where to find them, right?” he asked.

Peter answered, “Yes, and he promised to reward me afterwards.”

“Who will be with him, when he comes here tomorrow night?” Remus asked innocently. “Will you have to do that?”

“No,” Peter shook his head. “Only people of his inner circle, Malfoy and Avery I think.”

They talked for a while more and asked several other questions, until James returned, which was about the same time when the Veritaserum Lily had put into Peter’s tea was wearing off. Suddenly Peter jumped out of his chair and shouted, “What do you think you are doing?” He pulled his wand, but before he could even think of a spell, he was disarmed and stunned.

Severus took Peter’s wand and mumbled, “Oblivio. Enervate. Imperio: Take this Polyjuice potion over there every eight hours until Christmas. Look and behave like Lily Potter until Christmas, love and protect her baby Harry from the Dark Lord and everyone else - even if you die protecting him. Do not transform into your animagus form, and write the address of Lily and James on this piece of parchment.”

Peter immediately went to the table, wrote the address on the parchment, drank a phial of the Polyjuice potion and changed into Lily.

Severus stayed for a few more hours and watched the fake Lily closely, but he could not detect any problems – his potion seemed to work. Of course, the Imperius charm was only a backup in case his potion would not work properly, which was necessary because he couldn’t test the potion in advance. He had invented it in the future just a few weeks ago, and it was made so that the person drinking it would not only look like the person whose hair it contained but also behave and feel like the specific person. Now he was very content and proud to see that it actually worked.

Finally, Severus and Sirius excused themselves and, taking Peter’s wand as well as the parchment with the address with them, Floo-ed back to Hogwarts to tell the others that so far everything had worked according to the plan.

When they reached the Dumbledores’ quarters, Baby Harry gave them a big smile. “Hi, Uncy Sebby, Uncy Pafoo, wee stowwy?”

Severus laughed and took Harry putting him on his lap. “Sorry, Harry, but first I have to tell the others a story, which is very important, and then I will read a story for you, all right? Do you agree?”

Harry gave him a sloppy kiss on the cheek and said, “Yeah, Uncy Sebby, agee.” He snuggled into Severus’ robes and did not interrupt Severus’ talk once.

Severus handed Peter’s wand as well as the parchment with the address to Past-Severus and said, “Good luck, Severus and Sirius.”

-----

They had agreed that Past-Severus and Sirius should visit a member of the Order of Phoenix, Jack Bennet, who had been discovered as a spy for the dark side shortly after the Potters’ death. Sirius had already spoken to Bennet at the last Order meeting and made the appointment with him for Sunday. Past-Severus and Sirius took the Floo to the Leaky Cauldron only to Apparate from there to the house in which Bennet was fortunately living alone.

As soon as they had taken a seat in the living room, Bennet asked, “What is it what you wanted to talk about? Is it Order business?”

Sirius spoke a few sentences with the man, while Severus, holding Peter’s wand under the table, whispered, “Obliviate. Imperio: Take this Polyjuice potion over here every eight hours until Christmas. Put all the phials into your robes, take the floo to The Potter’s Place, Godrics Hollow and look and behave like James Potter until Christmas, love and protect his wife and his baby Harry from the Dark Lord and everyone else even if you die protecting him until Christmas. Do not transform into an Animagus form. Here is the address of the Potters.”

He handed Bennet the parchment with the address, and Bennet immediately went to the table, drank a phial of the Polyjuice potion and changed into James. He put the other phials, which contained an amount of Polyjuice potion for about five days, into his robes and walked into the direction of the fireplace. Then he threw floo powder in and shouted, “The Potters’ Place, Godrics Hollow.”

Severus and Sirius Apparated back to Diagon Alley and took the Floo back to the Potters’ house in order to keep Remus company as the real James had in the meantime gone to Hogwarts in order not to meet the fake James.

-----

Back at Hogwarts, the atmosphere was very tense. By that time, everyone had noticed that even Harry seemed to sense it as he spent nearly the whole afternoon peacefully sleeping on his ‘Uncy Sebby’. They all knew that there was nothing else they could do; they could only wait, and their plan should be foolproof.

Late in the evening, Poppy came and sent them all to bed, handing each of them a dreamless sleep potion. “You will all go to bed now and drink this; you cannot do anything more anyway. Believe me, I am just as excited as you are, but the best thing we can do is to get a good night’s sleep. I will come again tomorrow morning to give you a calming draught. Good night.”

The two Minervas stood up from the sofa at the same time, and Future-Minerva said, “She is right, let’s go to sleep, and please take the potion everyone; tomorrow night will probably be a long night.”

As Sirius and the real James had to work the next day, Remus and Past-Severus would stay with the fake Lily and James in order to supervise, making sure that everything was all right. However, Past-Severus would leave them at dinnertime only to arrive back an hour later together with Harry, whom he would put to bed immediately. As soon as Harry was asleep, Past-Severus would cast an invisibility charm on himself and stay in the corner of the room. Remus would excuse himself as soon as Past-Severus had returned.

-----

In the morning, everyone woke up refreshed, but the atmosphere was still very tense. Albus had gone to the Great Hall, but only James and Sirius only had to leave late in the morning. Hardly anyone could eat anything at breakfast, and Harry didn’t want anything to eat at all. He just clung to Future-Severus’ robes and whimpered. When Albus returned after breakfast, Poppy came with him and handed everyone except for Harry a calming draught. James and Sirius did their best to pretend they didn’t need one, but Lily and Poppy wouldn’t let them floo away before they took it, and they relented in order to get to work.

In the meantime, Poppy glanced at Harry and asked worriedly, “What is wrong with him? This behaviour is nothing like my normal sweet little Harry behaves.”

Lily threw her a worried glance and said, “We don’t know; he is like this since I took him from his cot; he didn’t even eat anything, and he has not spoken a word.”

Poppy waved her wand over him twice, and then she held her hands to Severus and said, “Give him to me please.” She took the small child, sat down on the sofa and put Harry onto her lap, looking into his eyes. “Harry, what’s wrong with you? Do you feel ill?” she asked softly caressing the baby’s cheeks. Harry only looked at her. “You are a bit warm I think. What else is wrong? Does your head hurt?” Harry gave her a slight nod, and when she asked, “Does anything else hurt?” he slightly shook his head. “Alright my dear, as you are already a big boy, you can drink two potions for me, can you do that?”

Harry opened his mouth and quietly said, “Yef.” Poppy pulled two phials out of her robes and held them one after another over to Harry. When he had downed both of them, she pulled a lollipop out of her robes and held it out to Harry, who took it from her and said, “Fankf, Aun Poppy.”

She laughed, gave him a kiss on the now cool forehead and said, “You are welcome Harry.” She turned to the others and said sternly, “Relax; he is fine now. Your behaviour and the tension here made him sick. Babies and small children are very sensitive, and Harry probably sensed that something big and bad would occur, because you are all behaving strangely. That’s why his body reacted with a headache and a slight fever. But he should be all right now. I will see him again in the afternoon before you take him from here. Now, please try to act as normal as possible around him.”

The day passed very slowly, but everyone was very careful not to let Harry notice anything. They took him out into the garden on the roof, played with him and read books to him. Late in the afternoon, Harry was sitting comfortably on Minnie’s lap, thumb in his mouth and busily cuddling his stuffed dragon with the other hand. Suddenly he held it in front of his face and had a good look at him, before suddenly the dragon’s eyes began to twinkle merrily. Harry turned to Minnie and said, “Dwago winkle.”

“Yes Harry, I saw it. You did that very well my sweetie,” Minnie commended him making him laugh a little, while he was busily cuddling his stuffed dragon.

-----

Just in time for dinner, Past-Severus came back to Hogwarts and told them, everyone was fine. The two Death Eaters were playing their roles perfectly, and Remus and he had had a hard time telling themselves that the two were not the real Lily and James. Past-Severus looked at his older self and said, “Congratulations, old man; your potion is not bad.”

Severus smirked at this praise from his younger self. After dinner, the two Severus’ had quite a discussion which of them would be going to Godrics Hollow. Past-Severus insisted, “Let me go. If I die over there, we will both be gone immediately. However if you go and die there, I will live and know that I only have to live four more years. Therefore, it’s better when I go.”

However the older Severus shook his head and said, “No, if I go and die there, you have fours years of time to use my floo powder I left with Albus together with my instructions for the elfin hair you have to add in order to go back in time and rescue me.”

Everyone applauded and agreed that Future-Severus should go together with Harry, while Past-Severus should stay at Hogwarts.

Lily told Harry, “Harry, you go home with Uncle Severus please. Mummy and Daddy will come too.”

Harry nodded and held out his hands to his Uncy Sebby, who pocketed the wands of the two Death Eaters and reached for Harry.

When they arrived at Godrics Hollow, everything was normal. They only showed themselves shortly in the kitchen, where the Potters were having dinner together with Remus, and Severus said, “All right, Harry, let me take you to bed, little tyke.”

He took Harry upstairs, and Remus followed them into the nursery on the upper floor. Severus put Harry to bed, however Harry was not tired at all as he had taken a long nap in the afternoon. Severus sighed and cast a silencing charm around himself and Remus, as well as a disillusion charm on Remus, before he asked him, “What are you still doing here? It is time for you to return to Hogwarts; they can be here anytime now.”

“I am going to stay right here with you. You have the wands of the two death eaters, haven’t you?”

“Yes, I have,” Severus replied.

“Give me one please. Let me be your backup,” Remus pleaded.

Severus sighed, but he knew he couldn’t convince Remus otherwise; therefore, he took one of the wands out and handed it to Remus, who pocketed the wand carefully. Harry was quietly lying in his bed, his eyes wide open, busily cuddling his stuffed dragon.

-----

Finally, they heard the sound of a door from downstairs, and Severus quickly disillusioned himself. Remus and Severus decided to wait in the farthest corner of the room in order not to be hit by any spell and listened to the sounds that came from downstairs. They heard the fake James shout to Lily to run away with Harry, and the fake Lily came up the stairs but did not manage to get to ‘her’ son, before she heard a cry from downstairs. Then Voldemort came to her, offered to let her go, but she insisted on protecting her son, and suddenly it was quiet.

If someone, by chance, passed on the street outside during the next two minutes, they would have seen something that resembled a green firework in one of the rooms on the upper floor. While one green flash came and went back, two others joined him on the way back and put the greatest evil they could imagine to an end. Contrary to the last time, this time there was a body.

-----

Severus jumped back to action. “Quickly, Remus, take Harry and give me Peter’s wand.” He took the wand from Remus, directed it on the former Dark Lord, and Transfigured him into cow dung before he hissed, “Scourgify.”

Then he repeated the same with the two Death Eaters and their wands. One wand, however, he took with him – the main ingredient was a feather of Fawkes. Severus took Harry up and saw that his scar was bleeding and that Harry was whimpering silently. He took off the silencing charm of Remus and himself and addressed Harry, “Harry; look at me; it’s Uncle Severus. Your Mummy is not dead, that wasn’t your Mummy, and she is safe with Granny. Let’s go there now. Don’t be afraid, I will make Uncle Moony and us invisible, before we go.”

Severus put the charm on the three of them, pulled Harry close to his chest and said, “Remus, apparate to the gates of Hogwarts, we’ll meet there.”

A minute later, all three met at the gates of Hogwarts and ran up into the castle and straight into the Headmaster’s office. The office was so crowded that Harry was starting to whimper again, and Severus shouted over the others to Albus, “Albus, I’ll take Harry up into the living room. Can everyone come up, please? We need Poppy as well.”

Shortly later, everyone was gathered in the living room, where Twinkle was just serving tea and for Harry warm milk with honey. Lily rushed over to Harry.

-----

“Look Harry, here is your mummy,” Severus said and carefully put Harry into Lily’s arms, before he gave her a kiss on the cheek and said, “Congratulations Lily. I am very happy for you.”

In the meantime, Poppy had arrived and hurried over to Harry. “What is wrong with him? Oh my…,” she started but trailed off, concentrating on Harry’s face. Fortunately, Future-Minerva had told her about the scar before; therefore, she had all sorts of cream she could use on such a little child with her and could help him immediately. She put a soft cream over the scar, covered the upper part of his head with a white bandage, and asked him, “Does the scar hurt very much? Does your head hurt?”

Harry threw her a hopeful glance and said, “Hawt. Gween light hawt. Aun Poppy Poshun?”

Poppy smiled at him and answered, “Of course Harry, I will give you a potion against the headache in a minute. Let me just check if anything else is wrong or if you have a fever again.” She waved her wand at Harry and said contently, “No, Harry, everything else is fine. Here, drink this please.” She handed him the phial she had just taken out of her pocket, and Harry relaxed, gave her a grateful smile and nestled deep into his Mummy’s robes.

Poppy turned to Lily and said, “He is fine at the moment. However, it must have been a great shock for him to witness what he thought was your death and afterwards being hit by the curse himself. You have to let him sleep in your bed, or at least in your room, for the next weeks, maybe even months, because it is possible that he will have very bad nightmares. We will have to observe him closely for the next few weeks.” Poppy handed Lily a calming draught and a fever reducer and added, “It might be that he will need it; just keep it in your room in any case.”

In the meantime, Severus and Remus had told the others what had happened in Godrics Hollow. Severus had presented Voldemort’s wand to Dumbledore and showed him his left arm, from where the Dark Mark had vanished completely.

Future-Minerva looked at Severus and asked, “Are you sure, Severus, that he is really gone?”

Severus nodded and told her, “In contrary to the last time, this time there was a body. It is not there anymore because I transfigured it into cow dung and scourgified it. Moreover, the last time, the Dark Mark was not completely gone, but this time it is gone. Yes, I am sure that he is really gone.”

Albus went to contact the ministry and tell them a nice story.

-----

In the morning, Albus came back from breakfast with The Daily Prophet in his hands. The headline was so huge that it could be read from far away:

Voldemort attacks the Potters in Godrics Hollow

All three Potters survive but Voldemort dead

Curse rebounds and hits Voldemort

The wizarding world thanks our saviour Harry Potter

Lily burst into tears. Harry, who was once again sitting on his favourite spot, the lap of one of the Severus’, immediately jumped down on the floor and toddled over to his mother asking, “Mummy? Mummy hawt? Hawwy make Mummy betta?”

Lily threw him a grateful look and answered, “Yes, Harry, a hug and a kiss from you would make me much better.”

Harry climbed onto her lap and gave her the strongest hug a one-year-old could give, before he put a series of sloppy kisses all over her face. When Poppy came a few minutes later to change Harry’s bandage and asked him how he felt, he said, “Goo, Aun Poppy make Hawwy betta. Hawwy make Mummy betta.”

Poppy threw a questioning look at Lily who laughed and told her the story.

-----

At this moment, Albus said, “Please sit down everyone and have a cup of tea. Look, Harry, here is your favourite pumpkin juice. I want to ask you something. As you maybe know already, I have invited Severus to teach Potions here at Hogwarts from the beginning of the new school year onwards. I would like to ask you, Lily, if you would like to take over Professor Flitwick’s position as Charms Professor as soon as possible. Filius would like to teach History of Magic, and I want the ghost to retire before long.

“Furthermore, I want to offer James the position as Defence against the Dark Arts Professor from the next school year onwards.

“And finally, I would like to see Remus in the position of Care of Magical Creatures Professor from the next school year onwards. For all our safety, you would be supplied with the Wolfsbane potion by Severus every month.

“Ah, and Lily, I forgot to mention, Poppy has agreed to take turns with me to look after Harry during your classes.”

Lily gave James an enquiring look and seeing his positive reaction, she asked, “Harry, would you like to live here at the castle, together with Daddy and Mummy, Granny, Granddad, Uncle Severus, Uncle Moony and Aunt Poppy?”

Harry’s eyes started to twinkle, and he replied, “Yeah, Mummy, Hawwy wan da.” Then he looked down at his empty hands and realized that his dragon was gone and started to cry. “Ooh,” he cried, “Hawwy dwago goed.”

Future-Minerva, who was sitting behind him, quickly conjured a new one and held it out for Harry, “Look, Harry, it is not gone, it is here.”

Harry happily took the dragon from her and cuddled it, saying, “Fankf, Gwanny, dwago no winkle.”

Minerva frowned. She had totally forgotten about that. Smiling at him, she said softly, “You are so good at magic, I am sure you can easily make him twinkle again. He probably has gotten a shock like Harry yesterday and forgot to twinkle.”

Harry nodded and concentrated on the dragon, and two minutes later, he showed it to Minerva, “Wook, dwago winkle.”

After Lily, James and Remus had accepted Albus’ offer of teaching at Hogwarts, he promised to assign all of them quarters within two days and told them they could already stay at Hogwarts as the Potters’ home was destroyed anyway, and all of them agreed happily. Finally, Albus addressed Severus and Future-Minerva.

“Severus and Minerva, your job here could not have been more efficient. Congratulations and thanks! I assume that you want to return home as soon as possible; however, I would like to ask you to at least attend the Demise Party tomorrow night, although I think it is a pity that only Harry will be rewarded since the two of you, Severus and Remus, had a huge part in vanquishing Voldemort as well.”

After the exchange of a glance, Severus told his mentor, “All right, Albus, we will do that. Past-Severus, may I use your lab tomorrow morning? Albus, could you please ask Twinkle for 1346 mm of elfin hair? Minerva, do you agree to leave tomorrow evening?”

-----

The next day passed much too quickly. Classes had been cancelled for the rest of the week because of the demise of Voldemort so that both Minervas could enjoy some time with Lily and Harry. Future-Minerva was, on one hand, looking forward to getting back to her normal life, but on the other hand she knew that Harry would already be five years old when she arrived back in the future. For Future-Severus it was not much different. He also regretted that Harry would already be five years old when he met him.

The feast in the evening was joyful, and everyone enjoyed it except for the main person – Harry slept through the whole event and only woke up back in the headmaster’s office at exactly the instant when Severus and Minerva were stepping into the floo. He struggled to get off his Mummy’s lap and ran over to the fireplace to give Severus and Minerva a sloppy kiss on the cheeks.

“Bye, Harry, we see you in the future. Be nice to our younger ones and of course to your Mummy,” Severus said, while Minerva had to fight with tears.

Harry waved his hand and replied, “Hawwy lowf Uncy Sebby an Gwanny. Baba.”

It was shortly after lunch on Sunday when Minerva and Severus were thrown out of the fireplace in Albus’ office, where Albus, Lily, James, Remus, Sirius, Poppy and five-year-old Harry were impatiently waiting for them. Both of them gratefully took the phial Poppy held out to them and downed it, relaxing visibly. As soon as the dizziness from the long Floo travel had passed, Minerva and Severus stood up. However, before they could look for an empty chair to sit down, they were immediately pulled in bear’s hugs by Lily and James.

James cleared his throat and said, trying to ignore the clump that was building up in his throat, “Thank you so much, both of you; really I just don’t know what to say; anyway we appreciate so very much what you have done for us; thank you!”

With this, Lily burst into tears and Minerva joined her only seconds later. Sirius then surprised everybody by grasping Severus' hand and giving him a tearful handshake.

Harry went over to Severus and pulled his robes a few times in order to get his godfather’s attention, until Severus bowed down onto eyes’ height with him and threw him an enquiring glance. Then Harry asked, “Uncle Severus, may I join your first years’ Potions class again tomorrow morning? I have already read through the next two texts in the book and have taken notes about the ingredients.”

Severus smirked and put a hand on Harry’s shoulder, before he answered, “Yes, Harry, you may. You can help me teach the dunderheads again.”