Two meters before hitting the ground, Harry pulled up and went straight upwards to where he had spotted the Snitch just before his dive. James, who had followed him, nearly hit the ground. Finally, out of the five seeker-against-seeker scrimmages, Harry won five. Sirius and Remus were delighted.

“Wow James, exactly what you need!” Sirius said teasingly.

“Yes, that’s true,” James answered, ignoring the tease. “I needed a good seeker, and now I have one. Congratulations Harry, you are on the team! Quidditch practice is every Monday, Wednesday and Friday after dinner.”

Harry was happier than he could remember having been any time before. His main task in his own time, the demise of Voldemort, was fulfilled, and until he could – with the help of a young and much friendlier Severus Snape rather than the greasy git – find a way to go home, he might as well enjoy his time in the past. He would take the chance to get to know his parents and the younger versions of his teachers, Severus and Remus.

-----

The first lesson the next day was Potions. With a slightly queasy feeling, Harry descended the stairs to the dungeons with Lily, Remus and Peter. When they entered the classroom, he noticed Severus sitting alone in the first row. Quickly, he slipped in next to him and didn’t notice that Lily, Remus and Peter suspiciously glanced at each other wondering, why he would sit down next to a Slytherin.

“Hello Severus. Listen, I am really, really bad at Potions, but can we still sit together?”

“Hello Harry. Of course, we can. Maybe I can help you. As you probably know, Potions is my favourite subject.”

“Oh yes, I can easily believe that. In my time, you are the best Potions Master in England. However, that is not the reason I want to sit with you. I would like to get to know you better.”

“Of course Harry. Yesterday I was wondering where you were. I thought, once sorted into Gryffindor, that you might have forgotten me.”

“Of course not,” he replied and Severus’ eyes brightened. “I was just really busy. In the morning I had to go to Hogsmeade to buy my school supplies, and in the evening I had Quidditch tryouts.”

“You play Quidditch?”

“Yes, I’m the new Seeker of the Gryffindor team,” Harry beamed. “Do you play?”

“Yes, I am chaser in the Slytherin team,” Severus answered, but then the door of the classroom shut and Professor Slughorn approached the front of the classroom, leaving them unable to talk more.

Harry and Severus worked together on the Potion, and the Slytherin was amazed at his lack of skills.

“NO! It says COUNTER clockwise – can’t you read?” Severus looked unbelievingly at Harry.

“Sorry,” Harry mumbled. “I told you I am bad at Potions. Your future self always calls me a ‘dunderhead’.”

Severus laughed. “If you always make Potions like this, maybe I can understand the reason for it. However, I will try to help you to become better before you go back. I will give you tutoring lessons every evening we don’t have Quidditch practice if you like.”

“Thanks, Severus. I hate Potions, but maybe it will be fun to do it without a Potions Master breathing into my neck and scaring the wits out of me.”

Professor Slughorn interrupted them. “Did you encounter any problems, Mr. Snape, Mr. Pane?”

“No, Professor, everything is alright,” Severus answered quickly in order not to attract more attention.

“Then maybe it would be better to concentrate on your Potion,” Slughorn said in a slightly reprimanding voice.

“Yes of course. Sorry Professor, it was my fault,” Harry mumbled.

Despite their discussions, they managed to brew the Potion flawlessly due to Severus’ talent and agreed to meet at the Potions classroom every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday evening as well as on Sunday afternoons for Harry’s tutoring. To his great astonishment, Harry had enjoyed the Potions lesson very much, and this Severus didn’t seem so bad. Maybe he would be able to prevent him from becoming the greasy git he was in Harry’s time.

-----

Quidditch practice was a lot of fun. Although his Nimbus 11 was much slower than his Firebolt, he noticed that he could manage to fly just a little faster than his father, whose flying abilities the Sirius of his time always had praised so much. But James didn’t mind; he was glad to have such a good Seeker for his team.

One day Harry overheard Sirius and James talking in the Gryffindor Common Room.

“I don’t know, James, but I just don’t trust him. I don’t know why, it’s just a feeling. And why does he look like you? Is he related to you? He cannot be using Polyjuice Potion, can he?” James snorted.

“Why should anybody want to look like me? I would change my hair into anyone else’s if I could. But I also think he must be related to me; I mean, the Potters are a big old family, so why not? I don’t mind. In fact, I like the boy; he is friendly and nice to everyone. So what’s your problem with him?”

“As I said, James, I don’t know. It’s just a feeling, that something isn’t right with him, nothing more. Have you noticed, that he’s watching you, me, Remus and even Lily in a strange way, differently from the way one normally watches people? I can’t say that his behaviour is cause for trust”.

“He watches Lily? What’s that? Are you sure?” James seemed to wake up, suddenly interested in Sirius’ arguments.

“No, James, not in that way. I didn’t mean to imply that. It’s all right. Calm down.”

With this, they went out of Harry’s hearing range. After listening to this conversation, Harry was even more self-conscious in his interactions with the Marauders and Lily, not wanting to give himself away or give the Marauders any reason not to trust him.

-----

One day, he met Lily sitting alone at a table in the library and noticed that her eyes were swimming in tears. He was still unsure how to interact with his mother, but couldn’t help asking, “What’s wrong with you, Lily?”

“It’s nothing, Harry, I’m fine.” Lily managed to say with a small smile.

“Don’t tell me fine, you don’t look fine. What’s wrong? Maybe I can help you?”

“I have problems with Potions, Harry. I’ve messed up all Potions we had so far this year. But please don’t tell anybody about it, especially not James and his friends. They will all laugh about me, because I have always been good at Potions, but this year, I’m really having problems,” Lily confided.

“Oh. That I can understand very well. I have always had problems with Potions. But now Severus is giving me Potions lessons a few times a week. Maybe you could join us!”

“Severus Snape?” Lily asked astonished. “He would not help me. He is a Slytherin andcalls me a ‘Mudblood’, because I am muggleborn.”

“Yes, but I think that is only the bad influence of some pureblood Slytherins. Severus is not so bad. I have become friends with him, and I think he has already changed a little since I have first arrived here a month ago. If you don’t mind, I will ask him, because I’ll be meeting him tonight anyway.”

“Thank you, Harry that would be nice.”

“No problem, Lily, you’re welcome.”

Harry spoke with Severus about Lily that evening and they agreed to extend their evening sessions to Lily, but to keep their Sunday afternoons between them to give Harry the possibility to talk about the future and to have a chance to start their research about how to send Harry back. Professor Dumbledore had already talked to Severus, and Severus knew that he would have to be obliviated before Harry went back to the future. He would remember Harry as a very good friend whom he would meet again in the future, but nothing more.

-----

It was in the second half of October, on the night before the full moon and he noticed the Marauder’s were very excited. He suddenly remembered Remus’ condition together with the fact that he was not supposed to know about it. In September, he hadn’t thought about it and had not even noticed that the Marauders had left the dormitory at night. Maybe at that time, just a week after his arrival in the past, he had been too preoccupied with himself to notice anything.

Suddenly, he even remembered something else. He had to talk to Severus as soon as possible. It was still half an hour until curfew, and maybe Severus would still be in the Potions classroom. Throwing his robe over his pyjamas, he left the dormitory and ran as fast as he could to the dungeons. From under the door of the Potions classroom, he could see light. Would it be Severus? He didn’t want to meet the Potions professor or, even worse, any other Slytherin at this time of the evening. How could he explain what he was doing down in the dungeons just before curfew? However, he was lucky – when he summoned all his courage and opened the door slightly, he could see his friend brewing a Potion.

“Harry! What are you doing here?” Severus hissed.

“Sorry to disturb you, but I have something very important to tell you. And it can’t be overheard by anyone.”

“Okay, no problem. Close the door properly,” Severus admonished and waved his wand to look the door and place a silencing charm around them. “Now, what’s wrong?”

“Em… I don’t know how to tell you about it, so I will just spit it out. You know Remus, don’t you? You know, I only know from the future that I must tell you this, okay. So you cannot tell anyone about it, is that clear?”

“Of course Harry, you know that I would never tell anybody about what you have told me.” Severus looked directly into Harry’s eyes.

Harry averted his eyes down to the floor. “Yes, of course, I know that. Sorry. Anyway, what I have to tell you is that Remus is a werewolf. The fact as such is not a problem. But what I heard in the future is the following story: You had noticed something about Remus and were trying to find out what his problem was. He was always spending the night of the full moon at the Shrieking Shack, and Sirius told you once that if you wanted to know about Remus’ secret, you should go to the Shrieking Shack on the full moon. You did as you were told, and James only saved you in the last minute before Remus would have killed you. I don’t want that to happen (again), so I just had to tell you.”

Harry slowly looked up to his friend. Severus didn’t react at all. He was clearly shocked. Finally, he managed to form words.

“Thank you Harry. I really appreciate what you have done for me. That would have been a shock for life.”

“Yes. Your future self is still suffering from it. Now I have changed the future, although I should not have done it,” Harry said solemnly. He looked at his watch. It was already 30 minutes after curfew. “Are you sure that you are okay, Severus? If you are, then we should return to our dormitories. It’s late.”

“It’s okay. I have to clean up here, but that is no problem. You have far to walk, so go on. Good night Harry and thank you!”

“Good night Severus. I’ll see you tomorrow,” Harry said and run back to Gryffindor tower.

“Mr. Pane! What are you doing outside of your dormitory after curfew?” It was the stern voice of his Head of House.

“I’m sorry Professor, but I really had to talk to Severus. It was very important,” Harry tried to defend himself.

“Then you surely can explain it to the headmaster and myself.” Professor McGonagall took him to the Headmaster’s Office, where he explained the whole story to the absolutely shocked teachers.

After listening to Harry’s story, Dumbledore addressed Harry. “Thank you my boy for warning Severus tonight. 100 points to Gryffindor. Now, I believe that it is time for you to go to bed, and I am sure Professor McGonagall will be so kind as to escort you back to Gryffindor tower.”

Harry couldn’t sleep that night. When he returned to the dormitory, none of his classmates was there. They had all drawn their curtains, but from the lack of breathing sounds, he knew that the room was empty. He just couldn’t decide about what to do. Should he talk to them and tell them he knew Remus was a werewolf and later on obliviate them at least partly? They were not supposed to know that he came from the future; otherwise, they would know immediately that he was James’ son. Or should he just keep quiet and pretend to see and hear nothing? On the other hand, if he told them he knew about everything, he could ask James and Sirius a big favour. It was 6 o’clock in the morning, when he finally fell into a restless sleep.

At 6:30 James, Sirius and Peter slipped into the dormitory, hidden under James’ invisibility cloak.

“Oh, he is fast asleep. Hopefully he didn’t notice that we were gone at all,” Sirius beamed.

“I can’t imagine we’ll be able to hide it from him forever anyway,” James said shrugging.

“You think we should tell him?” Sirius asked suspiciously.

“Yes, I think so. But I think it is up to Remus to decide about it. We will have to ask him tonight. Anyway we have to wake up this lazybones now.” With that, James went over to Harry.

“Harry, it’s time to get up. You must hurry, or you will miss breakfast.”

Harry groaned. “I don’t want breakfast. I’m tired. Can you wake me up again later?”

“Okay, we’ll do that. Come on Sirius, Peter.”

---

“Harry! What’s wrong with you? Are you ill?”

Harry blinked. He knew this voice, but… and suddenly he was fully awake. His mother, Lily, was standing there. “Sorry, no, I’m fine, I’m just tired and my head hurts, I didn’t sleep well.”

“If you are sure that you are well, you should get up. Or shall I excuse you with Professor McGonagall? Transfiguration will start in 10 minutes.”

“No, thank you, Lily, I’ll be there.”

-----

Harry managed to slip into the room, just before Professor McGonagall shut the door.

“Mr. Black, would you please be so kind as to distribute these buttons? One for each student. Today we will try to change these buttons into pink rabbits.”

Harry groaned inwardly. ‘Only 1 rabbit, only 1 rabbit, only 1 rabbit, 2 rabbits, 3 rabbits…’, his head hurt and his eyes were so heavy, ‘…not too many rabbits…’

“Mr. Pane!”

Harry nearly fell from his chair startled. “I’m sorry Professor.”

“Do you think this is too easy for you?” Professor McGonagall watched him sternly.

“No, of course not, Professor. I’m sorry; I just don’t feel very well today.”

Lily spoke up. “Professor, I think he really seems to be unwell. I even had to go and wake him up 10 minutes before the class started. Maybe he should go back to bed and rest?”

Minerva gave Harry a piercing glance. “Alright Mr. Pane, go back to your dormitory, and if you still do not feel better at lunchtime, go and see Madam Pomfrey. Take your button with you and try to transfigure it into a rabbit. I want to see a rabbit in our next lesson on Friday.”

Harry nodded. “Thank you Professor, thanks Lily,” he said and went back to the dormitory.

Harry slept through lunch and managed to be in the dungeons just in time for his afternoon classes. Severus smiled, when Harry slipped into the seat next to him.

“Hello Harry, how are you? When you didn’t come to Charms, Lily told me you were sick. Are you better now?”

“Yes. But I can’t tell you here. We can talk when we are alone.”

-----

The same evening after Quidditch practice James called Harry over.

“We would like to meet in our dormitory for a short talk.”

When they arrived in the dormitory, James locked the door and placed a silencing charm on it. Harry looked at him questioningly. Remus, Sirius and Peter were sitting on their beds.

Remus spoke first. “Harry, we want to tell you something, but you have to promise that you don’t speak about it to anybody.”

“I promise,” Harry said sincerely.

“I am a werewolf,” said Remus.

Harry had to try hard to put an astonished look onto his face. “That means that you change into a wolf only on the full moon, doesn’t it?” he asked, trying to sound curious.

“Yes, every month on the full moon I go to the Shrieking Shack to transform during the night. If I were together with people, they wouldn’t survive. Our three friends here are Animagi; that’s how they are able to stay with me during these times, which helps me a lot. James is a stag, Sirius a dog, and Peter a rat. Do you understand that, and do you know, why you cannot talk about it to others? Neither about me being a werewolf nor about them being unregistered Animagi?”

“Yes, Remus, I understand fully, and I don’t mind at all of course. I have just one request for James and Sirius.” The four other boys looked astonished.

“What might that be?” Sirius asked.

“Could you teach me how to become an Animagus please?” Everyone laughed with a very relieved expression on their faces.

“Of course we will teach you. We can practice every night here in the dormitory directly after curfew.” James picked up a quill and wrote something on a piece of parchment, before he admonished Harry, “Go to the library and get this book. Read over the first two chapters by tomorrow evening.”

Harry took the parchment from him, went to the library to get the book, and managed to read through the whole book during the night. It was so interesting, that he just couldn’t stop.

The next morning he asked James about the Potion mentioned in the book, which was necessary to see which animal you were going to become.

“How do I get this Potion? Do I have to brew it?”

“Yes, you either have to brew it, or you can buy it at Hogsmeade, but I don’t know when the next Hogsmeade weekend will be. We bought it at Hogsmeade, so I don’t know how difficult it will be to brew.”

“In that case I will ask Severus. You know, he is tutoring me in Potions, and I will meet him tonight anyway. Maybe he can show me how to brew it tonight.”

“Are you sure, Snivellus won’t tell anyone?”

“Yes” Harry said sincerely. “I am sure.”

When he told Severus and Lily about the Potion, both of them were eager to brew the Potion and test it as well. Harry promised to tell them everything he learned about becoming an animagus and help them during their Potion tutoring lessons, so that they could learn to become Animagi at the same time.

Harry arrived just in time for his first Animagus lesson, the Potion in the pocket of his robe. He was very excited.

“So, Harry, do you have the Potion?” When Harry proudly showed them the bottle, James advised him, “I would advise you to lie down on your bed before you take the Potion, because you will really transform in the animal you are going to become, and the transformation might hurt a lot the first time.”

Harry did as he was told, transformed… and for a few minutes he found himself in a black world of pain.