Chapter Text
“Are you sure about this? There are like a million things that could go wrong.” Remus tilts his head and gives a look that seems like he’s trying to change Sirius’ mind.
“Yes! I am one hundred percent sure, besides it'll be so worth it.” Sirius gives Remus what the Marauders call ‘puppy dog eyes’ which is pretty fitting, given his animagus.
“What if we see someone we know now, like our parents or a teacher or something” Peter says and Remus snaps his fingers at him and looks at Sirius like See, I told you.
“Pete, you worry too much.” Sirius then shifts his gaze to Remus. “Please, Moony.”
Hah, gotcha.
“Fine. We’ll go, but only if James says yes.” Remus tries to act like it was him that made the decision, but he really can’t say no to Sirius if he’s persistent enough.
All heads turn in the golden skinned boy’s direction.
“What? Oh– yeah sure, I’m all in!” James says, finishing tying up his red converse.
“Let’s do this.” Peter grabs his wand “Okay before we go, does everyone have their wands?”
Everyone nods and Peter grabs the potion and pours each of them their share. They all came up with this bright idea a couple nights ago, when they were all bored out of their and James said—
“Wouldn't it be cool if we went back in time to Hogwarts but like a while ago?”
“Oh my Merlin, yes! We could see our parents when they were our age!” Peter sits up and seems to be forming a plan.
They stayed up all night and James and Peter figured out which herbs to use for the potion and they fact checked to make sure it was safe. With James’ background in potions and Peter’s brilliance in herbology it didn’t take long at all. Hogwarts has Monday off for a teacher-planning day and the sixth years only have one block of classes on Fridays instead of three so here they are, on a Friday afternoon experimenting with time travel.
Never a dull moment right?
“We only have one shot at this so we can’t fuck it up, I’m looking at you, Sirius.” Remus’ eyes glare at him.
“What! Why do you always blame me! I don’t screw up our plans that much!” He exclaimed, arms raising up in defence.
“Do I need to remind you of the cloud incident, or when all our hair turned blue, or when–”
“Okay! I get it, I won’t screw up– promise.” Sirius relents, in his defense, the blue hair thing was really not his fault.
“Okay when we drink this, there’ll be a portal that opens up, I’ll say ‘Take us to Hogwarts in 1957’, it’ll turn a blue color and then we’ll jump, okay? Not a second before.” James looks at all them, seeming to make sure they understand. They do.
“Okay, on three. One, tw—”
“Wait on three or after three!” Sirius exclaims frantically.
“Sirius! On three. Quit being nervous, you’re freaking me out.” James yells, and then takes a deep breath. “Okay, one, two, three!” They all down the purple mixture in one go.
“Take us to Hogwarts in 1957!” Sirius can tell that James is being careful not to slur his words, if he messes up it could take them to a totally different time period.
Just as James said, a bright blue light opens where their red carpet used to be. Sirius grabs James’ hand and leaps when Peter gives the signal to jump. The signal being ‘Jump Motherfuckers!’ which gets the point across well enough.
Being in the portal is sort of similar to a portkey, except you’re not holding onto anything for dear life. It sort of feels like being underwater, except you’re spinning really fast and you can breathe and everything.
Well, maybe those aren’t the best examples, but you get the point.
Suddenly the spinning stops. Sirius opens his eyes and his first thought is Huh, it didn’t work. His second is Oh my Godric yes it did, thank fuck.
“Oh my Merlin, don’t scare us like that, Walburga. I thought you were a professor or something.” A girl with short, dark hair says. Next to her, is another girl who has a green leather book up to nose. She’s got light waves that spill over the pages of her book.
Huh, they look familiar.
The girl finally looks up from her book and hazel eyes settle on Sirius. “Why’re you wearing a Gryffindor tie, and who are those people next to you?”
It finally registers to Sirius that he has to respond. “Oh, um, I’m not Walburga. My name is Sirius, that’s James, Peter, and Remus.” He points at each of them down the line.
“We’re from the future–at least we think so; what year is it?” Remus steps forward and drops Peter and James’ hands.
“You’re mental. Is this a prank?” The girl with the book asks.
“No it’s not a prank, although that would be a pretty funny one. Look at us, we’re students here– in Gryffindor– and I’m willing to bet that you don’t recognize any of us. That’s because we’re not from this timeline.” Peter steps forward next to Remus and looks them both in the eye.
“No, we don’t recognize you. Well, that one looks a bit like one of our friends but… ugh, nevermind. The year is 1957 and you all look like guys, so how the hell did you get in the girls’ dorm?” The first girl (the one with the short hair) glares at them with such vigor it reminds him of when Marlene shouts at them during quidditch to ‘get it together and stop being fucking twats’.
“Really? We just told you we’re from the future and all you have to ask is why we’re in the girls’ dormitory?” James raises his eyebrows.
“Do you believe us?” Remus asks.
Ignoring Remus, the girl with the book instead asks, “Do any of you have your ID with you, or maybe a newspaper headline or something that can prove you’re from the future?”
All four of the boys tap their pockets. “I’ve got one! Here, my official Hogwarts train ticket from summer holiday, I forgot I left it in my coat pocket.”
Hogwarts Express
September 1, 1977
Peter Pettigrew
The two girls inspect the ticket before deciding that it seemed valid enough, waving it off and saying, “There’ve been weirder things that’ve happened around here, anyways.”
“I’m Poppy. Pomfrey. And this is my…” The girl with the light hair (Poppy apparently) turns towards the other girl.
She steps forward and cuts the other girl, Poppy, off. “And I’m Minerva Mcgonagall. Or Minnie, whichever name works, I don’t mind.”
Wait. Mcgonagall as in Professor Mcgonagall, head of their house and the person who’s given them the most detentions out of all the Professors?
No way.
“Wait– you’re Poppy Pomfrey?” A voice from Sirius left, Remus, says.
“Yes, why?”
“Oh my Merlin” The Marauders synchronized. Madam Pomfrey and Professor Mcgonagall were right in front of them.
“Okay that was weird. What year are you guys from?”
“1977, we’re in sixth year gryffindor.”
“Us too! Well, not the 70’s part.” Poppy (?) ( is he allowed to call her that? ) says.
“Was this an accident or… did you like… plan this out?” Minnie eyes them all suspiciously. (He’s technically not allowed to call her that, but he’s been doing it for years so it doesn’t feel weird.)
“Accident.” Peter answers at the same time that James replies, “Purposefully.”
All four of them look at James. “Dude, we talked about this.” Sirius grits out through a fake smile.
“Hey, I’m not a liar and I’m not about to get in trouble with Mcgonagall when we get back.” James throws his hands up in defense.
“Merlin, can you not mess up a plan just this once!” Sirius whips his head to glare at James.
“Oh, that’s rich coming from you! Do I need to remind you of the b–”
“It was one time!”
Someone coughs and it brings them back to the present… or past(?). Right, they weren’t alone.
“Uh- not to interrupt… whatever this is, but you guys planned this? How?” Mada– Poppy sets her book on the bed behind them.
“Well, it’s sort of a long story but we made a potion that would open up the time and space timeline and it would take you back to the place and time period that you said.” Remus moves his hands when he talks, it’s sort of sweet.
Anyway, moving from that…
“Sort of like a floo?” Minnie asks.
“Sort of! It’s like a mix between a floo and a portkey. You have to say exactly where you want to go, and you have to hold on to each other when you’re in the portal.”
“Merlin, how the hell did you lot ever figure that out?” Minnie stares at them in disbelief.
“A lot of experimenting…” Remus rubs the back of his neck.
“So how long are you guys here for?” Poppy (he’s still unsure if he’s allowed to call her that) asks, looking curiously at Remus.
“Couple days— we have to be back before the weekend is over, but we have Monday off classes.” James quickly answers.
Minnie grabs Poppy by her arm and drags her out of earshot, then turns them around so none of the boys can read their lips.
Sirius shares a look at James, who waggles his eyebrows and it almost makes him burst out laughing.
The two girls turn to face the marauders. “Alright, we’ve made a plan. You guys are my cousins from Ilvermony in Canada and have come to visit me at Hogwarts. You can’t just go ‘round telling everyone that you’re from the future or they’ll think you’re a loon. We’re the only girls in this dorm so you guys can share the two extra beds.” Minnie points to the left side of the room, where in their own dorm, Peter and Remus’ beds usually were.
“Really? I honestly thought you’d be a little more shocked about the whole time-traveling situation…” Remus raises his eyebrows and shifts his gaze between the two of them.
“Like we said before, weirder things have happened.” Poppy (?) simply shrugged and went back to reading her book.
The four boys look at each other and have a silent conversation through the many years of boredom that brought them to learning a spell that allows them to speak to each other without making a sound. It’s not like legilimency where you can control and read another’s thoughts, it’s more of speaking a language that no one besides them knows— silently of course.
Remus furrows his eyebrows, Are we really staying here with them?
James whips his head back to Remus’ direction, Do you see another person handing over their room and not asking questions?
Peter joins in, Yeah, we don’t really have another option mate…
Sirius ends the dispute with a sharp look. We don’t have another option, and at least we know they’re not weird strangers who’ll strangle us in our sleep, plus it’ll probably be a lot cooler to be around Minnie and Pomfrey than some randos. We’ll be fine and they also have a pretty reasonable plan.
Remus huffs, Alright fine, we’ll stay but if it gets weird don’t blame me.
Sirius gives him a winning smile and turns to face the two girls who are staring at them like they’d just grown tails and started to flop like fish, which they might as well have; they probably looked crazy from their perspective, staring at each other and raising their eyebrows and such.
“Yeah, that’d be great if you’d let us crash here, we’ll be gone by monday, swear it.” Sirius gives them an earnest smile and walks over to where Minnie had pointed earlier.
“Alright, who's splitting with who?” James had met Sirius over by the beds and looked over at the other two boys who were still by the door.
“I don’t really mind, I’ll share with anyone.” Peter shrugs.
Is it weird if Sirius wants to share with Remus?
Not even like that it’s just… Moony is intoxicating. Sirius always feels like it’s never enough, he needs more.
He smells so good and his hair is so soft…
No, we are not getting into that right now.
It would probably look weird anyway if Sirius wanted to share with Remus instead of James. James was his best friend of course he didn’t dread having to share a bed with him, it’s just Sirius would rather it be Remus. Remus and Peter would of course share, they’re just as close as Sirius and James are– even though all four of them are as close as can be, Peter gets Remus in a way Sirius and James can’t and the same goes vice versa.
“Pete and I can share! If that’s cool with the two of you?” James looks between Sirius and Remus, awaiting their respective answers even though he’d probably guessed they’d both be fine with it.
James is the only one who knows about Sirius’ little… situation with Remus. Peter is probably at least a little suspicious but he hasn’t outright said anything and Sirius never confessed to him.
“Right, yeah. Pads and I will share, then.” Remus walks towards Sirius and sets his small bag down.
Trying not to outright stare at Remus like a weirdo, he drops his bag onto the bed and turns to his left– avoiding eye-contact with Remus. The back wall behind the bed is covered with posters and paintings, not unlike the boys’ own dorm. He sees a few moving photographs scattered on the wall, some little notes, and a few sheets of music pinned to the wall.
“Right well, we don’t have any classes today so we were going to this hufflepuff party if that’s alright? You lot are welcome to join?” Minnie isn’t looking at them, she’s applying a plum lipstick and focusing on her hand-held mirror.
“We’re still going to that?” Poppy furrows her eyebrows and marks her page before setting her book down.
“Yes, we promised Pom we’d go, remember? Plus all our friends are going, we’d be the only ones not there.”
“Ugh, fine. At least it’s Hufflepuff– they always have the best drinks.” She walks towards one of the closets and pulls out a maroon colored dress. “Is this alright? D’you think anyone will be pissed with the whole Gryffindor color thing?” She held the hanger up to her neck.
“I always think you look great, if anyone wants to argue about a color they can go argue with Merlin who made the damn house colors.” She swipes some mascara on and sets her mirror down at her nightstand.
“Are you four coming along?” Poppy turns toward the two now occupied beds.
The four boys share a look.
We are going to the party right? - James
Duh, what’s the fun in staying in someone else’s dorm while they’re not even around?- Sirius
I say we go. - Peter
Yeah, it’ll be fun; who knows who we’ll meet? - James
It’s not like we’re going to have anything else to do, plus I’m interested in the fifties version of a party. - Remus
“Yeah, we just need a moment to get ready!” Peter tells them, already ripping open his bag to search for an acceptable shirt.
******
Minnie shuts the door to the dorm and the six of them race down to the common room. Hufflepuff was the closest house to Griffyndor so it wouldn’t be too bad of a walk.
Poppy has been muttering the whole way, different phrases and such and Sirius catches one as she drags her feet, “Can’t believe you’re dragging me to this, if you wanted drinks so bad I could’ve gotten Pom to swipe some, I swear…” She keeps muttering, but despite her displeasure with going to this party, she stays right by Minnie’s side the whole time and doesn’t once suggest going back.
Huh, interesting…
“Oh, stop complaining, it’s not like you’ll be bored anyway; I’m playing tonight and so are the Slytherins.” Minnie sends her a sly look that Sirius has no idea the meaning of, she’d just said Slytherins and running into them is never good.
At Minnie’s comment Poppy’s head snaps up. “I thought playing the whole night last time was ‘exhausting and no fun’” Poppy sends her a pointed look. “Besides, didn’t Effie and Walburga say they were coming up with a–” She cuts herself short and looks behind herself at the boys. “ plan and they would be too busy to go?” She continues enunciating the first word so oddly it makes Sirius wrinkle his eyebrows.
At the mention of their respective mother’s names, James and Sirius share a harsh glance. Sirius shrugs and gives a sort of I don’t know, just go with it look. Pete and Remus look a little concerned as well, but they don’t comment.
“Walburga figured it out, thank Merlin, it’d be so boring without them. Anyway, you can stop your whining– we’re here.” Minnie slows to a stop in front of a brick wall with three barrels in front of it. It looked like a storage room.
“Really? This is it, a blank stone wall and some barrels?” Sirius stares at the two, confused, while Peter slaps his arm and gives him a warning look. Sirius shrugs and flails his arm at the wall in response.
Poppy rolls her eyes at them both, “Honestly, some people,” she mutters, clearly not caring if they hear her or not. She runs her hands through her hair—an action so eerily similar to Remus that it makes Sirius raise an eyebrow. She steps up closer to the three barrels and starts tapping them in an odd rhythm. The wall raises a bit of the wall and a golden rim (sort of like a light) makes the shape of a door– except there’s no handle. How would they get in? His question gets answered when Poppy says, “Shrivelfig” and a handle appears on the door. She shoves it open and the Marauders are met with the chaos of a non-restricted Hufflepuff party.
About two years before their first year at Hogwarts, Dumbledore issued a restriction on such parties, making it harder for students to get alcohol or any other substances on campus, and also enforcing harsher watch on curfews. This didn’t stop the parties (not at all really) it just made it harder to get stuff for it and they had to make sure to keep it hush-hush around Professors.
People buzz by, either with drinks in hand or swaying to the beat of the music that plays so loud it shakes the floorboards.
Minnie mumbles something quick to Poppy and darts away, getting lost immediately in the crowd.
“I’m going to get us some drinks, I’ll be right back.” Poppy says, the words barely registering to Sirius before she’s gone.
The once blaring music halts, and everyone’s gaze seems to fall on the platform next to the fireplace and the stairs.
Minnie jumps up on the stage. “Hello, hello! How’re we all doing tonight?” The crowd screams so loud that it reminds Sirius of the Bowie concert he and Remus went to this past summer.
“Ah, great to hear it! Most of you know us by now but we’ll do introductions anyway.” A girl in a dark purple dress with hair almost identical to Sirius’ own. She brings the decorated microphone up to her lips again and smiles to her right, “My name is Walburga.” And oh, wasn’t that just lovely?
What’re the chances he’d run into his mother, of all people.
It makes his blood boil, but also sets off a weird tingle of curiosity through his bones.
Why? Why would the universe do this?
Whywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhwhywhywhywhywhywhy–
Someone interrupts his mind-babbling by bumping his right shoulder. “You okay, Stars?” Honey brown eyes stare back at him.
Well. He was okay now.
How can you not be, when Remus Fucking Lupin is staring at you like that?
As much as he’d like to, he can’t keep gaping at him like an idiot, it would ruin his reputation (who is he kidding, it’s been ruined for a while). He finally figures out how to speak again, “I’m okay, Moons” He gives Remus a soft smile before refocusing his attention to the stage.
“And I’m Effie.” These words make Sirius’ heart stop.
What. The. Fuck.
Walburga and Effie knew each other? And not just that, apparently they were close enough to be in a band together?
He turns to his left. Towards James. He’s met with the same look of horror that Sirius wears on his own face.
He knew this whole trip was going to be weird, but this just got a whole lot weirder.