Chapter Text
One day of playing around with magic is all it takes for Harry to find himself thrown into an entirely new tale of chaos. This time all the blame rests with Hermione as she was the one who talked him into brainstorming with her with spell creation. While the topic drew his attention, Harry never thought to actually create any spells before. Maybe he should have as being able to do such spells would have helped him in the past immensely during certain situations. After all, magic has always been and will always be, evolving right along with humanity. Perhaps he should have drawn the line as Hermione questions led to her messing around with time. Thus leads Harry to literally spiraling into the past while also de-aging to an unknown time! Magic protected him in a way during his journey for when he awakens from his unconsciousness, he finds himself surrounded by individuals whom by all rights should be dead. It's a gut feeling as his mind is in scrambles, but he knows who he is and that magic is real. There are flashes in his memory that lets him know that he's much older than how his body feels and yet he still finds himself clueless as to how he finds himself being watched over by Euphemia and Fleamont Potter, right along side a five-year-old James Potter. The lovely couple and their son look so familiar to the de-aged wizard who finds himself to be five years of age physically again.
The elder couple found themselves wondering if magic had found another way to bless their lives outside of the birth of their only son. For all of their years amongst wizard-kind, how could they have possibly found another Potter? It's completely impossible as the Potter family had dwindled from its once many members leaving Fleamont and James the only Potters alive with direct lineage. Yet here lies a small child of the same age as their son almost identical with the exception of a faint scar on his forehead of the rune Sowilo and his vibrant emerald eyes. There are other minor tells that give away their differences, but one would have to be very observant to notice those distinctions. The older Potters did as much as they could to take care of the youth while trying to figure out who he is and where he comes from. Besides the obvious observations that indicate that he had been abused by whomever he had been in care of, there is nothing that dissuades the proof that he is in fact a Potter Child. When the young one wakes, they find themselves falling in love almost as swiftly as they have with their son as soon as he had been born. It barely takes long for the couple to decide to take in their new family member and raise him right beside their son as his brother. James at first wasn't sure, but it didn't take long for him to grow attached to who he now claims as his little brother. Even if only by a four months apart, it was obvious to the Potter Heir that little Harry would be his little brother forever and ever and that no one would keep them apart as they are now family. Not only was one life changed from these choices, but a great many as the future that was is no more. Unknowingly with taking in their descendant with open arms even with his mysterious origins, the Potter's decision leads to the saving of many lives that would have been lost.
Young Harry feels the echoes of his abusive past, but they don't take away from the loving care from his parents and twin. They might not have come from the same womb, but there is just no separating the two young Potters from the each other. If anything, these ever present echoes leave young James feeling super protective of his brother who still suffers from the hardships of his lost relatives. His little brother has grown much from when he first arrived by magic into their lives; even though they're both being spoilt beyond their wildest dreams, Harry's humbleness still shines through as he treasures every single trinket and special moment shared. In turn, James finds himself appreciating what he once thought he deserved which will save him from growing into an egotistical and self-serving youth. Euphemia and Fleamont thought it impossible to love their small family as much as they did, but every new day seemed to prove yesterday wrong. With Harry being a part of their family, their love for each other and for the healing child proved that they have much more to give than previously assumed. They also noticed the harm in spoiling their James as they previously did, and decided to indulge less frequently as they wanted both of their sons to grow into the wonderful young men they had the potential of becoming. Both boys grow in leaps with each other as James' abrasive nature is soothed to a degree while Harry's shy insecurities are knocked away bit by bit. With each year they grow together, their brotherly bond strengthens to startling heights as they share many adventures in between their milestones. The Potter family soon find that time truly flies as they find themselves reaching the time for the boys to receive their Hogwarts letters.
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On the train to Hogwarts, James is practically dragging along Harry in search of Sirius. The Black Heir made a promise to meet up and sit together, and James is going to make sure his best friend (right after Harry of course) keeps his promise. Harry rolls his eyes at his hyper sibling; he's just as excited to meet up with their friend but that doesn't mean that he's going to go bowling over anyone who steps in their path in search for Sirius. Which is exactly what happens as his brother knocks over a fellow firstie with neat fawn locks and shy light green eyes. With some sass and apologies on his brother's behalf, Harry and James find themselves making a new friend in Remus Lupin as he joins them on their quest in search of their fellow raven haired mischief maker. This leads to quite a few more quirky meet and greets along the way as they end up getting to know a few upper classman along the way like fourth year Narcissa Black, (who for some reason James never understood had a soft spot for his brother which both made him proud of Harry's natural charms while also irking him something fierce as the Black Sisters and he weren't exactly friendly...except for when Harry was around.)
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When they find out the truth about Remus' lycanthropy in their second year at Hogwarts, it's when the Marauders are truly born. While the school will know them for their mischievous ways, at the heart of their group they are protectors. James and Harry snuck into the Hospital Wing the night after the full moon to check on their friend as they knew that Madame Pomfrey wouldn't allow them in. As much as James did this to ease Harry's frantic mothering ways, he was also very much worried and was going to fill Sirius in after they return to their dorms. Their invisibility cloak sadly enough doesn't stop any noises from being heard which really sucks as more than once they almost got caught in their running around of their school, and just now James almost gives them away when he stubs his toe at the end of Remus' bed. Harry had to quickly cover his mouth to stop him from waking up everyone in the infirmary.
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"James, if we really are going to be doing this then we bloody might as well make sure to do this right," Harry glared at his brother as he marched into the library with his mind set and mission formulating.
He looks back at his twin as if he'd lost all sense of the world as he follows him into the unknown of the tall shelves of the Hogwarts Library.
"Stop looking at me like that you Prancing Prat, you know exactly how you when it comes to attempting something completely outrageous! I still don't understand how I've become the voice of reason between the both of us, but if we're going to do this for Remmy and actually pull off becoming Animagi, then not only are we going to gather everyone together, we're bloody well going to pull this off together! Are we or are we not Marauders?" He almost shouts, the last thing he wants is to draw the attention of Madame Pince.
The librarian is almost as fierce as a Valkyrie when it comes to her precious books.
"I'm not saying that we shouldn't do this together, but we barely found out about the animagus transformation today and already you're jumping ship into this?"
"Do not think brother that I did not notice your face when Professor McGonagall brought it up earlier. You must be an imbecile if you think I'd miss that knowing you as well as I do," Harry stopped looking at the book titles as he once more faced James with his hand on his hip. "Ever since we found out about Remmy's Fluffy Problem back in second year, I've seen how that's weighed you down. You are a doer, not a thinker. It's a good thing that I can do some of the thinking for the both of us. I'm grabbing as many books as possible and grabbing the other brains of our team because without them we'll be struggling a lot more than necessary."
"Why do you keep insulting me Harrykins, I haven't done anything to you as of late...have I?" James eyes grow as he pouts almost looking like a fawn.
"You insult me by assuming that I don't know you well enough to plan ahead ten paces and stop you from alerting the rest of Hogwarts our plans. You've still got a bit to go when it comes to being stealthy and you suck at looking innocent. The expression 'innocent until proven guilty' does not apply to you in any way no matter the situation." His deadpanned look just made James all the more downtrodden as he helped Harry carry the books that he found as they spoke.
It doesn't help that Harry is more aware of his past as his dreams reveal more of who he once was and he finds himself so much more grateful for his second chance at having a family. It doesn't matter that before, his brother was in fact his father and one of his best female friends was his mother. What does matter is the now, and just how much he will be able to change what originally happened. Already him being placed into the past has him aware that he can make a difference, even though he doesn't remember just how or why he ended up here to begin with. Harry finds that already he has changed much with his friendships with Severus and Regulus, no way is Severus going to be a Potions Professor as he's going to make sure that not only he achieves his mastery but that he will reach for the stars traveling and owning his own business making potions.
So many aspirations to achieve much for all of his loved ones, but at times it's difficult to walk the hallways of his home away from home as he sees the shadows of the future students and notices just how many of his current classmates will never see their own futures. Harry feels himself choking up slightly when those memories are more dominant. He bumps shoulders with James to ease his brothers astonishment from his earlier sass. He really does need to get out of his headspace at times.