You Are Always On My Mind Chap 6

~~~~Chapter Six: One World Meets The Other~~~~

As Harry, Ron and Hermione watched in shock the three young men became completely solid and identifiable, and they realised exactly who it was they were now looking at. However the three new people didn't even notice anything yet considering that at the moment they were deep in a row with each other. Not that it would have mattered since the three Gryffindors were still too stunned to say anything, nor were they going to step in midst of the boys just in case this was some sort of trick. If they were right though, and the three people standing before them were who they thought they were, something was definitely not right.

'We warned you not to try to touch or use the stone, now look what you've done you foolish imbicile!' the first of the three young men said angrily glaring at one of the others.

'Oh right blame me for this! Why is everything always my fault?' the second person said glaring right back at the first person.

'Mainly because it usually is your fault. However this time I think I will say it's not really your fault...you didn't know what would happen, none of us could have,' the third person said quietly and stepped between the two other boys hesitantly.

'That's not an excuse. Didn't you learn anything in Muggle Studies? You never touch an object you don't know anything about without investigating it first!' the first person said in a huff peering round the second boy.

'Oh right like I was supposed to stop and examine the thing when he's the one who picked it up in the first place!' the second boy muttered and pointed to the third boy. 'Give me a break will you?'

'Oh give it a rest the both of you, this isn't getting us anywhere. Just goes to prove that things shouldn't be messed with unless you know about them I guess. Still you shouldn't have tried to screw round with it after we told you how dangerous they can be,' the third boy grumbled and glared at the second boy.

Harry finally seemed to have enough of the arguing and without moving from his spot on the floor hesitantly said, 'Err...hello?'

The first boy looked round at hearing those words and his eyes narrowed in suspicion when his eyes fell on the person who'd spoken. Elbowing the third person in the ribs slightly he leaned in and whispered something into the boys ear, causing the third boy to look up sharply at Harry in particular. 'Now that's strange....' the boy said oddly.

'What's strange?' the second boy said turning round himself now to see what the other two were looking at. His eyes grew round when he saw Harry, and with a quick glance at the Yule tree gave a low whistle. 'Err...yup definitely strange. To quote a line from one of Lil's favourite Muggle films...'I don't think we're in Kansas any more Toto...'

'I think that's a bit obvious don't you? If I didn't know better though...I'd say...we're...back at...Hogwarts? In the Gryffindor common room?' the third boy said completely surprised.

The other two boys looked round a moment and nodded slightly, though there was a frown on the third boy's face. 'Yes..and no. I mean it looks like the commons but...somethings not quite right on it.' Walking over to where the three others were he eyed them for a moment wearily before turning towards Harry with a suspicious look. 'Jamie? Did you pull some type of strange prank on us? Why aren't you asleep in the tent? And who are those two....never seen them before...'

Harry, Ron and Hermione looked at the three newcomers shock written all over their faces. Finally Harry spoke up in a strange voice and said, 'I'm not Jamie...er....James...I'm...I'm Harry.'

'Well you sure do look like him, which I'm not so sure is a good thing,' the second boy joked and walked over to where the three were sitting with a slight grin. 'Name's Sirius...Sirius Black. Nice to meet you, Harry. This here's Remus Lupin...and that bloke back there is Severus Snape,' he said pointing out the respected people.

'Stop the formalities will you, Black? It's clear this is some Gryffindor prank,' Severus said striding over to where Harry and the other were in a huff. 'What's going on here? I swear if that is you Potter and you've done something stupid to us you're not going to get away with it without a reprimand or something,' he said glaring suspiciously at Harry.

'I-I don't know what you mean Professor...err...Snape....sir. I'm telling the truth, I'm...I'm not James,' Harry stammered, totally bewildered at what was going on.

'Professor? Ha! Lad thinks Snape's a professor, did you hear that? The day Snape becomes a professor of anything...I'll eat my broom!' Sirius said laughing though there was a definite scowl on Severus and Remus's faces at those words.

'Actually umm...that is....err...what he means is...oh never mind...' Hermione began but just didn't seem to be able to tell this young Sirius the truth yet.

'Well anyway Miss err...' Remus began questioningly whilst looking at Hermione.

'Oh, it's Hermione...Hermione Granger,' she said blushing slightly.

'Yes ah...Hermione...you seem to look like an intelligent lass, can you perhaps tell us what is be going on here?' he said with a smile, causing Hermione to blush even harder.

'Oh no...don't even go there, 'Mione. I know what you're thinking and don't!' Ron said seeing the blush on her face. Getting up he faced Remus and said, 'Now listen here Lupin....or whoever you really are....you can't just come appearing from thin air and expect us to think you are who you say you are. It's not possible first off and second off.....well it's just not possible!'

'Oh stuff it Ron, honestly! Just ignore him, he's a bit hotheaded most times,' Hermione said glaring at Ron a moment then stood up and walked over to Remus with a smile. 'This is Ron Weasley by the way, and that's um...Harry...err...Potter,' she said hesitantly at mentioning Harry's last name.

'Weasley? You any relation to Bill Weasley? He's a friend of ours sort of, he's a first year though and a bit shy, but not a bad kid. And as for you Harry whew, you could easily pass for Jamie in looks...except for ah...he doesn't have green eyes. In fact none of the Potter family has green eyes,' Sirius said looking at Harry strangely.

'They're....they're my mum's eyes...' Harry said quietly, not sure what to make of all this.

'You're mum eh? Must be a pretty lass then to have such lovely eyes. Well you must be related to Jamie anyway seeing as how you have last name. You his cousin or something? Odd though...I thought I'd have met every single one of Jamie's family by now considering we're pretty much brothers. Can't believe I would have missed seeing someone who looks just like him. Uncanny how much you do look like him too...has anyone ever told you that?' Sirius asked.

'B-Brothers?' Harry said in shock and looked up at Sirius dazed.

'If you don't mind, Black I'm not interested in you and Potter's family life at the moment, we've got far bigger problems. Hasn't anyone else bothered to wonder why we are suddenly in the Gryffindor common room and not in Egypt? Or am I the only one who's thinking clearly?' Severus said glaring at Sirius for a moment.

'No Severus, you're not the only one, I'm quite curious myself. I'll give you odds though it has to do with what we found in the tomb,' Remus said thoughtfully.

'Tomb? You were in a tomb? And you found something?' Hermione said eagerly, an excited look on her face.

Remus turned to her and nodded. 'Yes, up until bout five minutes ago we were anyway,' he said frowning. 'Why do you ask Hermione?'

'What was it you found...er...Remus...' Hermione said, a slight tinge of red on her cheeks again.

'Oh for crying out loud, stop that, 'Mione!' Ron said irritated at the way Hermione would blush every time she spoke to Remus. Turning to Remus now he said in a cold voice, 'Look here whoever you people are, if this is some sort of sick joke...you picked the wrong people to have a go at it with. I bet your just Malfoy and his cronies in disguise....using a Polyjuice Potion or something right? I mean no one else would play such a horrible joke on us....especially on Harry!' he exclaimed angrily.

Remus and Sirius looked at Ron in shock, while Severus's expression remained nuetral. 'Look I don't know what's going on here any more than you do, but don't you dare accuse us of being Malfoy and his goons. That's just disgusting!' Sirius said with a scowl.

'I'm wondering who you three are myself. Considering that fact that although I don't know all the Gryffindor's by name I certainly do by sight. I can also assure you that Lucius would have no need to stoop to such a low level as to us Polyjuice Potion to pull a prank, he's far too crafty for the likes of that, not to mention he's too stupid to know how to brew such a complex potion as that in the first place,' Severus said coldly.

Remus sighed and shook his head. 'Why do I really wish this was just a bad dream right about now? Maybe we're having a hallucination or something?' he asked Sirius and Severus hopefully.

'A mass hallucination, Lupin? I hardly think so considering if we were, why would we have hallucinations about being back at Hogwarts of all places? As if I would want to have some strange 'hallucination' about being in the Gryffindor commons anyway,' Severus said haughtily.

'As much time as you spend in the bloody Gryffindor commons studying with Remus 'stead of slinking off to the dungeons were you belong, you probably would, Snape,' Sirius bit back coolly.

'Don't even go there Sirius, I don't think we need to be having a row about that issue again right now,' Remus said giving Sirius a cold glance. Then he turned back to the other three suspiciously and said, 'So who are you really? If you're not Jamie or Bill...'

'They're not, honestly they aren't umm..Remus,' Hermione said jumping over to defend her friends, and for a change not blushing. 'Look, I don't know what's going on here...but I think we maybe should see Professor Dumbledore. This is getting weirder by the minute,' she said giving the still glaring Ron and the still half stunned Harry a pleading look for help.

Ron didn't even give her a glance, but Harry however broke out of his revere and picked up the reference. Standing up finally he nodded his head slowly, a strange expression on his face as he looked at other three boys. 'I agree. Dumbledore will probably know what to do bout this. Let's go see him, he should be in his office hopefully,' he said quietly, and without another word he headed towards the portrait.

Remus, Sirius and Severus passed a look between each other before nodding slowly. 'All right...I guess that would be a good idea. I don't think this is going to go over so well though considering he knows we're supposed to be in Egypt...' Sirius said a bit skeptically.

'Well if anyone could figure out what's going on here, Black it would be Professor Dumbledore. No one is as wise as he is, he's probably the only one who will know what's going on,' Severus said firmly.

Severus, Remus and Sirius followed Ron, Hermione and Harry to Dumbledore's office, each of them lost within their own thoughts. None of them knew what to make of all this, and it was getting stranger by the minute as they walked down to the gargoyle. As they rounded the corner of the corridor in which Dumbledore's offices were, a voice called out 'Come back 'ere yah scurvy dogs!' causing each of the three newcomers to jump in surprise. Ron, Hermione and Harry actually grinned at that but moved on quickly, avoiding the particular painting and not even giving it a second glance.

'Umm...Remus? I know I don't have the greatest memory here but...I've been through this corridor to Dumbledore's office a thousand times probably by now...and umm....was that portrait always in that spot?' Sirius asked glancing back down the corridor at the painting that was still verbally trying to assault them.

Remus glanced back at the portrait a moment then shook his head trying to remember. 'Err...I'm not sure. Do you know, Sev?' he asked Severus in a puzzled voice.

Severus had a thoughtful expression on his face as if he was also trying to remember on that, and was completely oblivious to the fact that Sirius had turned round suddenly and was now giving him and Remus a strange look at the use of the name. 'It wasn't Sir Cardogan, I know that much. It doesn't matter, let's get this over with. Personally I'd rather be back at the tomb,' he said almost wistfully and glanced at Remus a moment. He could see his friend tense up at that and get a sad look on his face, but for now he chose not to ask why.

'I actually agree with you, Snape. Let's hurry and get this over with so I can get back to bed,' Sirius said with a slight yawn, though he was still giving Remus and Severus strange glances.

'Bed? But it's morning time!' Hermione said with surprise.

'Maybe it is here, but in Egypt it's the middle of the night....err...or was anyway before we left...or rather before this happened,' Remus said yawning slightly himself.

'Here we are,' Harry said quietly as they finally arrived. 'Lemon Drops,' he said to the gargoyle who promptly moved out of the way. The six of them took the staircase up to the private offices of Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts. All of them hoping he would have the answers to whatever this was that had happened. Because they all knew that if Albus Dumbledore wasn't able to help them, no one else in the world could.

As the six teens made their way up the spiral staircase quite a few questions were on all of their minds. Harry, Ron and Hermione weren't sure what to make of seeing the three visitors of the past, and the visitors were wondering exactly what they had gotten themselves into. Not just because they were back at Hogwarts suddenly, but because things that should have been, or shouldn't have rather, were.

Knocking on the inner door to the Headmaster's office gently Harry peeked round hesitantly and called out, 'Professor? Are you here?'

'Ah, Harry! Yes, of course. Please, do come in,' Albus said with a smile, though it slightly waivered as he spotted the three newcomers. 'I see you have some...guests...with you today,' he said slowly.

Harry nodded and glanced at Severus, Remus and Sirius a moment. 'They err...that is...'

'They just appeared out of nowhere Professor, whilst we were opening our Christmas gifts. Or rather whilst Harry was opening a gift from Bill Weasley I mean,' Hermione said cutting in now.

'Yeah, they claim to be Remus, Sirius and...Snape,' Ron said glaring again, this time at Severus in particular. 'Though I know they can't be because....well just because,' he grumbled.

'Stuff it, Ron, obviously they are who they say they are, I mean the resemblance is blatant. Don't you think, Professor?' Hermione said turning towards Albus now questioningly.

Albus looked at the three youths before him searchingly for a moment then nodded slightly. 'Yes...and no. There are similarities...yet I sense differences within them as well,' he said quietly and gazed thoughtfully at the three boys. 'Perhaps, if I might that is, may I ask you each a question or two?'

Severus, Remus and Sirius looked a bit surprised, then a bit leery, but all three nodded. 'If it will get us anywhere sure, why not, Professor. As it is my father is going to kill me for disappearing like we did,' Remus muttered a bit crossly and slightly groaned.

'Yeah and he means that almost literally too, Professor. You know what his father is like when he gets angry,' Sirius said slightly shuddering. Meyer Lupin certainly was going to be angry with his son, and maybe even Severus and himself as well.

'Actually I have a good feeling I may not know what his father is like, Sirius. However, that will start me on my first question,' Albus said turning to Remus now. 'Why would you're father be so angry with you, Remus?' he asked gently.

Remus stared at Albus as if he'd grown another head for a moment. Then to Harry, Hermione and even Ron's surprise a Malfoyish like smirk they'd never seen from the Remus Lupin they knew came across his face. 'I know you're getting a bit up there Professor, but even you couldn't have forgotten what Slytherin's are like when they get angry, especially my father. My father hates me for every reason one can think of and probably more, and you know it. If this little prank or whatever this is causes him to get his permit pulled for the month....you know he wouldn't hesitate to cast an Unforgivable on me. Probably the Avada itself this time,' he said in a flat, emotionless tone of voice.

'He's not kidding either Professor. I've seen Mr. Lupin cast the Cruciatius Curse on Remy before....he's a mean son of a git,' Sirius said quietly and glanced at Remus sadly for a moment.

Harry, Ron, Hermione and even Severus let out a gasp of surprise and gave Remus a look torn between disbelief and pity, and from Severus also a look of sheer anger. However Albus had other things to say on the matter. 'Hmm, yes I can see one instance now in where things are not quite what they seem with our younger Remus here.'

'Why do you say 'younger' like that Professor?' Severus said, finally stepping into the conversation, still angered by what he had heard about his friend. He knew Meyer Lupin was dark-sided, but to cast an Unforgivable on your own son? That was information Remus himself in all the time he'd known the lad had never told him, and moving slightly towards Remus without being too obvious he hoped he felt a sudden need to protect his friend.

Though everyone else had missed that half step closer by Severus, Albus hadn't. 'I have my reasons at the moment for not saying more on that, Severus, though I dare say you will know soon enough. However if I might continue?' he asked turning to Severus now.

Severus hesitated a moment, then nodded. 'Of course sir, I have never questioned your wisdom or words, and I won't start now,' he said keeping his head held high and focusing his coal black eyed gaze on the headmaster. He had great respect for this man for a lot of reasons, but he was also a Slytherin, and not going to be put down like a child either.

'Tell me Severus, you're parents....they are both Slytherins?' Albus asked.

"Of course they are, Snape's have always been Slytherins er...well there was my Uncle Artimus who if you recall was a Ravenclaw, but my father refused to speak with him of course and disowned him as a brother. He was angry on that issue I can assure you, said it was a disgrace to the Snape name,' Severus said.

'I see, yet you did not wish to be a Slytherin either, did you, Severus,' Albus said quietly, leveling another searching gaze on the lad, making him squirm slightly.

Severus glanced at Remus a moment who nodded slightly, and then at Sirius who was looking at him puzzled. Finally turning his gaze back to the headmaster he said in a low voice, 'No sir....you know I didn't want to be in Slytherin.' With a sigh now he shook his head sadly and said wistfully, 'I really wanted to be like Uncle Artimus...but...well my family...my father...I couldn't refuse to go to Slytherin.'

'Then you have no desire at all to follow in your....parents...footsteps?' Albus said.

Severus became angered by that comment. 'Absolutely not! I have no intentions of doing what my parents want of me in that instance and becoming a puppet on a string. They can go off and become followers of Voldemort, if they're not already, but I personally will not. I might have forced the hat into putting me in Slytherin when it did want to put me in Ravenclaw, but I am not going to bow down and just accept what they expect of me anymore...even if....even if it means getting disowned too. I won't do it, you hear me? I am going to be a Potion's Master...I...I have to be a Potion's Master...it's the only thing I'm good at...it's all I know...you know that's all I want...all I ever wanted...' he said in a more waivered voice then he intended and then sighed deeply for admitting his weakness in front of the man he considered a mentor.

'Severus?' Sirius said in an odd voice and stepped in towards him hesitantly. He was surprised at what Severus said, it was the last thing he had expected to hear from the very proud Slytherin. For a moment, Sirius felt a strange surge of happiness that Severus wasn't going to be like both their parents and become dark sided, and he felt proud of Severus for saying what he had.

Severus now turned to Sirius with a guarded look however, one Sirius had never seen on the Slytherin boy. 'Now that you know, please keep it to yourself. Call it another 'bonus' on our secrets swap if you want. And if I ever heard one word from Potter or Pettigrew about any of this...I'll...I'll personally have your hide,' he said scowling, though somehow it didn't sound as threatening as it should have.

Sirius however understood and stepped back a pace, nodding at Severus with a slight grin on his face. 'Actually I'd be more afraid you'd try to poison me again than anything else,' he said with a slight chuckle.

Severus and Remus gave each other an odd look then suddenly they both chuckled. 'Oh I remember when we did that! Took us over a day to find the antidote and everyone was going out of their minds with worry. Even Jigger didn't know which potion we used. We really didn't mean it you know, we didn't know an extra ingredient got in when we brewed the potion. It was only supposed to petrify you for an hour, not poison and petrify you,' Remus said slightly blushing.

'Yeah well the next time you two pull a prank on me, don't make me a living corpse all right? I swear I thought Pomfrey was ready to order my coffin up if you hadn't come through in the end,' Sirius said with a slight groan.

'Maybe next time you'll keep your hands off my broom then in the middle of a match eh, Black? Though I have to say it was worth us having a week's worth of a detentions for that prank. You were only down a few days, whilst I was laid up in Hospital Wing a whole fortnight getting stuffed with Pomfrey's horrid concoctions. No offence Headmaster but that woman cannot brew a potion to save her life,' Severus said with a grimace.

'Wait...you ride...a broom?' Harry said suddenly, staring at Severus in shock. One thing Harry did know was that the Professor Snape he knew hated brooms with a passion and never got on one unless it was life or death if that.

'Of course he rides a broom, you can't be a seeker if you don't use one!' Remus said gazing up at the air amusedly.

'S-seeker? You're...a seeker?' Hermione said, astonished herself now.

'Best seeker Slytherin has had in over 400 years, that much I'll admit. When Snape's in the air no one stands a chance at the Snitch. Good thing though we have Pete, he's the only one who's at matching Snape in getting the Snitch,' Sirius said grinning.

'That's only when you Gryffindor's aren't cheating that is,' Severus bit back with an amused grin. 'You'd think Potter was a Slytherin the way he thinks sometimes in his strategies.'

'Awe come on, Snape, we don't exactly cheat...Jamie just evens the odds a bit...' Sirius laughed.

'Oh will you two shut it? Honestly, just give away all our Quidditch secrets why don't you, Sirius!' Remus said and sent Sirius a mocking glare. 'Besides, we shouldn't be discussing this in front of them...' he said giving Harry, Ron, Hermione and even Albus a quick glance.

Both Severus and Sirius looked a bit shameful then and glanced down to the floor, fidgeting a bit. 'Sorry Remy, you're right. Err...did you have more questions for us Professor?' Sirius said now glancing back at Albus, who had a slightly amused, yet pensive look on his face.

Albus nodded at Sirius and settled his gaze on him now. 'Tell me, Sirius, as far as you're parents, they were Gryffindor's as well?'

Sirius blanched at those words and gave Albus a dark look before dropping his gaze to the floor with a shake of his head. 'I-I...the past is dead and buried...I don't see what it has to do with anything. Why would you even ask me such a question when you already know the answer to that Professor,' he said slowly.

'I can see it is a difficult question...but I would like you to answer it for me, Sirius,' Albus said firmly.

Sirius scowled and shook his head again, his body beginning to shiver. 'You know they weren't...they...they were...' he began in a tight voice but was cut off by Remus.

'Professor I can't believe you would do this to him...how could you! You know full well they were Slytherin's and dark magic users of the worst sort. You helped put them in Azkaban yourself! His parents are dead finally and all he wants to do is forget they existed, so how can you of all people be so insensitive to remind him of them now?' Remus said angrily and gave Albus a glare before going over to put his arm round his friend in comfort, and whispered a few words into Sirius's ear to get him to stop shaking.

'Hmm...very well, I will not ask again,' Albus said quietly, surprized at Remus's outburst and the information he had received. He then got up from his desk to stand before the three boys, and looking at each one in turn he said in a straight forward voice, 'It's clear to me now that you are not from the past as I first thought.'

'The past? I don't understand...' Severus said suddenly and turned his gaze away from Sirius who was still pale and whispering things back to Remus in effort to calm down.

Turning to Harry, Ron and Hermione he said now, 'If you three would be so kind as to collect certain people for me I would appreciate it. I'm sure you know who and what I would want of you. Bring them here and then wait outside, I will let you know when to enter again. And oh yes, please say nothing about why you want them to come, just tell them I've asked for them.'

Harry, Ron and Hermione understood perfectly, and with a strange look at the three others left the room, closing the door behind them. As Severus watched them go, his suspicions began to get the better of him and he turned back to the headmaster with a questioning look. 'All right Headmaster, you want to stop hedging round here and tell us what this is really about now?'