tamchronin | Erised - Chapter Fourteen (Reply)

This is the author's note that never ends...yes it goes on and on my friends...this author started writing it, not knowing what it was...but she'll continue writing it forever just because this is the author's note that never ends...

The art of misdirection is one of the oldest deceptions in the book.

No, I'm not sure which book that is. It's simply the proverbial book that supposedly has recorded everything that ever was in history, such as the supposed oldest profession in the book and the proverbial first man who invented the wheel and the hypothetical man who first discovered fire.

No, I am not going to send Ron, Harry, and Hermione to look into any of these, or find the "book" or anything else.

Now shoo. I've got writing to do.

Chapter Fourteen

Somewhere in the Mists of Time

They huddled together under the tree again the next day, Sunday, even though the weather was starting to take a turn for the worth. They were all in their winter cloaks, and Remus had conjured a small fire that she kept in a glass jar to give a bit of warmth when they needed it. He passed it around, and Lily was currently the one holding it to thaw out her numb fingers.

"We've been over it all," James was saying wearily. "I still can't come up with anything."

They all nodded in agreement, starting to look a bit worried.

"It's impossible," Remus said slowly, "but it happened. He couldn't have just left, so--"

"What about a Portkey?" Lily asked suddenly, straightening. "That could do it, right?"

"No," Snape said immediately. "He didn't disappear like that. It wasn't a rushing away sort of thing, he seemed to fade for just a moment and then was gone."

Lily bit her bottom lip, thinking it over. "That sounds more like an invisibility spell to me."

Sirius shook his head. "It didn't sound right, and it didn't, well, smell right, for that. Invisibility wouldn't be accompanied by a shift in the air the way this was, and I remember a distinct whooshing sound. Not a pop, like Apparition, but the person who did this wasn't there anymore."

They all fell silent again. It didn't make sense at all. How could someone be there, and then suddenly not be there? There were too many ways, and it seemed as if they'd discounted them all.

"What else is there?"

Lily passed the jar on to Snape, shaking her head. "I keep thinking that we're missing something glaringly obvious, but when I try to think of it, the thought vanishes."

Snape nodded, wrapping his fingers eagerly around the jar. "That's exactly how I feel. The harder I chase the idea, the faster it runs away." He scowled and muttered a curse under his breath. "You don't suppose he obfuscated the answer someh--?" He stopped himself with a shake of his head.

"If he had, it shouldn't affect me," Lily answered for him grimly. "I wonder if anyone else has figured it out?"

"It doesn't matter if they did," Sirius said with a shake of his head. "They wouldn't tell us. They'd want to keep the secret, so we wouldn't go looking for trouble."

"Only because they're so used to you finding it," Snape said, glaring.

"Oh, and they'd tell someone who'd kept perfectly behaved?"

Everyone looked at Lily at the same time, with wondering looks.

"Wait. What?" Lily looked around the circle, quickly shaking her head. "Don't look at me. They'd wonder why I'd want to know suddenly, if I started asking around about something I'm not even supposed to know about."

Everyone's attention shifted to Snape, but the idea was too ridiculous to keep their attention on him.

"It wouldn't hurt for me to ask," Snape said, as he realized the attention had dropped.

It was almost comical how everyone had the same looks on their faces. It was an interesting mix of doubt and surprise, which apparently offended Snape.

"I want to know what's going on at least as much as the rest of you," he reminded them. "I was almost killed, you know."

"Oh, right, I'd almost forgotten," Sirius said, as he rolled his eyes. "I have a hard time remembering if you don't tell me at least every five minutes."

"I could tattoo it on your forehead," Snape said humorlessly.

"But then I'd never see it, so I'd forget as soon as the pain was gone. You'd better just keep telling me."

"Not as much as you preen in any reflective surface. You'd see it every two minutes until you die, at least."

"I do not!" Sirius protested, scrambling to his feet and pointing an accusing finger at Snape. He obviously felt that the statement needed to be backed up by looming over everyone.

The rest of the circle snickered at him, though Lily was at least polite enough to cover her mouth with the back of her hand while she did.

"Do I?"

Remus held off his snickering long enough to reply, "Sorry. Snape's got you dead to rights, there."

They all laughed then, including Sirius who sat back down and gave Snape a slight shake of his head. "You win--this time. But I'll be back."

"Here I thought you always fancied yourself the good guy," Snape rolled his eyes; he was the only one in the group not showing signs of enjoying the open camaraderie of the rest of the group.

"Doesn't everyone?" he asked simply, holding his hands out for the jar of magical fire.

"No." Snape actually looked confused by that. "I mean, I don't think anyone sets out to be a bad guy, but I think most people are at least reasonable enough to realize there are no good guys or bad guys. It is all a matter of perspective."

James shook his head. "I want to be a good guy when I grow up, and I think that's why I'm trying to get all the craziness out now, while I can still enjoy it, you know? I mean, I've always thought that way. I wanted to grow up to be a knight in shining armor, and save the day, when I was little. Rescue damsels in distress, and all that."

Remus nodded along with what James said. "Me, too, though I always wanted to be more like Merlin, or Professor Dumbledore. It'll never happen, and I know that now, but that's what I wanted as a kid. To be a powerful wizard that everyone could look up to."

"You still could," Lily said immediately.

Snape sneered and turned away.

Remus shook his head at first, then smiled sheepishly and shrugged. "Maybe. We'll see."

"That's more like it," she said, smiling. "And I'd be surprised if we don't all end up to be at least that great."

"I never cared much about good guys and bad guys," Sirius volunteered, not wanting to be left out in this. "I just wanted to piss off my parents."

"How nice for you," Snape muttered. "This isn't getting us any closer to solving our favorite mystery, however, so I'm going somewhere warmer. It's colder than a--"

What it was colder than was left unfinished, however. Snape had stood up, turning around to leave, and he walked into someone who hadn't been there a moment before. This someone was accompanied by two other someones.

"Oh no! No one was supposed to be here right now!" the girl Snape had run into said, almost falling over.

The group stared at the new trio in shock. They'd just appeared, out of nowhere.

"Was it like that?" Lily whispered to James.

He nodded, but for some reason that didn't concern him at all. He was staring at one of the boys as if he'd seen a ghost. It was uncanny, really, but it was almost like looking into a mirror at a boy maybe a year younger than him, with a scar on his forehead and glasses with slightly different frames (as if that were somehow an inherited trait? Come on, James.) The most uncanny part, though, was that the other boy's eyes weren't the same shade of hazel, but were very large and bright green and very familiar to him though it took him quite longer than it should to place where he'd seen such beautiful eyes before.

Of course. Sitting next to him, with long auburn hair. He'd dreamed about those eyes for years now. He looked at Lily for a moment, as if to confirm it, and then he couldn't contain it anymore.

"We're all idiots! It was time travel all along!"

They all, even the newcomers, stared at him in complete confusion, but he knew he'd solved it. The man who attacked Severus and killed Peter had to have been a time traveler.