Amulet of Time 3: The Wolf and The Pelican

Chapter 27: The Big Prank and The Leaving Feast

By the end of the exam period, Harry was beyond despair. Sev had turned into a nervous wreck, despite the fact that he had obviously done well in all of his exams. Remus was still miserable, even though it had been several weeks since the Whomping Willow incident. Sirius was wisely avoiding Harry, something the older boy was grateful for. He knew that if he ever met Sirius alone, they would come to blows. He had meant every word he had said to both his godfather and his father the night of the attack. He wasn't impressed with the way the Gryffindor had behaved, and their relationship at the moment was strained at best. He dreaded going back to his own time, something the other time travellers couldn't identify with. They couldn't wait to see their families again, but Harry didn't know what he would say to his godfather when he saw him again. Although he logically knew that the man who had escaped Azkaban was very different from the carefree boy he knew now, he knew that what he had with Sirius before he left would never be the same.

Perhaps the most disturbing thing was that Lily and James still weren't speaking to each other. Harry had tried a few times to interfere, but Ron had always stopped him. The green eyed boy was beyond despair. Seeing his parents fighting like this was killing him inside, and there was nothing he could do about it. Logically, he knew that he shouldn't mess with their lives, but the temptation was too great. Eventually, a week after the exams had finished, and two days before the end of term, he decided to stop listening to Ron and speak to them anyway. He only had two more full days to see his parents alive and well, and he didn't intend to waste a moment.

At breakfast the morning of the second to last day, two owls headed down to opposite ends of the Gryffindor table, each taking a note to one to Harry's parents. The boy himself watched intently from the Slytherin table as Lily and James opened their notes and read them over carefully, each sending Harry a look across the Great Hall and nodding their heads slightly. Harry smiled back, and stood to exit the Hall, heading to a deserted classroom on the Charms corridor. Walking over to one of the windows, he watched the squid progressing across the surface of the lake as he waited. It didn't take long for Lily to knock tentatively on the door and come into the classroom.

" Harry?"

" Hello, Lily. How are you doing?"

" I'm fine, Harry, but I'm a bit confused. Why did you ask me here?"

" If you wait for a few minutes more you'll find out. I have something very important to discuss with you, and it can't wait."

Just then, there was another knock on the door, and James poked his head in.

" Harry? What's going on?" he said, before spotting Lily sitting in one of the chairs, " What's Lily doing here?"

" James, come in," Harry said, " We have some talking to do. All of us."

James and Lily both gave Harry strange looks, glancing at each other in confusion. After a few moments, James reluctantly stepped inside the classroom, closing the door behind him. He jumped a little when Harry, with a simple hand gesture, bolted the door behind him with a loud bang and threw up a silencing charm.

" Sit down, James, this could take a while. Firstly, there is something I would like to tell you. You see, I'm leaving soon, which means I won't be coming back next year. In fact, you won't see me again for a long time, and even then I'll be…different. The thing is, we only have two more days together, and I don't want to waste a minute of it. The problem is, it's kind of difficult to spend time with both of you when you're not speaking to each other."

" Why didn't you tell us before that you were leaving? Where are you going? Why can't we see you again? Does anyone else know about this?" Lily asked, distressed. Over the months she had known him, she had grown to appreciate Harry as a friend. He was very resourceful and brave, a perfect balance between Gryffindor and Slytherin. Harry looked back at her, a sorrowful look on his face, and tears pooled in her eyes.