Forward In Time

Chapter One:

EDITED Chapter One:

“Peter Pettigrew died just two years after you left,” though I was slightly saddened, it didn’t hurt nearly as bad as it would have if that were James, Remus or Sirius.

“Remus Lupin married one Nymphadora Tonks, and had one son named Teddy but his wife passed away, just a few years ago. James Potter married Lily Evans, they have three children. Harry, then three years later they had a set of twins. Tabitha and Tanner. James works at the Ministry while Lily teaches Muggle Studies here at Hogwarts.”

I grinned, feeling beyond happy that my friends lived such good lives. I felt terrible that Remus' wife had died, but that was the way of the world and with his son in his life, I'm sure he was happy. I wanted to dance hearing about James and his long-time crush, Lily. They hadn’t died, and Harry got to stay with his parents.

“Last but not least, we come to Sirius Black,” I sat up straighter, wanting more than anything to hear about the boy, now man, who I had fallen in love with. “He is our Transfiguration professor, he’s been married for twenty-five years now and has two children, Spencer and Sevanah, both of whom attend Hogwarts.”

It felt as if the anchor that had been weighing on my chest, lifted itself off only to plummet back down, bringing tears to my eyes to water. It hurt, more than I was ever willing to admit. But honestly, what did I expect? To wait for me all these years, and what if he had? He’d be in his fifties, and I’d still be stuck seventeen, then to add insult to injury…he named one of his daughters after me?

Gritting my teeth, I clenched my eyes shut, refusing to cry about this. It wasn’t fair. The only boy I ever knew for a fact I loved, and he’s married with kids!

“What about Harry Potter?”

“Yes, well. His life went much the same as you said it would when you spoke to Dumbledore when you were first sent back in time, except this time around he had siblings and parents, he’s never even met his aunt, uncle or cousin. Harry was never known as the Boy-Who-Lived, seeing as Voldemort never found the Potter’s safehouse. In his seventh year, he did defeat the Dark Lord, however, with the help of his friends. You saved a lot of people from terrible lives, and you should be thankful for that, Spencer. Now, I must say…Welcome back  to Hogwarts, Miss Spencer Snape.”

Luckily, I didn’t have to be sorted, instead I was sent straight to Gryffindor, and unlike Dumbledore, McGonagall remembered to tell me the password for the portrait.

Biting my lip, I wondered if I should go to visit Sirius. Would he remember me? Of course he would, he named his daughter after you, didn’t he? Sighing, I made up my mind and went to McGonagall’s old classroom and knocked on the door.

“Oh Merlin, don’t come in, I’m not dressed properly!” I smiled at his fake, high-pitched voice. He was still funny. “All right, I suppose you can come in now.”

I opened the door, squeezing through the smallest crack I could, pretty small considering my half-starved frame. His eyes were glued to a piece of small square paper and only after walking closer could I see what that piece of paper was. A picture…of me.

“When did that get taken?”

His dark brown eyes jerked up, meeting my own obsidian gaze. His face was worn, wrinkles lining his face but even so, you could see the crinkles near his eyes and mouth, showing how often he still smiled. He stared for several moments, his eyes blank, as if he was in shock or couldn’t believe what he was saying.

He completely ignored my question, instead he jumped up and immediately enveloped me in a hug. “I was wondering when I’d see you again. It’s been so long!”

“Actually…it’s only been about an hour or so.” I smiled though I knew it didn’t reach my eyes, as my mind was still on the fact that he was married. Married.

Blinking the tears away, I hugged him back, “But even so, I’ve missed you Sirius.”

“It’s Professor Black, to you, my dear girl.”

I could no longer hold back the flood, and I cried silently into his cloak.

It seemed to be hours before I was fit to pull away from him, I could feel the puffiness around my eyes, and they still burned uncontrollably with unshed tears.

"Sorry 'bout that," I muttered, my eyes refusing to meet his. Married. The word echoed around in my head, constantly reminding me that he had moved on after I left. I sniffed, taking a couple of steps back, and smiled weakly.

"It's all right, Spence."

"I have to go now. I'll uh...I'll see you later, Professor Black," I smirked, trying to ignore my heart which was in the middle of breaking, but I was sure he saw through the mask I was trying to put up. Turning on my heel, I booked it out of the room, hanging a left before stomping up the moving staircase towards the Gryffindor Common Room.

"Puking Pastels," I mumbled towards the picture before looking up at it. I wondered briefly where the name had come from before knocking that thought out of my head and entering the room. Things hadn't changed, everything looked the same as it always had, even after so many, many years.

It was relatively quiet in here, with only three small groups of students standing around, and one group whispering on the couch and chair in front of the fireplace. I looked around, wondering who was who's child.

"Oi! You!" I turned towards the couch, immediately recognizing the boy who had originally found me. Albus, Albus Potter. I smiled awkwardly and walked over towards him slowly. "Who are you?"

"I'm Spencer," I answered, not going into details, "and uh, thanks for having someone get McGonagall for me."

"As you know, I'm Albus Potter. This is my older brother, Severus," he paused as I seemed to choke on air.

"Sev-Severus?"

"Yes. He was named after a headmaster here at Hogwards just as I was. His name is James Severus but he prefers Sev. These are our cousins Rose and Fred."

I wasn't quite sure I could handle anymore names! Everyone was named after someone I used to know, and I wondered how everyone was, only I couldn't ask these people in front of me or else they'd get curious as to how I knew their parents or in some cases, grandparents.

“Ni-nice to meet you.  I have to go, s-sorry." 

I ran up to the dorms, feeling rather nauseous but I pushed that away before grabbing a spare bit of parchment off of someone’s desk and their quill and ink pot. I knew what I had to do to figure out what was happening in this world. I could no longer go to Sirius, I doubt I could speak to him without my heart breaking all over again so instead I’d write to James; since their was nobody else who knew about my predicament better than he or Remus.

“Dear James…..”