James gasped, the starry sky of the arctic above him. He was being crushed. Body collapsing. Something had gone wrong. Too much power? Was Harry so strong that it was destroying James’s body?

“James!”

The weight disappeared as his mother let go of him from her deathgrip hug. Tears were streaming down her face.

“James! Are you okay? FLEAMONT! James is awake! Let’s get him to a healer!”

The face of his father appeared over the night sky. Harry looked so much like him…

“Harry!”

“Oh Merlin he’s deranged!” Euphemia said, panicking. “James? James! It's me, your mother, do you recognize me?”

“Yes Mum,” James said, trying to sit up.

“Just lay down we’re gonna-”

“No, let me up.”

“Dear, let him up,” Fleamont said, eyes slightly narrowed as he scanned the James face, then the ground.

James stood and looked across the ritual circle. Harry lay there, on his back, green eyes dull and a smirk on his face.

“H-harry…” James stuttered, moving to the body of his geriatric son.

He knelt down, tears burning in his eyes. He saw boots move opposite him and looked up to see his father. Staring from James, to Harry, to the Runes around them back to James.

“James… what is the first thing you said after getting your Hogwarts letter,” Fleamont asked, voice slightly cold.

James saw the wand in his fathers hand.

“Uh, I’m going to rule the school.”

Fleamont nodded, a bit of the tension ebbing away, but still kept his wand out.

“Who is this? Is he the one who took you?”

James didn’t even know where to begin.

“I’m going to skin that fleabags buttcheeks off of him and roll it up to bugger him with!” his Mum said, storming over and pointing a wand at Harry’s corpse.

“No!” James said, moving between the two. “Wait, eww. Gross Mum.”

Fleamont was looking at Harry as well, eyes slowly widening as he recognized the features. In haste he looked more closely at the runes on the ground.

“Merlin’s wrinkled balls,” Fleamont said, hastily taking out a notepad and writing things down.

“What? What’s happened to James?”

“This is… This is our spell.”

“Huh?” James and Euphemia said at the same time.

“This-” Dad waved to the runic circle. “Is Potter Family Magic.”

“Oh- That makes sense I was wondering why it wasn’t more common,” James said.

“What do you mean Monty?”

“This ritual is a war ritual. Used before the Statute of Secrecy came into place and wizards still fought in muggle wars. It will take the magic of one family member and give it to another. The closer the blood ties, the better the transfer rate.”

Euphemia blinked.

“This old man that kidnapped our son is a part of your family?”

“I- wait let me decipher these runes it will show the relation.”

“He’s my son,” James said, voice dull.

His parents looked at him in confusion before Fleamont angrily scrawled on his notepad.

“Crazy bint must have messed something up if it addled our son. Harry… did we have a Harry? Maybe Harold, or Hadrian… no, not for four hundred years. Ritual wouldn’t even be worth it for that level of relation.”

“Dad, Harry is Harry James Potter, my son who traveled back in time.”

Fleamont stopped and looked at James. Euphemia did the same, her eyes growing wider.

“Are you su-”

“Yes. Very sure.”

Fleamont obviously didn’t completely trust his words because he spent the next few minutes breaking down the runes.

“He’s right… it even has his name spelled out Harry James Potter, Son of James Fleamont Potter,” Fleamont said in horror. “But- but why?! Time magic? That could ruin the entire family if it got out? Why would he ever need to do something like that?”

Harry had told him that he trusted James to tell the right people at the right time about what he knew.

“Because we all died… Everyone,” James said quietly. “A few years from now due to Dragon Pox. I died when I was twenty one along with Harry’s mother, murdered by Voldemort.”

They both hissed, wands at the ready.

“Don’t worry, we are out of the Taboo’s range. Harry came from the future, where everyone he ever loved was killed. His wives, children, us, friends. Eventually he stopped Voldemort, but still it started a war with the Muggle world, and the entire world was thrown into chaos.”

“So he came back in time?” Fleamont said, still not trusting everything.

Meanwhile Euphemia’s eyes were starting to tear up.

“Yes… he, er, well originally he was aiming for when I was eleven and he was going to, well implant instructions in my head, but he messed up the calculations, so he came a few years later and was able to live a few months longer. He spent the past six weeks training me and telling me all about the future.”

“Why didn’t he just come to us? Or kill Voldemort himself. Boy had the power to travel what seems to be more than a hundred years, should have been able to kill one Dark Lord if he did it before.”

“Uh, well he said he didn’t really know you guys, and while he didn’t know me, he knew about me. Also well, try not to spread this around alright?”

Fleamont’s eyes narrowed, while Euphemia was still looking from Harry’s body to James.

“Depends.”

“Well then I’m not going to tell you. We made a plan. Harry could have-”

James’s eyes widened.

He remembered something. The ring, Harry had told him a bit about the Hallows, and how the Potters actually had the cloak, that was when he remembered the ring and the insignia on it. He hadn’t told Harry, surely Harry would have known, and he wanted to save that knowledge for after Harry was dead so that Harry wouldn’t hide the stone and James could use it.

He scrambled to his clothing, where he still kept the ring and took it out.

His parents called to him, but he ignored them, turning the stone three times in his hand.

“Really James? Not even an hour and you’re already calling me?”

James looked up to see Harry.

He looked different, middle aged instead of decrepit. Hair dark with lines of silver, green eyes present even with the ghostly form.

“H-Harry,” James choked out.

Harry rolled his eyes.

“James.”

“This is-”

“Hello Fleamont and Euphemia.”

“Harry right? Our supposed grandson?” Fleamont said, moving forwart to look at the ring James carried in confusion.

“Yeah, though I never met you guys, even as a baby.”

“Why did you not come to us?”

“Didn’t know anything about you did I? Sure Sirius had nothing but compliments for you two, but he was also dumb sometimes. I didn’t want to waste time gaining your trust when I could have spent it training James.”

“Training James to what?”

“Kill Voldemort, stop a global war or Muggle and Magical, the usual.”

“He’s fifteen!” Euphemia growled, anguish now replaced with anger.

“I killed my first person at eleven. Saw one of my friends die at fourteen, watched the last of my family die at fifteen. James would be dead in less than a decade, you two less than that. James has the potential to change everything. He is a leader beyond even the likes of Dumbledore and Voldemort. I’m not telling him to go out now and start chopping heads, but he is the best chance I had to save billions of lives.”

Harry’s ghostly form glared at his grandparents.

“James has all the tools needed now to do that. And instead of trying to coddle him, help him. Take away some of the burden I’ve placed on your son. Give him the room he needs to still be a kid.”

Damn, that's some Dumbledore level manipulation. James never even thought about that.

“Spoken like a Slytherin,” Fleamont said, voice quiet with rage.

Harry rolled his eyes.

“Houses are just that, school yard placements. And I was a Gryffindor thank you very much.”

Euphemia opened her mouth, but Harry raised a hand.

“Please, lets not argue. I don’t want that to be your only memory of me.”

That got them both to quiet down. Harry was surprisingly good at manipulating people. Then again he had kidnapped James and quickly convinced him to take on the worst Dark Lord in history.

“James… I don’t want you to call me again. Its not healthy. I’m not even a ghost. I am both more and less, and it can drive you insane.”

“But… I still need you.”

Harry moved to stand closer to James, and James realized even as a healthy adult Harry was still rather short. From years of malnutrition no doubt.

“James, you don’t need me any more. That’s why I chose you to do this.”

James scowled, then growled out.

“Well then I still want you around then! I want to see the son that never grew up with me!”

Harry smiled fondly.

“How about we make a deal then?”

James glared at his middle aged son.

“What?”

“How about you can only summon me on certain occasions.”

James thought about it for a minute when Fleamont spoke up.

“That is the Ressurection Stone right?”

“Yes,” Harry replied. “It belonged to the Gaunts but James and I picked it up. I’d ask that you not tell anyone that though, or Voldemort would come after you instantly.”

“Why would- Ah, Voldemort is a Gaunt I assume. That was one of the theories thrown around.”

“James can tell you more about it later.”

“Well… James I would agree with… your son? Harry? My grandson? Merlin this is weird talking to someone who looks the same age as me, but is actually far older and from the future, while also being my son’s son.”

“Oh trust me, its been all sorts of awkward for me too. And don’t forget my still cooling corpse behind you all.”

No one laughed except Harry.

“But I would agree with him James,” Fleamont continued. “The Resurrection Stone is not meant to be used regularly, especially with loved ones. It was meant to gain wisdom only.”

James scowled, tears building again. He’d never cried so much in his life as he had today. He looked at the ring in his hand.

“What are the occasions?” James asked finally.

“One. When the mission I gave you is complete.”

Voldemorts death.

“Two, the day you get married, regardless of whom to,” Harry continued with a knowing smile.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence for your old man,” James muttered.

“I lived ten of your lives, boy. Lastly is whenever a child of yours is born. All of those are worthy reasons to call me.”

“Or I could ignore all that and just do it whenever I wanted,” James said.

Harry scoffed.

“Jamie boy, I collected all three Hallows, I am The Master of Death. I only accepted this calling because I felt it was necessary.”

“Well you can go shove the Elder Wand right up your arse then,” James said angrily.

“Do not speak to your son like that!” Mum said, smacking James upside the head.

That broke the tension and one after the other they began to giggle and laugh.

“James, thank you for caring for me despite only knowing me for a few weeks. It means more to me than you could ever know. But I do have one last request.”