To Before, From After: A Next Generation Harry Potter Time Travel FanFic

Chapter One

James Sirius Potter, named after two Marauders and the grandson of one. There was no one better to be called a mischief maker than him. His partner in crime was no exception. Fred Weasley, named after one of the infamous Weasley twins and the son of the other. Pair the two together and you got a force against nature.

Legend said that when Headmistress McGonagall called out James' name during his sorting ceremony she cried. Some say it was of sadness, for the two good men he was named after had both perished. James was the spitting image of his grandfather just without glasses.

Others said that Headmistress McGonagall cried because she could not bear to go through the traumatic experience of having another troublemaker at Hogwarts. Knowing his origins, people  thought that this was more than likely.

The plot just seemed to thicken when five names later she read Fred's name. The two greatest groups of pranksters Hogwarts had even seen, reincarnated into two children, whom are related to each other, in the same year and (she soon found out) were in the same house. Professor McGonagall almost fainted from grief!

But no one knew the full story except the Professor, and the two boys. 'You look just like him,' she whispered to each boy before they sat on the stool. 'Do them proud,' she said with a slight mischievous smile and watery eyes.

Even though their fathers had told them not to cause trouble, it was obvious to them from that day forward that they needed to live up to their namesakes, a challenge that they happily took up.

Four and a half years later, in the middle of their fifth year, their pranks were the best they had ever been.

The previous summer both Fred and James spent almost the entire time working with Fred's father and James's uncle, George Weasley at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes in Diagon Alley.

Their parents and relatives commended the boys on their sense of work ethic from a young age, but did not take into account any ulterior motive for this decision, surprising the boys because they thought it was so obvious.

This was the perfect front for the two best friends and cousins to spend their whole summer together planning pranks, and what better location than in a prank store. This had also given James and Fred the opportunity to earn lots of money, so that they could buy their prank supplies on their own, with no suspicion from their parents.

As a result, the pranks were bigger and better their fifth year, earning them more detentions in the first semester than they had combined the year prior. Needless to say, it was extremely unlikely that their parents would be consenting to any more summer time jobs.

Harry, Ginny, George and Angelina had visits with McGonagall three times to far.

Their last prank, involving a large magnitude of pranking products creating the worst damage that has been done to the school since the Battle of Hogwarts, resulted in them being sent home on Christmas break two weeks earlier with a stern warning from McGonagall; one more prank and they are expelled.

Apparently when the Professor told the boys to do their namesakes proud, she didn't mean pranks, although James and Fred were sure that their namesakes would still be smiling down on them for the amount of mischief they had caused.

Despite this, Fred and James were both in good spirits. They happily continued catching up on work that they had received via their cousin Molly who was luckily in the same year as them. She really took after her namesake and grandmother, as with every owl she sent back with their work, she accompanied it with a short insult about how idiotic the pair were, and telling them that they better have learned from their mistakes because the whole thing made her so anxious. Deep down they knew she loved them.

As part of their punishment, Harry had locked the two in Grimmauld Place. He had taken away wands, prank supplies and outside privileges, leaving them with only each other, their school work and an owl in an old crusty house to survive. Harry, Ginny, George and Angelina moved in temporarily, to keep stern watches over the boys, but during the day they all left for their jobs.

George left early in the morning but returned in time to help make dinner, whereas Ginny's job writing for the Daily Prophet allowed some flexibility. She spent as much time home as she could. Angelina worked in the Ministry in the Department of Magical Transportation, using her power in her role to disconnect the floo network temporarily. She was working long hours in the lead up to Christmas as it always was a stressful time for their department, people travelling to spend time with family.

Harry however, had scarcely been seen by the boys. Perhaps only three times during the two weeks. James overheard his mother one morning talking to Angelina before she left for work saying that there was a situation at the Ministry in dad's department and that there was a possibility that he and Aunt Hermione might miss spending Christmas with the family, which could only mean that it was bad.

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After a week and a half, James sat at his desk in his bedroom trying to write a potions essay, but he had no inspiration. Thus he sat there dully until his cousin and partner in crime broke his trance.

'Ahem,' said Fred as he stood at the doorway of James' room.

'Yeah,' James shot back turning his swivel chair to face Fred.

'Have you heard back from Anon?'

'Nah, not yet. But I only sent the owl last night.'

During their time working at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, Fred and James met a man at the Leaky Cauldron after they had finished their shifts one day. He was a Frenchman who went by the name Anon he had a heavy accent and a shared knack for mischief. They only met in person once, but the three had kept in contact through letters.

Two days ago Anon had made the boys an intriguing offer. He had come into possession of a magical necklace from a joke shop in Canada on his travels. He said that when he saw this item he immediately thought of the two boys, deciding to purchase one for them to send. As Fred and James had never been to Canada, they were curious to see what kind of items they had.

The deal was, the necklace (which by the way, they didn't know what it did) for eight galleons. It was much more than any sane person would spend on one pranking item, but then again, no one ever said they were sane. Their curiosity got the better of them and the next day they sent four galleons each to Anon in Canada.

Fred and James were eager to hear back as due to their current ban on everything fun, this was likely going to be their only form of amusement for a long time.

'True, it is Canada. That is a good two day flight one way for an owl,' Fred noted.

'How do you know that?' said James looking confused at his cousin.

'Mum's got an old book about owls,' he sighed sitting in the end of James' bed. 'I swear it's the only thing keeping me sane,' Fred said with a slight giggle, but James didn't find it funny.

Initially he did nothing to retaliate against their parents decision, but with each day, he got more and more restless and frustrated than ever. He was pretty sure that this had been the longest time he had spent without riding his broom. He was having serious withdrawal. James resorted to sliding down the staircase rail to get his daily thrill, although it usually ended up with him landing in a heap at the foot of the stairs.

Fred on the other hand took comfort in books, just about reading every book in the Black family library. Aunt Hermione would be proud, but the rest of the family would be worried. James wasn't sure if he had ever seen Fred read voluntarily.

Things were getting bad really fast, but it was only one more day until their cousins got home from school and then they would be free. Well, probably not, but they could hope, right?

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