1997

James stood by the lake, tapping his foot. He glanced at his watch. "Where are they?" he asked out loud, frustrated.

"First sign of madness, talking to your watch," said a voice behind him, and James could hear the grin in the voice.

He knew who the voice belonged to without even turning around, and he replied, "Nah, you're not really mad until it starts answering back."

James turned around and found himself face-to-face with two of his best friends, Sirius and Remus. "Where's Wormtail?" he asked, referring to the fourth member of their group.

Remus sighed. "He tripped over the hem of his robes, knocked over three people, spilled a pot of hot water on Professor Argon, and broke the latch on a cage of kneazles."

"Detention again, huh?" James grinned.

"It's not funny, James," said Remus, though it wasn't in the sharp voice he usually used with his friends when they did that sort of thing. More like a tired, thin, strained sort of voice.

Sirius hadn't noticed. James, however, looked at his friend in concern.

"Moony, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," said Remus, shaking his head. "I'm just...tired, that's all."

Sirius shrugged. "Must be the weather. Look, it's a beautiful day, and Peter will be out here soon--he's just arranging the detention. What are we going to do?"

James shrugged as well. "I dunno. Pity the full moon isn't for another week..."

"I'm almost glad," said Remus, so quietly nobody but James heard him. "I don't think I could stand it."

The look of concern returned to James's face. "Moony, are you sure you're feeling all right?"

"I'm fine," Remus repeated.

Sirius stared at his two friends. "What has got into you two?"

"Nothing," said Remus and James in the same instant.

Suddenly there was a crash, a bang, and an exclamation of "Ow!"

"Hullo, Peter," said all three boys at once.

Peter, the fourth member of their group, got up, winced, and sat down with them on the rock they were sitting on.

"What did Professor Argon give you?" inquired James.

Peter sighed. "One night's worth. Cleaning the trophy room."

"Well, it could've been worse, with all that harmful stuff you did," pointed out Remus.

Peter sighed again. "With Gilderoy."

"Oh," his friends groaned. Gilderoy Lockhart was probably the most stuck-up boy in their year. He was in Gryffindor, somehow, and he was the type to start handing out autographs when he was introduced. The wall around his bed was covered with pictures of himself. Sirius had actually been reduced to tying him to his bed and clipping his mouth shut with a clothespin three weeks before so they could get any sleep. Fortunately, he wore one of those silly blindfolds when he slept, so he never noticed the Marauders sneaking out during the full moon. Behind his back, their entire year had voted him "Most Likely to Have His Memory Wiped for Being an Insufferable Git" unanimously, though they thought (rather dismally) that it was a fat chance.

Sirius sighed. "Can you guys realise we have this much free time? Exams are over!"

"I almost wish we still had exams," Remus murmured, tilting his head back. "Give me something to do...keep my mind occupied."

James clapped his hand to his forehead. "Oh, no! Exams are over?"

"Yeah," agreed Peter. "Great, isn't it? A whole week of gloriously doing nothing but loafing around..."

"No, it's not that," snapped James. "It's just--if we leave now, we'll probably have to take them again..."

"Leave?" inquired Sirius, bewildered. "What do you mean, leave?"

James turned his hazel gaze on his best friend. "For the future!"

"The what?" gasped Peter, confused as ever.

Remus, too, clapped a hand to his forehead. The force nearly knocked him over, but before James could voice his concern he spoke. "Oh, my gosh! We promised Hermione we'd go and visit her!"

"Oh, yeah!" cried Sirius and Peter in the same instant.

"I've still got that letter Alice wanted me to bring her son in the future," Sirius added, pulling the letter out of his pocket. On the front of the envelope, in Alice's neat handwriting, lilac ink formed the words Neville Longbottom, Gryffindor Tower, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"Maybe we should go look up time vortexes," suggested Peter, then winced. "Wow. Did I just suggest we do work?"

"That you did," nodded James. "And what's more, you're right."

"Two landmark events for Peter," approved Sirius. "Let's go."

The four of them crossed the grounds to the castle. As they climbed the stone steps, Remus suddenly clutched the railing of the steps and put his hand to his head.

James, Sirius, and Peter had continued climbing, but they stopped and turned around. "Remus, are you okay?" asked James anxiously, coming back down the stairs to his friend. It was a sign of how worried he was. The four of them always called each other by their nicknames--Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs. Only when they were extremely worried about one another, or surrounded by loads of people, did they use their real names.

Sirius followed James down the steps to Remus's side--even he had noticed this time that something was wrong. Peter stayed where he was.

Remus decided, when he heard his real name coming out of his friend's mouth in an isolated area, it was time to stop pretending he was all right. "I--I don't know. I just felt--woozy all of a sudden, kind of dizzy, like I was going to faint or be sick or something."

"We're taking you up to the hospital wing," said James firmly, taking charge. "Time vortex or no time vortex. If we have to we'll wait until next year to go. But we are not going to risk your health to do something stupid before next year. Come on."

James and Sirius together supported Remus. With Peter opening doors, they moved into the entrance hall and up the stairs.

As they moved through the endless maze of corridors and stairs, James kept talking to Remus, reassuring him, keeping him conscious.

"Come on--just a little farther--up this flight of stairs and two more corridors--"

Remus nodded, struggling to hold on to his fragile grasp on consciousness.

They went up the stairs--down a corridor--took a right turn--and stopped at--

A dead-end. The only thing down this corridor was a white spiral that, had they not been worried about Remus, they would have recognised as a time vortex. As it was, Sirius groaned. "Oh, no! Where did we go wrong?"

James and Sirius both let go of Remus. James pulled out the Marauder's map and activated it, and he, Sirius, and Peter poured over it.

"Oh, here's the problem, look, the stairs moved, we'll just have to--"

However, there was a small groan from behind them and a rushing, sucking sound. The three of them turned around and cried out in shock.

Remus had lost his already brittle grip on consciousness. Without anyone to hold him up, he had fainted and fallen to the floor, but had gone through the vortex.

"Moony!" shouted James, and without another thought, he plunged through the vortex as well.

Sirius hesitated before jumping, then turned to Peter. "Wormtail, listen carefully," he said. "Stay here and run interference. Don't hover around here, it'll look suspicious. Just--just make sure nobody else comes through. When we manage to get back through, we'll come and find you, all right?"

Peter nodded. "People are going to ask why I'm alone, Siri," he said nervously. "Won't that be suspicious?"

Sirius sighed. "This is not the time to argue, Pete, so I'll explain straight out. I am really worried about Remus--he could be really sick. James is likely to get himself in trouble, and he may have hit his head going through that vortex. I need to go make sure he's all right, and that Remus gets to the hospital wing okay. Here--" Sirius handed Peter the Marauder's Map, which James had dropped. "If you see anyone over by this corridor, get them away from it. When you see James and Remus and me here, go sit by the lake. We'll come meet you there. Go!"

With that, Sirius turned around and, without hesitation, plunged straight into the vortex. Peter stared for a minute, then hurried away.

~~~

"Here I come, to save the daaaaaaaaaay!" sang Sirius as he landed neatly on the other side of the time vortex.

James looked up sharply. "How did you do that?"
"Do what? Land on my feet?"

James nodded. Sirius smirked. "Talent. What did you do...land on your head?"

James shook his head painfully. "Erm...actually, my backside. And Remus."

"Oh." Sirius's mirthful expression turned to concern. "Is he okay?"

"Apart from the fact that he's pale as a sheet, having trouble catching his breath, trembling all over, and unconscious? Yeah, he's fine." James knelt on the ground next to his friend. "Let me see the map."

Sirius sighed. "I--er--I lent it to Peter to keep an eye on things--keep people away from the corridor. We'll have to try to find the hospital wing on our own."

~~~

In another part of the castle, Harry and Ron were sitting in a window seat, waiting for Hermione, who was talking to Professor Lupin. They were pouring over the Marauder's Map, considering possible ways of finding somewhere secret to go where Peeves and the first years wouldn't annoy them, somewhere to do their homework in peace. In truth, Harry had two such places, but he went there alone and was in no mood to share them with Ron and Hermione.

"There's always the Room of Requirement..."

"No, anyone could go in there..."

"Not if we said we needed somewhere where nobody would find us or bother us."

"We said that last year, still didn't work...it's not exactly private..."

"Well, what do you suggest? The Owlry?"

"Or we could--"

Ron looked at Harry's face. "Or what, Harry?"

Harry didn't answer. He was staring at a spot on the Marauder's Map as though he expected it to catch on fire. Hope shone out of his pale, drawn face; his green eyes, which had been rather dull since the previous June, sparkled with new life. A kind of apprehension tugged at his face.

"It--can't--be--" he said jerkily. "It--it's not possible..."

"What?" demanded Ron.

Harry pointed. Four floors above them and five corridors down were three figures, labelled Remus Lupin, James Potter, and Sirius Black.

Ron stared in shock. "But--Harry--your dad--and Sirius--they're--"

"I know," murmured Harry, frowning slightly. "What's really confusing is this--look--"

Ron's eyes travelled to where Harry's finger was pointing. In the Defence Against the Dark Arts office were four dots, one of which was labelled Remus Lupin.

"How can he be in two places at once?" muttered Harry. Still he was unable to tear his eyes away from the parchment.

Ron shrugged. "I dunno."

Something stuck in Harry's mind, something Professor Lupin had told him three years ago: The Marauder's Map never lies. "They're up near the Room of Requirement. I know where that is. Come on, let's go."

Wiping the map, he rolled it up and stuffed it inside his robes. The two of them jumped up and hurried up the stairs and corridors as fast as they could, which really wasn't all that fast, mainly because of Ron.

Heart pounding in his chest, Harry led the way as they swept around the corner--and stopped.

The Marauder's Map never lies...right.

The Map must have been wrong. Two boys were kneeling on the floor, trying to do something. Whoever they were, obviously neither was Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, or James Potter--at least not the ones Harry knew, which is what confused him. Disillusioned, Harry cleared his throat.

~~~

James and Sirius, who had been trying unsuccessfully to rouse Remus, heard the noise behind them. Quickly, they stood up and turned around to view two boys. Had they been less preoccupied, they would have realised that one of the boys looked exactly like James except for the eyes...and the fact that there was a faint scar shaped like a lightning bolt on his forehead.

"I--er--I thought you were someone I knew," said the boy, sounding a bit crestfallen. "Can we help you?"

James nodded. "It's our friend here. He's fainted. We were trying to get to the hospital wing and got lost."

The other boy, who was pretty pale and wobbling a bit, grinned. "You practically need a map to find your way around here." He muttered something to the first boy. James just barely heard "...must have been wrong. Sorry, mate...I know how much you miss them..."

The first boy looked steadily at James. He seemed to be thinking. Finally he moved forward. "We'll give you a hand. Just so you know, you're five corridors too far over."

"We know," said James, bending over and lifting Remus up. Sirius took Remus's other arm, and the two boys supported him. "One of the staircases changed."

James and Sirius--carrying Remus--followed the two boys to the hospital wing.

~~~

"Oh, not you two again," Madame Pomfrey practically snapped when the boys came in. "I told you not to come back until his legs gave out."

"It's not me, Madame Pomfrey," the pale boy said with a weak smile. "It's these three...their friend fainted."

Madame Pomfrey gave a small start, but merely said, "Put him on the bed."

James and Sirius hoisted Remus onto the bed, feeling a bit confused, and the nurse checked him out.

"You don't have very much to worry about," Madame Pomfrey said with a small smile. "He has a case of pneumonia, that's why he fainted, and normally he'd be out of here tomorrow morning, but he has a nasty bump on the head--probably from fainting--so I'll keep him for observation 'til Monday. I'll send him out to the lake when he's better. Don't come in and visit him; it'll only perturb him."

James, Sirius, and the two mystery boys--who had made no effort to introduce themselves--left the wing. They went outside and sat by the lake.

"So," said one boy abruptly, guardedly avoiding the boys' eyes. "What house are you two in?"

James sighed. "Gryffindor--all three of us. We're from--well, either the past or the future. We're not entirely sure."

"What year is this?" asked Sirius, who wasn't making a joke for once.

"1997," said both boys together, and the first boy added, "It's April sixth, 1997."

Sirius nodded in a self-satisfied manner. "The past."

James grinned. "Wow, we came to the right time!"

"We did?" asked Sirius, confused.

James nodded. "Remember...she said nineteen years..."

Sirius grinned too. The boys simply looked confused.

"Do you know Hermione Granger?" It was James's turn to be abrupt.

The two boys looked at one another. "Yeah," the first boy said finally. "She's our best friend. At the moment, though, she's at a meeting with our Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. She should be out here when she's done."

James started. "Oh, then you two must be her best friends!"

"Um, yeah, we just said that," said the second boy, rolling his eyes at the first.

Sirius studied them carefully. "Hmm...from the descriptions Hermione gave me..." He pointed to the first boy. "You're Harry Potter. That would make you--" he nodded to the second boy--"Ron Weasley, right?"

The two nodded. Ron looked nervous. "But--uh--we're not sure who you are."

"What, Hermione didn't talk about us?" demanded Sirius, sounding highly offended--in a completely humorous and non-serious way, of course.

Harry looked down at his hands. "If you're who I think you are, she was trying to protect us," he said softly. "Especially me."

Sirius looked startled. "And just who do you think I am?"

Harry looked up. "Well, you're Sirius Black, unless I'm much mistaken. And that would make you James Potter, and I would assume that your friend up in the hospital wing is Remus Lupin."

Ron looked startled. James nodded. "Not bad. You know us?"

"Of course he knows us, you prat, you're his dad, remember?" snapped Sirius.

Ron and Harry exchanged another look.

"What is that supposed to mean?" grinned James. "Never met us?"

Harry sighed. "You'd never believe me..."

"At this point I'll believe anything," Sirius smirked. "In addition, I am five-times winner of the Most Hyperactive Gryffindor Award, and I have the most short-term memory of anyone. If you tell me something now, by the time I meet Peter back in our time I will have forgotten it."

Harry looked hesitant. "What about you? How good is your memory?" he asked his father.

James was a bit startled by the question. "We both remember spells and facts pretty well, but--well, I know I've seen things in a crystal ball, but I can't remember what they are. I know Remus told us about some prophecy Professor Anderson made just after his third-year Divination exam, but I don't remember what it is..."

Harry hesitated again. He turned to Ron. "Should we tell them?"

Ron opened his mouth, but instead of "Yes" or "No" in a masculine voice, they heard a distinctly feminine voice exclaim, "There you two are!"

All four of them jumped and turned around. "Hermione!" called Harry, waving her over. "What was that all about?"

Hermione came over, beaming. "Nothing, really, he just wanted to congratulate Neville and me again for mastering the Homorphus Charm."

"And thank you, I suppose," grinned Ron.

Hermione conceded. "Yes, to thank us, but mostly to congratulate us. McGonagall wanted to congratulate us too."

"You deserve it," Harry told her admiringly. "That's one tricky charm--it can blow up in your face if you're not too careful. Lucky you and Neville didn't both get killed."

"Enlighten me," broke in James, "but what exactly is the Homorphus Charm?"

Hermione looked up and grinned. "James! Sirius! You made it!"

She sat down next to them and looked around. "Where's Remus? Wasn't he going to come with you?"

"Erm--he's here," said James. "He--he's up in the hospital wing. He has pneumonia and a knock on the head--we were looking for the hospital wing because he was feeling dizzy and wound up in an otherwise deserted corridor, and he kind of fainted through a time vortex. By a fluke it just happened to wind up here..."

"Oh," said Hermione, her smile toning down a notch. "So--er--what were you talking about?"

Harry hesitated. "Well--actually--we were wondering how much we could tell them. They say they have short-term memories..."

"We do," said Sirius with a laugh. "We almost forgot we were supposed to come to visit! Exams had already ended when James remembered..."

Hermione sighed. "I really don't know," she said in a low voice, mainly to Ron and Harry, though Sirius heard her too. "I told Remus, so he knows, but I was afraid to tell them anything in case they tried to change the course of history...I mean, if they change things, you might not be here, or I might not be here...Hogwarts might not even be here..."

Harry bit his lip. Sirius was bewildered. "What could possibly affect the future that much?"

"Never mind," said Hermione quickly. She cast around for something matter-of-fact to say.

Harry straightened up slightly. To James he said, "In answer to your question, the Homorphus Charm is an immensely complex charm--I don't understand it all myself. Basically it requires two people, specialised equipment, and a whole lot of luck, but if you succeed the result is that the person at whom the spell was directed--someone who is a werewolf--" Harry smiled slightly. It seemed very forced. "Well, it's the one and only cure for a werewolf bite, but it's pretty difficult to execute. Hermione and a friend of ours, Neville Longbottom, have been researching it zealously since Hermione got back from your time in January. About a week ago, just before Easter, they finally performed it--they're lucky it didn't blow up and take them with it."

"'Course," said Hermione, grateful for the change of subject, "it could've taken Professor Lupin up as well..."

"What?" gasped Harry, jolting up and looking at her in shock. "You didn't tell us that part!"

Hermione looked down at her hands. "Well...you guys were already scared enough. Besides, nothing you could've said would have made us change our minds at that point, so there was no point in worrying you unnecessarily..."

James and Sirius stared at them, mouths hanging open. Suddenly, James snapped up. Something had just connected.

"Professor Lupin?"

Hermione grinned. "Oh, yeah...Yeah, it's him, before you ask."

"So..." Sirius hesitated. "So you knew he was a werewolf?"

Hermione nodded. "Yeah. I figured it out our third year early on--ever since I did that essay on werewolves for Sn--our substitute teacher."

"Ron and I found out later that year, under unusual circumstances," added Harry. "Then Sn--the Potions master told the entire school at breakfast that he was a werewolf because he blamed him for his loss of the Order of Merlin, Second Class..."

"Why would he have been getting Order of Merlin?" asked James, a bit confused.

Ron suddenly shivered. "Is it just me, or is it kind of...cold all of a sudden?"

Harry started and looked around anxiously, wand clutched in his hand, then relaxed. "In case anyone hasn't noticed..."
He pointed across the mountains. The sun had long ago disappeared behind them, and even as they watched the glow faded from around them.

"C'mon," said Ron. "Let's go inside." Then he started coughing.

"You all right?" James asked him, instantly worried even though he'd only known the boy for a few minutes.

Ron shook his head. "I'm dying," he said matter-of-factly. "I have cancer. They caught it too late to do anything about it. I'll be dead before exams roll around. Anyway, we'd best go in."

James and Sirius just stared, then looked at each other, then got up and followed the other three. They walked through the halls until they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady. "Mimblewimble," Harry said.

The portrait swung open. As they stepped through, Harry turned to James and Sirius. With some difficulty, as though the words were fighting to stay in his mouth, he said, "I think we might have space for you two in our dormitory. It's the end of Easter vacation, and classes resume Tuesday. Seamus and Dean are in Ireland for the holidays, but Neville's up there. Come on..."

James and Sirius followed the other two up to the boys' dormitories. Entering their own, Ron could not hold back a gasp.

"What?" asked Sirius, coming behind him. He looked into the room. It was pretty nondescript. There were eight four-poster beds in the room, but other than that nothing was terribly unusual.

"Well, normally there's only five beds," Harry shrugged. "Come on in..."

A boy was sprawled on one of the beds. He looked up as they walked in. "Harry! Ron! All of a sudden there are more beds in here..."

"I bet you anything it's because this room knew we had guests," Harry said, looking around thoughtfully. He shook his head. "Oh, Neville, sorry, I forgot. This is James Potter and Sirius Black. They'll be staying here for a few weeks. Guys, this is Neville Longbottom."

Neville's head snapped up. "James Potter and Sirius Black? But they're--"

"Shh!" Harry pressed a finger to his lips and mouthed the words, "They don't know!"

"--over thirty!" Neville finished, acknowledging that he'd understood Harry.

"Longbottom, is it?" said Sirius. He pulled the envelope Alice had given him out of his pocket. "We're from the past. Your mum is in our year--she sent you this, here."

Neville took it, hands shaking slightly. He glanced up at Harry briefly, then set the envelope on his bedside. "Erm...thanks."

Sirius grinned and looked at his watch. "How late are sixth years allowed to stay out, anyway?"

"Ten o'clock," replied Harry.

James glanced up. "Then how about showing us around? I'd love to see how this place has changed."

"Sure," shrugged Harry. "Neville, d'you want to come along?"

"Er--no thanks, Harry," said Neville, a little nervously. "I'll just...I was going to read the letter from my mum..."

Harry nodded. "Come on, then," he said to James and Sirius, leading them out of the room.

~~~

James and Sirius quickly settled into the future. By some miracle, when Monday morning dawned pale and cold--the day of everyone's return--Harry, Hermione, and Ron had managed to keep Sirius and James from seeing Snape, and vice versa. That day would be no different--because Remus would be released that day and sent to the lake, they decided to spend the day out there.

Harry suddenly thought of something. "Listen, I'll be right out," he said to the others as they stood in the entrance hall. "I need to talk to somebody..."

He turned on his heel and went down to the corridor where Dumbledore's office stood. "Peppermint stick," he said almost automatically, and the gargoyle came to life and sprung aside. Harry had been in this office many times over the last few months for many reasons. One was that Harry was still having dreams, and they no longer tried to stop them because they were so important--they were a way of gaining information about the other side. A second was that on many issues Dumbledore would consult Harry, like an equal, and while Harry seemed not to mind he knew that the responsibility was extremely great, threatening to break him completely. Dumbledore, for all his wisdom, could not seem to see the strain it was putting on the poor boy.

Dumbledore was sitting in his office, reading a newspaper, but when Harry came in he looked up. "Ah! Harry! Is everything all right?"

"Well...sort of," Harry admitted. He sat down, and before he could stop himself he spilled the whole story--about James and Sirius being there, Remus in the hospital wing, what Remus knew and the other two didn't, everything.

Dumbledore nodded gravely. "And you were wondering how much you could tell them."

"Sort of, but not really," said Harry. "We were actually just not going to tell them anything unless they asked and then promised not to change it. After all, nobody is supposed to meddle with time...but there's no point in keeping secrets from them, they'll find out eventually. I mean, that Sirius and my dad are dead is no real secret." He swallowed. "What we were wondering is...well, classes start again tomorrow. Are they just going to go to our classes, or are they going to have their own schedules?"

Dumbledore studied Harry over his glasses. The boy had changed over the past year, in more ways than one. Nodding to the boy, he said quietly, "Harry, if I recall correctly, your father and his friends took the same classes you do. They will go along with Miss Granger and yourself."

"Thank you, Professor," said Harry, as he stood to go.

"And--Harry?"

Harry turned around. Dumbledore was smiling.

"Please inform your friends that I was aware Miss Granger was at Hogwarts nineteen years ago, however briefly, even if I didn't make any mention of it."

Harry smiled, too.

~~~

About an hour later, Remus was sitting up as Madame Pomfrey bustled about.

"Have my friends been here?" he asked her anxiously. She was preparing to dispatch him.

"I told them not to," she snapped. "They're waiting for you by the lake. Go ahead--you're free to go."

Remus didn't know what year it was. He didn't even know he'd fallen through the time vortex, and it never occurred to him because Madame Pomfrey was so unchanged.

He walked the familiar halls and emerged into the bright sunlight. Looking around, he spotted a huddle of people sitting by the lake and approached them.

James had his head resting in his hands. Sirius sat on the ground, knees drawn up to his chin, leaning against a rock. Two more boys sat on a rock, as well as a girl, and one of the boys seemed to be telling a story. The girl was leaning her head on the boy's shoulder. Remus moved a little closer.

The boy telling the story looked up and smiled warmly. Sirius and James grinned as they caught sight of him, as did the other boy, a redhead. The girl saw him, beamed, stood up, ran over, and threw her arms around him.

"Remus! It's great to see you!"

Remus jumped in surprise. "Hermione?"

Hermione pulled away and grinned. "Who did you think I was, Shirley Temple?" She rejoined the other two boys. "Come on, have a seat."

Remus sat down next to James, a bit apprehensive. "What--where--who are you two?"

The boy who had been talking held out his hand. "Sorry. I'm Harry. Harry Potter. This is Ron Weasley."

"Nice to meet you," said Ron with a grin.

Remus looked even more startled. "Wait. What are you three doing here? Now, I mean?"

"We belong here," Hermione told him. "You three fell through a time vortex. Pure coincidence."

"Well," said Remus in confusion. "That's nice."

James grinned and turned back to the others. "Anyway, Harry, you were saying...about your O.W.L.s..."

"How far did I get?" Harry asked him.

"Care of Magical Creatures on Tuesday."

"Oh, right," said Harry with a nod. "Well, Wednesday started out with our practical Astronomy exam...that wasn't too remarkable. Then we had Divination that afternoon."

"How was it?" asked Sirius, looking up.

Ron snorted. Even Harry let out a rare chuckle. "A complete disaster."

"Who did you have?" James asked. "I got stuck with Professor Tofty."

Harry gave an almost entirely mirthless grin. "He did me in Charms and Defence Against the Dark Arts. No, I had Professor Marchbanks and she wasn't too bad, but even by my low standards it went poorly. I couldn't see a blasted thing in that stupid crystal ball. I completely lost my head during the tea reading and I said it looked to me as though she would soon be meeting a round, dark, soggy stranger. I then rounded off the whole fiasco by mixing up the head and life lines on her palm and informed her she ought to have died the previous Thursday."

Remus bit back a chuckle. So did James. Sirius didn't bother and laughed hysterically. Ron grinned.

"Hey, it could've been worse," he said. "I went on at great length about the ugly old man with a wart on his nose I saw in the crystal ball, only to look up and discover I'd been describing my examiner's reflection."

Even James couldn't hold back his laughter at that. Harry, however, said that Ron had a point.

"My grade could've been worse, too," he pointed out. "I somehow managed to pull off a P, and I could've had a D."

James laughed. "I can top that. My Divination O.W.L., I explained to Professor Tofty that I saw him examining my son, who looked exactly like me, and it wasn't until later that I realised it was just our reflections in the crystal ball. In the tealeaves, I told him I saw the cross--that means 'trials and sufferings'--and also the sun--'great happiness'--so he was going to suffer but be very happy. Then I mixed up his life and head lines, same as you did, and told him that I had made a mistake in the crystal ball because unless my son was born and grew to the age of fifteen in the next fifteen minutes he wouldn't live to meet him."

Harry chuckled. "I had the mistake with the tea leaves my very first Divination class, only it was Ron I did it on. He told me I needed my Inner Eye tested."

"Go on, then," laughed Sirius. "How was your practical Astronomy exam?"

"Terrifying," said Hermione, Ron, and Harry in unison.

That shut Sirius up. "What happened?" he asked anxiously.

Harry relayed the events of that night, concluding, "So Hagrid ran off, McGonagall was shipped of to St. Mungo's, and hardly anyone finished their exams."

"Including me," grumped Hermione. "That was my lowest grade of the bunch. I got an 'E'."

Ron stared at her in amazement. "And you're unhappy about that? I got A's and P's in everything but Astronomy, Divination, and Defence!"

"What did you get in those?" James asked eagerly.

Harry frowned. "Well, obviously, Astronomy was a D."

"Right," nodded Ron. "Divination I got a D too."

"And Defence?" asked Sirius eagerly.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione all replied at once. "O!"

"No thanks to most of our teachers," Ron added.

Remus frowned. "Most of? What do you mean?"

Hermione grimaced. "Well, Quirrel didn't really teach us anything, and besides he turned out to be possessed by Voldemort--long story. Umbridge, of course, was so afraid we would start a revolution and overthrow the Minister of Magic that she wouldn't even teach us any spells--we took notes out of our books and learned squat. Moody turned out to be a Death Eater in disguise, but Dean is right, we still learned loads. And of course our best teacher taught us in our third year and is our current teacher."

"Who's that?" Remus asked.

Hermione smiled widely. "You, Remus."

Remus flushed with embarrassment. James grinned at him. Sirius frowned--he was counting.

"That's only five teachers, counting Remus here twice since he's been here twice. You're missing one."

James gasped. "He can count!"

Remus chuckled. Sirius glared at them both.

"Oh, we didn't learn anything from Lockhart either," said Ron dismissively. "Git."

Remus choked. All three of them stared at the Trio.

"Lockhart?" gasped James.

"As in Gilderoy Lockhart?" added Sirius, aghast.

"The blond git who walks around with his head up his arse?" Remus clapped a hand to his forehead and staggered a bit (which, in case you didn't know, is hard to do when you're sitting down).

"The same," nodded Harry. "You know him?"

Remus rolled his eyes. "God yes. He's in our year. We have to share a bloody common room with him."

Ron wrinkled his nose in disgust. "He's in Gryffindor?"

"None of the other houses were considered brave enough to put up with him without killing him," sighed James.

"He was unanimously voted 'Most Likely to Have His Memory Wiped for Being an Insufferable Git," added Sirius. "Although it's a fat chance."

"Guess what? His memory was wiped because he was an insufferable git," Ron said with a grin.

James smiled broadly. "I say we give an award to the person who did it."

"He doesn't need any more," said Harry sharply. "God knows he's got enough as it is. And besides, he's in St. Mungo's."

"Poor guy," sympathised Sirius. "Who was it?"

"Lockhart," said Ron and Harry in unison.

James looked repulsed. "Eurgh!"

Remus lost it. "That git Memory-Charmed himself? The idiot!"

Ron grinned apologetically. "He used my wand, that's why it happened."

"Why would your wand be any different than any other?" asked James, at the same time as Sirius asked eagerly, "How did he come to do that?"

Harry and Ron grinned at one another--a rare occurrence; Harry hardly ever smiled anymore--and relayed the tale of their second year. James, Sirius, and Remus were a good audience--they gasped in all the right places; and when Harry told them about the basilisk biting him, Sirius jumped so high that he fell straight into the lake. They laughed for a good five minutes, and even Sirius grinned sheepishly and joined in.

While they were busy laughing, another girl came over. "What is so funny over here?"

James jumped, hit his head on the tree branch, and sat back down rubbing his head. "Who're you?"

The girl gave him a funny look.

"Hello, Katie," said Harry quickly. "What's up?"

Katie turned to Harry. "I've been looking for you. Quidditch practice, bright and early tomorrow morning--dawn. See you then." She turned on her heel and walked off. Harry groaned.

"I said it before and I'll say it again. Somebody ought to check with Puddlemere United and see if Wood's been killed in a training session, because she's obviously channelling his spirit."

Ron chuckled. "Yeah, but Katie's not like Angelina, she's always been like that. Angelina never was until she started letting the power go to her head...and at least Angelina didn't call dawn practices. By the way, mate, you realise you might be the next captain?"

This remark took Harry completely by surprise. "Me? I-I-I--why me?"

"You've been playing longer than any of us," Ron pointed out. "Myself included. And I'm not even on the team anymore. You'll be the oldest."

James brightened considerably. "You play Quidditch?"

Harry nodded, the beginnings of a true smile playing about his face, but Remus broke in.

"Wait a minute. Finish telling us about the Chamber of Secrets, then you can talk about Quidditch all you want."

Harry winked at Hermione. "There isn't really a whole lot left. Fawkes--Dumbledore's phoenix--cried on my arm and healed the wound literally seconds before I died; phoenix tears have healing powers, you know." Remus nodded seriously. "Well, the diary Tom Riddle had used to possess Ginny was swept into my lap, and I just sort of stabbed the diary with the basilisk fang. I didn't even think about it. Erm--that's it, really. Riddle vanished, Ginny woke up, and Fawkes took us back to the castle." He shrugged. "Really nothing else to it."

James gazed at him, mouth hanging slightly open. "Wow. You talk about that like it's no big deal--like it's not even anything special."

Harry shrugged again. "I couldn't have done it without Ron and Hermione. And I'm sure either one of them could've done the same thing--"

"No, mate, we couldn't," interrupted Ron. "Without you, we wouldn't have even made it into the Entrance, let alone the Chamber itself. Parsletongue is the only thing that could have opened the Chamber. That means you."

"Hey, it's not something I'm proud of, all right?" Harry said wearily. "But Ron, it wasn't all me. It was a team effort. It takes two--or in this case three--to get a job like that done."

James noticed Ron's face with a bit of a frown. He seemed to be in shock--did he think Harry had been proud to be a Parslemouth?

In truth, that wasn't the reason at all. Ron was surprised--and a little worried--because this wasn't the Harry he knew. The Harry of a year ago would have flown into a horrific temper at Ron's words, snapped at him that he wasn't proud, then yelled for at least five minutes. Nothing seemed to rile him anymore, and for some reason the way he just calmly and wearily took things upset Ron more than the temper had. Of course, maybe it was the fact that Ron was dying that kept him from snapping...maybe he didn't want Ron's last memories of him to be harsh.

"Anyway," said Sirius brightly, "you said you play Quidditch?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah, I do. I've played for awhile now."

"How long?" Sirius pressed eagerly.

Harry made some quick calculations. "Six years, give or take a couple months."

James's jaw dropped. "Six years? But you can't have been...you've only been playing from your second year at most..."

"First, actually," corrected Harry, the briefest of smiles flickering across his face. "See, Neville dropped his Rememberall when he fell off his broom--he started too early and crashed--and Madame Hooch took him up to the hospital wing. One of the Slytherins took off with it and, like the idiot I am--"

"Harry," said Hermione sharply.

Harry shook his head. "Hey, you said it, not me."

Hermione blushed. "Oh, yeah. I forgot."

"Anyway," Harry said, with a wink for Hermione to tell her he was teasing, "I followed him into the air. He threw it and landed--I dove for it, caught it about five inches from the ground, and rolled off the broom."

"Didn't even scratch himself," said Ron proudly. "My brother Charlie couldn't have done it."

Harry sighed, as though the memory brought little pleasure. "Anyway, McGonagall caught me and introduced me to Oliver Wood--he was the captain of the Gryffindor team at the time. I've been on the team ever since."

James's jaw dropped. On the team since the first year...wow. The words seemed tired and dusty, though, as though they were old and worn. "Wow. What position do you play?"

"Seeker." A small gleam came into Harry's eye. Playing Seeker meant so much to him, that much was obvious. It kept his mind off of...other things. He glanced over at James with a small smile. "Somebody once told me you were an excellent Quidditch player yourself."

James grinned. "They're two of the Chasers on our team," he said, gesturing to Remus and Sirius. "I'm Seeker."

Ron beamed. "My little sister Ginny is one of our Chasers. The other two are Katie Bell--you just met her--and Ginny's best friend Shormey Adumah."

"Who's your Keeper?" Sirius asked eagerly. "Ours is Caryn Cobb."

"Ron was ours," Harry told Sirius, nodding towards his friend. "Not quite up to Oliver Wood's standard, but Ginny and Shormey whipped him into shape nicely." Ron blushed. "'Course now--with the possibility that his legs will give out any second--our Keeper is Dean Thomas. And he's not half bad...he used to play goalie when he played football, so he's pretty good."

"Beaters?" asked James. "Ours are girls--Sarah Sanders and Elizabeth Odderstoll."

"Colin and Dennis Creevey," replied Ron. "Brothers. Colin is in the fifth year and Dennis is in the third."

Remus nodded. "And our other Chaser is Alyssa Kaplan."

The sun was still in the sky, but Hermione said they'd better be getting up to the castle. "Bit of homework left over, after all...we'll be in major trouble if we show up for Potions tomorrow without our essays."

~~~

It was about five minutes before sunset when James emerged from the dormitory. He had been getting his and Remus and Sirius's things together, and finally he went downstairs to find the common room full. Sirius, Remus, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were nowhere to be seen.

James noticed a letter lying on the table. He glanced at it, saw that it was from Ron to somebody else, and was about to leave when his own name caught his eye.

Curiosity killed the cat...right?

But James had never liked cats, so he read after where his name appeared.

I think it's great that they're here, actually. You'd think so, too, if you could see the change that's come over Harry in the short weekend it's been since they arrived. It's like he's a completely different person. All of a sudden he's--he's alive again. Some of the colour is coming back into his cheeks--he's not as ghostly pale as he was. He smiles more often. And this afternoon, we were telling them about our second year. When Harry told them about the basilisk biting him, Sirius jumped so high he fell into the lake and Harry actually laughed. That really made me feel good. I missed hearing him laugh.

You know, Percy, I'm really worried about Harry. Even when he smiles and I know his smiles are sincere, it's like a mask. When he's faking a smile, it's like one of those Marti Gras masks you saw in New Orleans--you can tell right away that it's fake. When he's really smiling, it's more like a mask that looks just like a real face. Remember that poem you read me once? 'We wear the mask that grins and lies...' That's what it's like. Still, though, I can tell that behind the laughter, he's ready to cry. Of course, it seems like he's always ready to cry these days. And I don't think it's entirely my fault.

There're other things, too. He won't go near the fire except on the absolute coldest of nights, and even then Hermione and I have to practically drag him from whatever cold corner he's hiding in with his candle. And that's only when he's in the common room. He's always going off by himself, even now. I don't think he realises it, but I know where he's going. It's always the same two places--either this one tree out by the lake or a big picture window on the seventh floor of the South tower. I dunno why.

James frowned and replaced the letter exactly the way it was. He slipped out of the common room and went down to the grounds.

As he had suspected, Harry was sitting by the lake under a tree. James recognised the tree well--it was one of the Marauders' favourite hangouts. Sirius had once carved his name into that very tree. He'd said once, when he and James were by themselves, lying on his back and staring dreamily up into the branches, "James, when I die, I want to be buried under this tree." James had agreed because he knew that day would never come.

Harry had two leather-bound books beside him, and a third was open on his lap. A small candle sat next to him, unlit, waiting for twilight to fall. As James approached silently, he watched Harry turn a page, sigh, and brush a picture lightly with his fingertips.

"Harry?"

The boy jumped and looked around at James. "Oh...hi, James."

"What are you doing?" James asked, sitting down next to him.

Harry shook his head. "I was looking through my photo albums," he explained.

"How many do you have?"

"Three."

James inspected the one on top of the stack next to him. "They're nice. Where'd you get them?"

"Well, that one's from Hagrid," Harry told him. "This one"--he held up the album he'd been looking at when James approached--"Professor Lupin's been helping me put together, and I just finished it this morning. And the third one is from the other Gryffindor sixth years. They all got together to work on it."

James flipped through the handsome red album from Hagrid. He gave a jolt as he recognised the face peering up at him from every page.

"That's me!"

Harry nodded with a smile. "You and Mum."

James closed the book and grinned at Harry. "Can I take a look at that one?" he asked, gesturing to the photo album on Harry's lap.

Harry hesitated. "As long as you promise not to do anything differently."

"What do you mean?" James asked, confused.

Harry sighed. "This is one of those things where if anything gets changed, everything could be stood on its head. I'll let you see it, because secrets don't keep well at Hogwarts and if I don't tell you now you'll just find out from someone else, but you have to promise not to change anything."

Startled, James crossed his heart. "I won't change a thing, in my time or yours."

Harry hesitated a brief second more, then handed over the album.

James opened the first page and jumped. The picture staring up at him was one he had in his own bedroom. It was of himself, standing with Remus and Sirius, the day they met in their first year. "Hey! It's us!" he exclaimed.

Harry nodded. "I know."

James frowned slightly as he turned the pages. Every picture seemed to have a common link, but he couldn't figure out what until he turned the next page and saw a picture of just one man and a small boy.

The boy was perhaps fourteen or fifteen. He had flung his arms around the man's waist, and the man was hugging him back. The man's dark hair was long and unkempt. His eyes had a haunted, deadened look, and his face suggested he hadn't been outside in awhile. He had a slightly frightening expression, even though he was smiling fondly at the boy. But James still recognised him.

"It's Sirius! Are these all pictures of Sirius?"

Harry nodded. James frowned. "Don't show this to him. He'll get a conceited ego."

Harry looked down at his lap, but James didn't notice. He turned the page and discovered a picture that had obviously just been put into the album, because it appeared to be the shiniest of the lot. It was a picture of all four Marauders, though Peter kept trying to run out of the frame and James kept pulling him in by the back of his robes. James frowned.

"Where did this come from? I've never seen it before...and we look about..."
"Thirteen," supplied Harry quietly. "I just got it this morning."

"From who?" demanded James.

"Severus Snape--d'you know him?"

James's jaw dropped. "Snivellus?"

"I wish you'd stop calling him that," muttered Harry under his breath.

"But he hates us!"

"Well, yeah, I guess he did, but he must've wanted to be your friend deep down. Either that or he was planning to do some kind of voodoo, because he's kept that picture for twenty-two years."

"Twenty-two years..." breathed James, staring at the picture. "Where'd he get it?"

"He took it," Harry told him. "You know--with a camera?"

James shook his head. "Why have an album full of pictures of Sirius?"

"Keep going," Harry said a little shakily.

James turned the page and discovered a very old article from the Daily Prophet. It was nearly sixteen years old, but someone had kept it for all these years.

"Kingsley Shacklebolt," Harry told James. "He sent them all to me when Professor Lupin told him what we were doing."

James's eyes were stuck on the headline. In big, bold letters, it read: Sirius Black Arrested. In smaller letters it read Charged with massacre of thirteen.

"Massacre? SIRIUS?" gasped James. "Wha--why?"

"It wasn't him, not really," Harry sighed quietly. "It was actually Pettigrew, but since he transfigured himself into a rat and made it look like Sirius had blown him up, he wasn't caught until last December."

James stared at Harry, thunderstruck. "Peter? Why?"

"Because Sirius was trying to bring him in," Harry told him. He picked up the red album and opened to the very back page. "Kingsley gave me this too. Said he had it floating around and thought I might as well have it."

The article carried a picture of James and Lily. The headline gave him a jolt.

Potters Murdered by You-Know-Who

You-Know-Who's whereabouts unknown

Harry Potter survives curse--defeats You-Know-Who

James gaped. "So I'm dead."

"Yes," said Harry simply. "So is my mother. I survived with this." He pointed to the lightning-bolt scar on his forehead.

James just stared. "So why was Sirius trying to bring Peter in?"

Harry closed the James-and-Lily album as he answered. "Very few people were aware that you knew Voldemort was after us. Dumbledore said that your only chance lay with using a charm called the Fidelius Charm. It transfers a person's secrets into another. As long as that person, the Secret-Keeper they call him, refuses to tell, no one would know where you were. Voldemort could've looked right into our living room window and never known we were there."

"And we picked Peter? Why not Sirius?"

"You did pick Sirius, at first. He would've died rather than betray you to Voldemort. However, he argued against it...he said that everyone knew he was your best friend. He'd have been the first one Voldemort came after--never dream you'd use anyone like Pettigrew--weak, talentless. But Pettigrew betrayed you--barely a week after the charm had been performed." Harry swallowed. "The next morning, Sirius hunted him down and tried to kill him. But Pettigrew screamed for the entire street to hear that Sirius had murdered you and Mum. Before Sirius could get out his wand to hex him, he blew up the street with his wand behind his back--and sped down the sewers as a rat. He hid for the next twelve years that way."

James stared at the article and turned the page. The next article was considerably more recent--heralding that Sirius had escaped from Azkaban. A third article heralded that he was continuing to evade capture. A fourth made James pause.

"He broke into Hogwarts?"

"On Halloween," Harry nodded. "Attacked the Fat Lady. He was after Pettigrew, who was hiding in our dormitory as Ron's rat, but everyone thought he was after me."

James stared--something he'd been doing a lot of lately--and turned the page again. This one announced that Sirius had broken into Hogwarts yet again, and nearly slaughtered an unnamed but innocent boy. James gave Harry a questioning look.

"Ron," Harry explained. "I already told you, he was after Pettigrew, who was in Ron's bed..."

James nodded--this time he understood--and moved to the next article, describing how the Ministry had had Sirius in their clutches, but he had slipped through their fingers again. James nearly burst with pride.

The next article said he was found to be hiding in London. James looked anxiously at Harry. "Was he?"

Harry nodded. "His old family home. Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place. He was working for our side--the Order of the Phoenix."

James bit his lip. "Did he get caught?"

Harry shook his head wordlessly and stared at his lap.

Turning to the next page, James nearly jumped for joy.

"They finally admitted he's innocent!"

"Read the whole headline," Harry said quietly.

James was puzzled. "I did. Sirius Black Posthumously Declared Innocent." Then he frowned. "What does 'posthumously' mean?"

Harry took a deep, shaking breath. In a choked-up voice, barely louder than a whisper with a swallowed sob underneath, he said, "It means after someone's death."

James stared at Harry for a minute, not comprehending. "You mean Sirius won't be innocent until he dies?"

"No," said Harry quietly, his voice catching on the points of each letter he spoke. "I mean Sirius is already dead."

James still didn't understand. "What do you mean?"

Harry looked up at James, and James was startled to see tears forming in his clear green eyes. "I mean that he's deceased. Gone. Zorn. Dead. Comprehend my meaning?"

James's jaw dropped. "He--he's dead? But when--how--why--?"

"Read the next article," Harry said quietly. "Just--just trust me. Read it."

James turned to the next article and read. It at first seemed to be what happened the night Voldemort showed himself to the Ministry of Magic, but then he discovered what he'd been looking for.

He stared at the book in shock as he closed it. Apparently, Sirius's own good-for-nothing cousin Bellatrix had been duelling with him. She had knocked him through a veil with a curse that may or may not have been fatal, and he had never returned. He was dead.

The worst part was that Harry had been right there. Remus had been there too, as well as Neville Longbottom, the other boy they'd met in the dormitory. All three had seen Bellatrix kill Sirius. It was Remus's account that was in the paper.

James handed the album back to Harry with shaking hands. "Oh, God, Harry...I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault," Harry said quietly, taking the book back.

The two boys just sat quietly for a few minutes, watching the sun set over the mountains. James had a question he was bursting to ask, but he couldn't--he didn't want to upset Harry. Finally, he blurted it out without thinking.

"Where is he buried?"

Harry sighed and looked down at his hands. "Just a little graveyard. You and Mum are there too. And there's a space for me when I die...and we made sure there was room for Remus too..." His voice broke again.

James swallowed, too, because he knew his friend's wish hadn't been granted. "So he--uh--he wasn't buried here?"

Harry glanced at him out of the corner of one eye. "No. Why would he be?"

"When we were in our second year," James said slowly, "he told me that when he died he wanted to be buried here, under this tree."

Harry bowed his head again. James felt horribly guilty. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up."

Harry shook his head wordlessly, not saying anything.

The sun sank lower and lower behind the mountains. It had nearly disappeared before either one of them stirred. Harry rose and said quietly but composedly to James, "We'd better get inside. Being outside after dark is one of the worst things we could do."

James nodded and followed Harry into the castle. It wasn't until he reached the common room and had started up to the dormitories that he realised Harry had disappeared.

~~~

It was Remus who found him next. He was just out for a walk, taking a look around, when he heard a funny sort of noise coming from behind some curtains. Remus couldn't help noting that they hid the same window he and Hermione had sat in front of the night she told him what would happen. He suspected it was Hermione, and he drew aside the curtain to say hello.

However, it wasn't Hermione. It was Harry and from the look of it he'd been crying. He jumped and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand when he saw Remus.

"Oh...hi, Remus," he said with a weak, pathetic smile. "What's up?"

"I was just out for a walk," Remus said, sitting next to the boy. "I--er--I thought you were Hermione."

Harry's gaze was suddenly sharp. "Hermione?"

"I was talking to her one night when she was in our time," Remus said hastily. "She was here--I thought that maybe she was here again..."

Harry stared for a minute longer, then his gaze softened and dropped. "I didn't mean to accuse you or--or act suspicious or anything, but..."

"I understand," Remus said, laughing softly. "I'd have done the same thing if someone like--like that..." He coughed. "That--cretin--Vernon Dursley met me in a secluded area and said he'd been talking to Petunia there..."

Harry looked up again. "Not Petunia Evans?"

"Yeah, why?"

Harry sighed. "She's my aunt."

Remus recalled that Hermione had hinted Lily Evans was to be Harry's mother. "Oh, yeah...is she married?"

Harry's face twisted into a kind of lopsided, mirthless grin. "Yeah, to Vernon Dursley."

Remus chuckled. "I feel for you, my young friend. If he's as evil now as he was when we were kids, your home life must be one of the worst imaginable."

"All that and more...hey, wait," Harry said suspiciously. "How did you know I lived with my uncle?"

"Hermione," Remus said simply.

Harry nodded in understanding. "She did say you were the only one that knew..."

Remus looked closely at Harry's face. "Do you want to talk about it?" he asked carefully.

"I don't know," Harry said, extremely quietly. "Sometimes it hurts so much I can't even bear thinking about it--especially at night--but sometimes I've just wanted to talk until I can't talk any more--like something poisonous is being extracted from me. But I just talked about it about half an hour ago..."

Remus's eyebrows shot up. "To who? Hermione? Ron?"

"James," Harry replied in a voice near a whisper.

Remus's jaw dropped. As his eyebrows were still raised it appeared that his face had just lengthened by a good two inches. "But...but..."

"Secrets don't keep well at Hogwarts, Remus. If I hadn't told him, someone else would've. I was out by the lake and he came over. He wanted to see one of my photo albums...it's full of pictures of Sirius. Professor Lupin's been helping me put it together. I had to tell him."

Remus gulped, but no words came out. He was staring at Harry. Professor Anderson's words echoed in his mind...only one of you left...there shall be only one of you left...

And words he'd long forgotten surfaced as well...the pain shall be known but not remembered...now he knew what that meant as well.

The two boys sat in silence for a while. Harry's eyes were fixed on a single star, and Remus knew without looking at him that it was the nose of the constellation Canis Major, because his own eyes were fixed on the same heavenly body.

Footsteps behind them startled them out of their thoughts. A tall man with a waxy complexion, dark brown eyes, greasy black hair, and a nose that had a pronounced hook was approaching with a smoking goblet. His eyes gleamed as he approached the boys, and Remus instinctively shrank back. Harry didn't even flinch but nodded to the man.

The man nodded back and turned to Remus, who shrank back even further. "Here," he said, thrusting the goblet at him. Remus took it nervously. "You should probably have some more tomorrow night too." Turning back to Harry, he added, "Make sure he does, Potter."

"Yes, sir," Harry said quietly. The man turned on his heel and walked off.

Remus stared down at the goblet apprehensively. "Harry," he said seriously, "who was that and what is this?"

Harry hesitated. "It's not poison, if that's what you're worried about," he said finally. "I think it's a Wolfsbane Potion--as long as you take it in the week proceeding the full moon, it makes you safe...at least, I'm pretty sure that's how it works."

Remus nodded, stared at the potion, then took a deep breath and drank it. He pulled a grotesque face that made Harry chuckle slightly. "Eurgh," he spluttered. "That was disgusting."

Harry shook his head. "I'm sorry."

"Not your fault," Remus said with a grin. He swallowed, grimaced again, and turned back to Harry.

"I have a question to ask you, and I hope you don't think it rude..." he said hesitantly.

"Go right ahead," Harry said with a kind of sad smile.

Remus took a deep breath. "Well, remember earlier when you said that being a Parsletongue wasn't something you were proud of?"

Harry frowned. "Yeah..."

"Why did Ron look so shocked at that? Did he think you were proud of it or something?"

Harry's frown deepened. "What do you...oh," he said suddenly, a look of comprehension crossing his face. "Oh, that. It wasn't so much what I said as how I said it."

Remus frowned as well. "How did you say it?"

Harry rubbed his forehead. "Well, see, a year ago I would've flown into a rage and yelled at him for at least five minutes."

"Why didn't you then?" Remus asked.

Harry looked down at his hands. "I don't really know," he said quietly. "I guess it's just that nothing really upsets me anymore. I kind of learned that yelling gets you nowhere--I was always yelling at everybody and, well..." He held up his right hand, on which Remus could faintly see white scars. "All it ever brought was pain." He dropped his hand and his head as he told Remus, "I yelled at Hermione right before we went into the Department of Mysteries, and I yelled at Dumbledore afterwards...I guess I realised that Sirius wouldn't have wanted me to behave like that, and I stopped."

Remus looked down the hallway and suddenly shrank back. "Oh, no. Here comes someone else..."

Harry glanced down the hallway and relaxed. "It's okay. Don't worry."

The man came up to the two boys. "Hello," he said with a smile.

Harry smiled that lopsided half-smile again. "Remus, this is our Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Lupin."

"Nice to meet--er--me," Remus said in confusion, holding out his hand.

"Likewise," Professor Lupin laughed. He turned to Harry. "Harry, I thought you'd be in the library by now. Don't you have a study group?"

Harry glanced at his watch and jumped up. "Oh, right! I forgot!" He dashed off.

Lupin sighed and sat down. "He's a good kid," he said softly. "He doesn't deserve this."

"Deserve what?" asked Remus.

Lupin looked at him through haunted, sorrowful eyes. "This kind of pain. He's had so much to deal with in the past couple of years--Voldemort's return, the stress from the Ministry ignoring it for so long, the dangers in so much as stepping out on his front porch, Sirius's death, helping Dumbledore--" Lupin shook his head and sighed. "It's too much for one boy, especially one as young as Harry. I think the only thing that's been getting him safely through this past year was Ron and Hermione. If anything had happened to them, he probably would've collapsed under the strain. I'll be surprised if he survives next year, considering that Ron will be dead in just a few weeks."

Remus said nothing, but he suddenly felt a lot older.

~~~

Classes started the next morning. Remus glanced at the schedule he'd been handed.

"Well, this doesn't look too bad," he mused thoughtfully. "Herbology first thing, then Care of Magical Creatures."

Harry grinned that lopsided grin again. "Care of Magical Creatures would be far better if we weren't still with the Slytherins. However, we're with the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws too, so it won't be so bad. Herbology's still just with the Hufflepuffs. God knows that hasn't changed."

James was looking over his own schedule and groaned. "Great. We've got double potions this afternoon."

Ron groaned as well. "I forgot about that. 'Course, I don't take it...didn't pass my O.W.L.s..."

"Yeah, rub it in, Ron," Hermione grated.

"Professor Argon isn't still teaching, is he?" Sirius asked nervously.

Hermione shook her head. "No, he would've retired about fourteen or fifteen years ago."

"Amen to that," Remus murmured.

The six of them walked into Greenhouse Three ten minutes later. Remus smiled, for he recognised the Herbology teacher. They all did. "Hello, Professor Sprout," he said courteously.

Sprout seemed surprised but said nothing, just started the lesson.

~~~

On the way to Care of Magical Creatures, one of the Hufflepuffs caught up with the group. "Hello, Harry," he said with a grin. "Who are your friends?"

Harry turned to the boy. "Oh, hi, Ernie. This is Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, and my dad, James Potter. They're visiting from the past."

"Ah," said Ernie, a funny look crossing his face. Pompously, he held out his hand. "I don't believe we've met? Ernie MacMillian, Hufflepuff."

"Pleasure," said Remus with a smile.

James's grin widened as they approached the hut by the grounds. "Hi, Hagrid!" he said.

Hagrid, who had been humming cheerfully, stopped and did a double take. "Hang on..." he said slowly, looking at first James, then Remus, then Sirius, then Harry, then back to Sirius and James.

"We're visiting from the past," Sirius explained, shifting uncomfortably.

After class, he stopped outside the door. "Okay, start talking," he said to Harry.

Harry frowned. "What do you mean?"

"You know perfectly well what I mean!" Sirius practically shouted. Harry was reminded fleetingly of himself a year before. "Every time someone sees us, every time you tell them who we are, it seems like James and I upset them or something. Why?"

Harry sighed. "I knew I'd have to tell you sooner or later, so here goes. Okay, to make a long story short, you're both dead."

Sirius stared at him. "We're what?"

"Dead," Harry repeated dully, trying to keep the tears out of his eyes.

Sirius gaped. "How?"

"James was killed by Voldemort about fifteen, sixteen years ago. He was trying to protect me."

Sirius closed his eyes briefly, then opened them again. Fifteen or sixteen years ago...that would make it three or four years after the time they were supposed to be in. That wasn't much time. And they'd only be about nineteen or twenty. "And what about me?"

Harry lowered his eyes. Hermione put a comforting arm around him. After a few minutes, he spoke quietly.

"I thought you were in trouble and went to save you, but you weren't in danger at all and you wound up trying to save us. You wound up fighting with your cousin Bellatrix and--well, she killed you."

Sirius laughed. "Bella? Yeah, her parents--and mine--don't like me, but we've always got along really well. Why would she kill me? And why would I fight with her?"

Harry looked him directly in the eye, and Sirius was startled to see the tears threatening to spill over. "I guess Azkaban really changes people."

Sirius realised that a) his death upset Harry and b) he so did not want to know why he or Bella had been in Azkaban, so he shut his mouth and followed them into the castle.

~~~

When lunch was over, the trio, Harry, and Hermione headed towards the dungeon, joined by Neville. Remus, James, and Sirius were chatting lightly, and Harry seemed rather composed, but Neville and Hermione looked like they were heading for the execution.

"What's wrong with you two?" Sirius said impatiently. "No one, and I repeat no one, could be worse than old Argon."

"Wanna bet?" Neville said tremulously.

"Argon hated us--Sirius and James and Peter and I," Remus said to them.

"Ours hates all of the Gryffindors--and even a few of the Slytherins," Hermione informed him.

James shuddered. "All right, now I'm nervous."

"And well you should be," Harry said.

They entered the dungeon and set up their usual table towards the back of the room. Sirius looked around.

"Well, this place hasn't changed much," he commented. "Even the tables are the same--here, look."

They all followed his finger to a burn mark that Harry and Hermione had noticed several times before. Scratches surrounded it and the table was a shade lighter in that area than it had been.

"Remember that?" Sirius said to James and Remus. "That was where that potion spilled our third year."

Remus's eyes widened. "Oh, yeah...I remember."

"I swear by all that's holy I will never forgive either Professor Argon or Severus Snape for that," James said with gritted teeth.

Harry was mystified. "What do you mean?"

James glanced around to make sure that the teacher hadn't come in yet, then said, "Well, we were doing this potion...I don't even remember what it was for..."

"It was one of a series of sleeping potions," Remus spoke up. "Three notches more powerful than a simple Sleeping Draft, two notches lower than the Draught of the Living Dead."

"Right," James nodded. "Well, normally Sirius and I would partner either Peter or Remus. Occasionally we'd partner each other and Remus and Peter would work together. This time, though, Peter had the flu and was in the hospital wing, so Sirius and Remus were going to work together and I was going to work with either Frank or Gilderoy. But it turned out that one of the Slytherins was out too, so old Argon came over and told Remus he wanted him to partner Snivellus--"

"Don't call him that," Harry said swiftly, glancing around to make sure no one had heard.

James seemed surprised. "Sorry. Anyway, Remus is like the top in our year"--Remus blushed--"and Sni--Snape definitely wasn't, so Argon said Snape needed a bit of extra help and paired Remus with him. Snape was none too happy about that, I can tell you. Snape went to get the ingredients and told Remus he had to add them in."

"Thing was," Remus said grimly, taking up the story, "the recipe called for a chunk of silver, and I had to measure it. I wound up having to use my dragon-hide gloves to handle it, because otherwise I'd have been in the hospital wing for quite a while. I showed Severus how to stir it and he took a turn for a while, but he kept glancing over at me and I really didn't like the look he was giving me. Finally it was done, but I hit another snag. Part of the grade was that we had to try the potion."

Harry's eyes widened. "Both of you?"
"No, just one of us. But Severus insisted he'd tried the last potion he'd made and it was my turn. I said I'd tried the last one I'd made as well, and what was he worried about, it wouldn't kill him anyway. He told me to prove it and try it myself. Obviously, I wouldn't do it. Severus got suspicious, I guess, accused me of trying to poison him, and tried to force it down my throat. I jumped back, and he hit the cauldron. The whole thing spilled, right there on this table, except for the stuff in the ladle, which tipped down Severus's throat. Some of the potion got on my arm and burnt it pretty badly. I was in the hospital wing for a week and couldn't play Quidditch for three. Luckily, everyone thought it was the fire, because a little of that spilled too..." Remus chuckled. "We got full marks, though, because the potion worked like it was supposed to and sixteen eye-witnesses swore Severus had spilt the cauldron, not me. Since half of them were Slytherins, Argon couldn't disagree."

"That would explain a lot," said Harry under his breath.

There was a sudden bang as the door flew open. The room fell silent as everyone followed the teacher's progress up to the front of the room. Remus gave a low gasp of recognition.

"That's the teacher that gave me that potion the other day!" he whispered to Harry.

"Yup, our Potions teacher," Harry answered softly.

The teacher stared around the room. His eyes rested on the back table where the six of them sat, and his eyes glittered maliciously. Turning back to the class at large, he announced, "We have a few visitors with us today. They will be here for the next few weeks. Remus Lupin?"

"Here, Sir," Remus answered promptly.

The teacher's smirk widened. "James Potter?"

Whispers filled the room as James responded, "Here."

"And finally...Sirius Black?"

The buzz grew louder. People glanced back at the table, throwing curious looks at Sirius and pitying glances at Harry. "Here," Sirius said loudly, a touch nettled.

"Silence!" the teacher snapped. The swell of noise died as suddenly as it had come. "Now, for those three of you who don't know...I am Professor Severus Snape."

James's eyes widened. Remus backed a step or two from the top table, a little closer to his friends. Sirius clenched his fist, then unclenched it. Professor Snape smiled cruelly.

"Today," he said to the class at large, "we will be working on sleeping drafts. This particular sleeping draft could be one of the most potent, second only to the Draught of the Living Dead, or one of the most harmless. Potter!"

"Yes, Sir?" Harry responded. James jumped and was about to respond when Snape focused on Harry.

"Have you retained in your thick skull the recipe for the Draught of the Living Dead?"

"Yes, Sir," Harry replied calmly, refusing to let Snape rile him. "Add powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood and nine crushed calomel leaves."

Snape frowned. "Correct," he snarled. "Lupin?"

"Y-yes, Sir?"

"I don't suppose you can explain why asphodel, calomel, and wormwood create such a potent sleeping potion?"

"Certainly, Sir. Asphodel is used in all sleeping potions more potent than a Dozing Draft, which uses lavender and calomel. It is a powerful calming agent, producing an extremely tiring effect, and can be taken alone as a muscle relaxant. Wormwood amplifies the potency of any ingredient by at least ten, meaning that the asphodel will be ten times more effective and will relax more muscles. And calomel is often used in teas and medicinal compounds to soothe nerves, so the wormwood amplifies that as well. Since the asphodel relaxes and actually slows your heart when combined with wormwood, and the calomel relaxes your mind, you slip into a dreamlike state close to death."

Snape's scowl deepened, and Remus unconsciously drew closer to the others. "Correct," he muttered reluctantly. "Now today, we shall be putting together our own Sleeping Draughts. I have provided here"--a list glowed suddenly golden on the board behind him--"a list of common ingredients in Sleeping Potions. It is up to you to put together a potion using at least three of these. You may work in groups of up to three if you wish. I will then pair you up with other groups, when you will test the potions on each other." He stared around the room. "Well? What are you all waiting for? GET TO WORK!"

Students scampered off in all directions. James and Sirius, of course, wanted to work together, but rather than ask Remus they asked Neville to join them. He glanced to Harry, then agreed. Remus therefore joined Harry and Hermione. While Sirius just went up to grab whatever, the other three bent over and studied the list, which Hermione had copied before Snape had erased it.

"Well, look," Hermione said thoughtfully. "Like Remus said, all potions more potent than a Dozing Draft use asphodel, so we might as well use that. Calomel and lavender are both very calming, so we'll want to use one or the other."

"I say lavender," Remus voted. "I also think we ought to use the dandelion milk. That has a slightly intoxicating effect."

Hermione nodded and scribbled that down. "Let's add one more, for effect."

Harry frowned. "The last ingredient we can't add until we know who's going to take it."

"Why not?" Remus wanted to know.

Harry half-smiled. "One of the Laws in Potions, the Law of Syllogism or something like that, says that a small bit of whoever's going to drink the potion intensifies the effects--if you've done the potion right."

"Okay, we'll do that," Hermione decided. "By the way, Harry, the Law of Syllogism is a geometry thing--if A equals B and B equals C, then A equals C."

Harry grinned sheepishly. "Oh. Right."

Remus went to get the ingredients. Within seconds, he had them all. Snape's lip curled. Before Remus could realise what a git he'd been, before he could regret that he hadn't let Harry or Hermione go up instead, before he could run for his life, Snape's arm accidentally knocked over the jar of silver as he handed a pale, pointed boy with an expression of bemusement on his face a jar of calomel.

Remus jumped back, nearly dropping the jars full of their ingredients he held in his hand. The silver just barely missed hitting him. The room was dead quiet. Gryffindors stared with a renewed hatred at Snape, and even a couple Slytherins, including the pale boy, looked shocked. Remus met Snape's hard, malicious eyes for a brief second, then dropped his gaze and returned to his group.

"Are you all right?" Harry whispered as Remus rejoined them.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Remus whispered back, handing Hermione the ingredients.

James looked over, concern in his eyes, and Remus gave him a thumbs-up to indicate that he was okay. Then he turned back to Harry and Hermione, who were poring over the list.

"From everything I've read about Sleeping Potions," Hermione was saying, "you're supposed to simmer the dandelion milk first." She lit a small fire under the cauldron and added the milk.

Harry nodded in understanding. "Most of them mix the asphodel and calomel--or in this case lavender," he added. "So we'll have to crush that up."

"I'll do it," volunteered Remus.

Ten minutes later everyone was done. Snape's eyes glittered around the room. "All right," he snapped, "since there appear to be two groups per table, each group will test the other's potion. Pray the rest of your table isn't completely stupid. I have antidotes on hand, just in case."

Harry caught Parvati Patil shoot Goyle a wary look out of the corner of her eye. Since Goyle was in this class, however, it could only be assumed he was better at Potions than he appeared on the surface.

Sirius grinned as he brought over the potion. "We're ready for you to try it," he announced to his friends.

"No silver," James assured Remus.

"I think Snape spilt it all anyway," Remus pointed out. "All right, we'll try yours first. You have the awakening potion?"

Neville held up the potion they'd been given with their ingredients. "All right," Harry said nervously. "Down the hatch."

"Cheers," Hermione said grimly, and the three of them swallowed the ladle of potion. After a few seconds, they fell into a light doze.

James was scribbling away as Neville administered the Awakening Potion. "That was odd, I thought that'd be more powerful. Maybe I should find out why asphodel, calomel, and monkshood don't put you in a very deep sleep."

"Monkshood and calomel cancel each other out in the potion," Hermione spoke up, bringing over their potion. "We might as well have been drinking straight asphodel."

Sirius grinned sheepishly. "Oh."

Remus unfurled a scroll of parchment and sat, quill poised, to take notes. Hermione stood by with the Awakening Potion. Harry held out the potion they'd made.

"You'll need to add a hair or something," he added. "Our fourth ingredient."

Neville, James, and Sirius took it and collapsed instantly into a heavy sleep. It took a bit more Awakening Potion plus a spell Harry remembered to rouse them. Remus was scribbling quickly.

"Wow, that is one powerful potion," Neville commented. "I swear my heart stopped beating."

"I think it did," Hermione said. "This was close to the Draught of the Living Dead in potency. We'll need to remember that."

~~~

The days passed swiftly. One Saturday afternoon, as the Marauders, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were walking across the grounds, Ron suddenly sat very hard on the ground.

"Oh, my God, it's happening," Harry muttered. He bent down and hoisted Ron up. Sirius ran around to his other side and helped. Ron looked pale but resigned.

They went up to the hospital wing. Madame Pomfrey took one look at them and shook her head sadly.

"Put him here," she said, indicating the bed. "Mr. Potter, I believe letters need to be sent. Mr. Lupin, please run and fetch Miss Weasley. Mr. Black, Miss Granger, please go fetch Professor Dumbledore."

Everyone scuttled off; James went with Harry. "What's--going--on?" he panted.

"The cancer," Harry said, his voice shaking. "It's caught up with him. He's only got about a week now...he'll be gone by next Saturday. We've got to get in touch with his family...especially Percy."

~~~

A week later, James, Sirius, and Remus hovered anxiously outside the hospital wing as a crowd of people--three redheads, Harry, and Hermione--sat around a single bed, looking solemn. Nervously, James paced the hallway. Sirius started pacing in a counter-pattern to James. Remus just sat against the wall and prayed.

Finally, Harry and Hermione came out, their arms around each other's shoulders. Remus looked up, and Harry shook his head.

"That's it. He's gone."

A small form breezed past them and ran down the hall.

"Ginny," Hermione said tersely, and the two of them hurried off to comfort the grieving young girl.

~~~

The following Tuesday afternoon, while the fifth years were taking their O.W.L.s, McGonagall announced that exams would be starting the following Monday.

Sirius and James grumbled dreadfully, until Remus pointed out to them that they'd already taken the exams once. That cheered them up a bit.

Exams didn't seem as bad as they had before. Harry, Hermione, Remus, and others felt that they'd done quite well, all things considered. And Ginny didn't think she'd done too badly on her O.W.L.s, even taking into account the fact that she burst into tears almost every three seconds.

All too soon, Saturday rolled around. It was time for the Marauders to go home.

In the corridor where they'd first arrived, the Marauders, Harry, and Hermione said goodbye.

"It'd be great to see you all again," Harry told them, giving each one a hug like you'd give a friend. "Maybe we'll find a vortex of our own."

"Probably down here," Remus laughed. "This seems to be the big bridge."

Sirius nodded and smiled at the others. "I think I like it here, now."

"Me, too," James sighed. "At least I got to see it once. Pity I won't see it like Remus did."

"Yeah, me, either," Sirius said wistfully.

"You get to meet them, though," James pointed out. "I only meet Harry now and when he's a baby."

Hermione smiled shyly. "It's been a pleasure seeing you all again. I agree with Harry. We'll have to come and visit next year."

"Maybe you can come for graduation," Harry added. "Or we'll come and see you."

"Come for Christmas," Remus offered.

"Bye!" the two of them called, waving. The Marauders waved back and stepped through together.

~~~

Spinning, spinning, spinning. Remus had never travelled consciously through a vortex and was a little nervous, but Sirius and James helped him. Finally, they landed neatly on the other side, though Remus stumbled a bit.

Peter ran up, looking relieved. "Thank God! You made it! How was Hermione?"

"She was fine," Sirius said. "We met Harry and Ron and Neville, too. They're really nice. You'd like them."

"They might come for Christmas next year," Remus added with a smile. "You can meet them then."

"Oh, that'd be great," Peter grinned.

"Well, Ron won't be coming," James pointed out. "He died...cancer. But the others might."

As they walked away, James looked back and smiled. The best part of any trip was coming home afterwards, but he hoped the others would make it for the holidays...