FIC: Trouble with a Capital T - Part 11 of 11
Title: Trouble with a Capital T
Rating: PG15
Word Count: 38,781
Genre: Romance/Humour/Drama
Summary: The teenage Marauders and Lily Evans find themselves in a whole heap of trouble when they arrive in another parallel world, and discover that Sirius Black is on the run from Azkaban Prison, Remus Lupin is the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, their bitter enemy Severus Snape is teaching Potions, and the orphaned Harry Potter is about to start his third year at Hogwarts.
Pairings: Remus/Sirius (obviously) and Lily/Oliver (not so obviously) and a hint of James/Lily
Warnings: Slash and some bad language
Disclaimer: I own nothing that you recognise. J K Rowling retains all copyright.
This story is the fourth in my Trouble series, but should stand alone as well.
Double Trouble can be found here.
A Little More Trouble can be found here.
Triple Trouble can be found here.
Chapter 11
“What do you think Dumbledore will do about him?” Sirius asked, nodding to where his older self was walking by the lake with his godson.
“I don’t know,” Remus replied. “I don’t know why he won’t agree to Harry moving in with Sirius, instead of staying with his muggle relatives.”
“I guess there’s more to this than Dumbledore’s letting on.”
“I’m sure you’re right. I wonder how he’s getting on with finding a way to get us home…”
“Don’t know, but I hope he finds one soon. Peter’s more than ready to go home, seeing his other self sent off to Azkaban has knocked him for six. And James is sick of seeing Lily mooning over Oliver.”
“Lily isn’t mooning,” Remus replied. “She’s just decided to stop things before it gets too difficult to leave.”
“Not to mention, she doesn’t want to traumatise Harry by snogging a bloke that isn’t his father where he might see.”
“You know something, Padfoot?” Remus said as he pulled Sirius down to the ground near the willow tree. “I think we need to do something to cheer everyone up.”
“A prank?” Sirius’s eyes lit up.
“Of course,” Remus replied. “What else? I vote we call an emergency meeting of the Marauder/Weasley Alliance this evening.”
“And what do you suggest we do in the meantime?” Sirius whispered, planting kisses along Remus’s jaw.
“Um, you know what you said about traumatising Harry?”
“Hmm.”
“He and the older you are looking at us, and they’re looking rather… erm… traumatised.”
Sirius pulled back and turned to see where Remus was looking. “What’s the matter?” he called. “Never seen a couple of blokes snogging before?”
“Sirius!” Remus exclaimed, even as he laughed out loud at the astonished faces of Harry and the other Sirius.
“Maybe you should track down a certain bookish professor and try it yourself?” Sirius suggested with a wink.
Remus laughed as the older Sirius flushed familiarly. Harry meanwhile, didn’t seem to know where to look. “Come on, Padfoot,” he said, coaxing Sirius to his feet and back to the castle. “Let’s leave Harry and his godfather to get to know each other again.”
-o-xXx-o-
Getting into the kitchens was the easy part. Getting the potion past the house elves took a little more effort. But with the combined efforts of the Marauders and the Weasley twins they succeeded.
“We’re really going to do this?” James asked.
Remus grinned back at him as he poured the potion into the pumpkin juice that was waiting to be drunk by the entire school.
“You still don’t know what it does exactly?” George asked.
“The book was a bit vague,” Remus replied as he quickly stirred the potion into the juice.
“Do we need to avoid drinking it ourselves?” Peter asked.
“Nope, it’ll work on those who know about it, too.”
“We could test it now?” suggested Sirius, reaching towards the juice, only to have his hand slapped away by Remus.
“Be patient, Padfoot,” Remus scolded. “There’s no need to stick your dirty fingers in the juice.”
“My hands are perfectly clean.”
“You can still wait until we’re in the Great Hall with the rest of the school.”
-o-xXx-o-
“Looks like he’s staying here for a while,” Sirius commented, nodding towards the staff table where Sirius Black was talking quietly with Professor Lupin.
“Professor Lupin’s looking ill again,” George noted with a frown. “He looks even worse than Moony here.”
“Thanks a lot,” Remus snorted.
“You know, you never did tell us what your animagus form is,” Fred commented. “What with everything else, I forgot to ask again.”
“I don’t have one,” Remus replied shortly.
“So, where’s the nickname come from?”
“Where do you think it comes from?” Sirius smirked. “Moony here is the most daring and outrageous of all of us. Mooned Yorkshire from the Hogwarts Express back in fourth year.”
“I did not,” exclaimed Remus, casually kicking Sirius under the table just as the food arrived.
“He did,” Sirius whispered with a wink.
“I’d rather they know the truth, than have them believe that,” Remus hissed.
“Okay, okay.” Sirius turned back to the twins. “It was actually Derbyshire.”
Remus tried to kick Sirius again, only to find his foot captured between his boyfriend’s own. He was about to say something when the first astonished gasps of the students around them drew his attention away from their discussion.
“Looks like it’s working,” James said with a grin as he took a long swallow from his own glass of juice.
“What do you see, Prongs?” Sirius asked.
“Wow!” James breathed. “It’s beautiful. Lily’s you’re all glowing.”
Lily, who had yet to take a drink of her juice, looked across the table at him in confusion.
“I’ve got to see this,” Sirius said as he gulped down some of his own juice. “Moony, you’re all silvery.”
“So are you,” Remus replied, placing his own glass back on the table.
“We’re not identical!” Fred exclaimed as he looked at George. “You’re all blue-green, but I’m more purple.”
“That’s because the potion shows you a person’s aura, it isn’t based on personality or familial ties,” Remus explained. “If it was, me and Sirius would be totally different colours.”
“Instead of being a perfect match,” Sirius commented, picking up Remus’s hand and watching the two glowing auras mingling together. All around the room students were seeing the auras of everyone else, and the room seemed awash with every colour of the rainbow and more besides.
“Me and Lily are both red,” James crowed.
“We are not,” Lily snapped.
“How would you know?” James asked. “You’ve not taken a drink, yet.”
“I don’t need to take a drink to know you’re lying.”
“You just too scared to accept I might be right about this,” James accused. “If you’re so sure I’m lying, take a drink and prove it.”
“Fine! I will!”
“So, what are you waiting for?” James teased.
Lily scowled as she reached for her glass and took a swallow of juice. She closed her eyes as she drank, only opening them after she’d taken a calming breath. She looked at her hand, resting on the table, then across at James. “Shit!”
“Told you so,” James gloated. “A perfect match.”
“Not exactly perfect,” Lily pointed out. “You’re slightly darker than I am.”
“I’m closer to your colour than Oliver is,” James retorted, casting a glance down the table to where Oliver, with a dark orange aura was looking in their direction.
“Looks like the teachers are seeing what we are, too,” Sirius commented with a nod to the staff table. “And the other Moony and Padfoot are silver, just like us.”
Remus looked at the table with a smile. Professor Lupin and Sirius Black were currently holding their hands up next to each other, checking to see how close a match their colours were.
At the Gryffindor table, Sirius put his arm around Remus and smirked at the staff table. The older Sirius eventually caught his eye and Sirius winked at him. The older Sirius gave a barking laugh and turned to the Professor beside him. They couldn’t hear what he said, but Professor Lupin flushed slightly and shook his head in what appeared to be amusement. Sirius then whispered something in his ear, which caused Professor Lupin’s jaw to drop rather comically. Once he’d recovered his composure he said something to Sirius who shrugged slightly and smiled sheepishly. Their younger selves watched as Professor Lupin stood up and nodded towards the nearest exit. The older Sirius didn’t argue as he followed after the Professor without another look at the rest of the room.
“Bet I know where they’re going?” Sirius whispered to Remus. “Or at least what they’re going to do.”
“Just because you’ve got a one track mind,” Remus teased.
The rest of the meal was spent watching the rest of the students as they figured out what it was they were seeing.
“Your sister and Harry seem quite a close match,” James said to the twins with a nod down the table.
“I’m not surprised,” George replied. “She’s had a crush on him for ages. I’m more interested in Ron and Hermione. He does a lot of complaining about her and they fight like cats and dogs.”
“So did that pair,” said James, pointing a fork at Remus and Sirius. “As for me and my Lily, we’ve not stopped fighting since first year.”
“How long does the potion last for?” Fred asked.
“About twelve hours,” Remus replied.
“Right.” He nodded and looked down the table. “Hey! Colin! Over here kid!”
A young boy, who Remus guessed was a second year, looked up at the call and made his way cautiously down the table. “Yeah?” he asked.
“Can I borrow your camera for a bit?” Fred asked.
“You want to know if the glowing shows up on photos?” Colin asked.
“Yeah, that’s right,” Fred nodded. “So, can I?”
“Okay,” Colin said with a smile as he handed over the camera. “But don’t break it.”
“I’ll guard it with my life,” Fred promised. Then he climbed up onto the table and began snapping pictures of the occupants of the Great Hall.
“Why do you need so many?” Sirius asked curiously. “Just one would be enough to check if they appear.”
“No time to develop them until after the potion’s worn off,” Fred explained. “By then it’ll be too late. But if they show up we can make a fortune from the Weasley Dating Agency.”
Remus laughed and shook his head. It seemed that the older students were rapidly searching the hall for their best matches already, but for those that were colour blind or slow on the uptake, the Weasley twins would be prepared.
-o-xXx-o-
“Can you feel the love?” Sirius whispered as they made their way back to the Room of Requirement.
“I can certainly hear it,” Remus chuckled. “In every empty classroom and broom cupboard in the school.”
“I feel our work is done here,” Sirius smiled.
“It certainly is,” Professor Dumbledore announced with a smile.
“Professor?” Remus asked questioningly.
“Oh, don’t worry, you’re not in trouble. I’ve just come to let you know I’ve found a way to open the portal to your own world.”
“You have?”
“Yes. I think perhaps it might be wise for you to say your goodbyes this evening, then tomorrow I’ll see you safely home.”
Remus and Sirius nodded as they let themselves into the room. At the varied expressions in the room they knew that Dumbledore had already told the others the news.
“You okay?” Remus asked Lily.
The redheaded girl nodded mutely before running from the room.
Tomorrow was going to be difficult, for all of them, but most especially for the only female member of the party.
-o-xXx-o-
“You have everything you brought with you?” Dumbledore asked.
The five Gryffindors nodded.
“May I suggest we check they haven’t got anything they shouldn’t have?” Severus Snape asked.
Sirius scowled at the teacher and wished that their departure hadn’t drawn such a crowd. It had been decided to open the portal in a spot near the lake. Dumbledore had mentioned something about it being a powerful spot, but as long as it worked, Sirius didn’t really care where they travelled from. He just wished that certain people, namely Professor Snape, would bugger off back into the castle.
He silently reiterated that wish after the professors confiscated various chocolate frog cards and pranking items.
“And what’s this?” Professor McGonagall asked. She pulled out the blank parchment that was the Map.
“That came with us,” James said, reaching out his hand to take it back.
“Are you sure?” Professor McGonagall asked suspiciously. “Miss Evans, do you recognise this?”
Remus looked at Lily pleadingly. They couldn’t lose the parchment, and he silently begged her not to reveal what it was.
“It came with them,” Lily admitted, albeit somewhat reluctantly. Professor McGonagall looked equally reluctant as she passed back the parchment, but nothing further was said. Remus breathed a sigh of relief, which he hoped went unnoticed.
Professor Dumbledore then opened the portal, drawing gasps of awe from the crowd.
“Don’t do anything we wouldn’t do!” Fred yelled after them, as they walked towards the portal, where a rather irate looking Dumbledore was waiting on the other side.
Professor McGonagall snorted and told them to at least try to behave, reminding Remus one last time that he would come to regret it if he were banned from the library.
Lily looked towards the edge of the crowd where Oliver and Harry were standing close together. She gave them a final wave before stepping through the portal. James on the other hand ran to Harry and gave the rather startled boy a hug before following after her. Peter disappeared right after them, leaving only Remus and Sirius to cross through the portal.
“You’d think they would come and see us off,” Sirius muttered, looking for their older selves.
“They probably lost track of the time,” Remus pointed out. “It happens to me all the time… at least when I’m with you.”
“But still…”
“Here they are,” Remus said with a nod towards their older selves who were hurrying towards them from the castle.
“You came!” Sirius exclaimed joyful.
“Several times,” his older self replied with a wink.
“For Merlin’s sake,” Remus and the Professor muttered, whilst the young Sirius laughed.
“I thought you said you’d kissed once before and didn’t like it,” Remus asked Professor Lupin, curiosity getting the better of him.
“That’s true,” Professor Lupin replied. “It was awkward, in front of most of our year, and highly embarrassing.”
“Which is why our second one was in the privacy of an empty Transfiguration classroom,” Sirius explained with a wink at the slightly stunned looking Professor McGonagall.
“Remus, can I have a quiet word?” Professor Lupin asked.
“Make it quick,” Dumbledore advised, pointing to the portal. Remus nodded and stepped away from the crowd.
“Are you taking it with you?” the Professor asked in a voice that was barely more than a whisper.
Remus nodded. “Are you going to tell?”
“No,” Professor Lupin shook his head. “I guess there’s still a bit of the marauder in me, even after all these years. Just be careful, and take care of yourself and the others.”
“They take care of me,” Remus replied with a smile back at Sirius.
Professor Lupin smiled across at the older Sirius. “Don’t be afraid of trying to change things,” he advised. “Our fates don’t have to be your own.”
Remus nodded again. “We aren’t going to let the same things happen in our world,” he replied.
Professor Lupin looked like he was going to say something more, but a subtle cough from Professor Dumbledore reminded them that they were running out of time.
“Good luck!” Professor Lupin offered as they approached the portal.
“Don’t need it,” Sirius replied as he tugged Remus towards the doorway. “He’s got me instead.”
-o-xXx-o-
The Gryffindor common room looked just like it had when they’d left it. Sirius and James had just regaled the students with the tale of their great adventure for the third time when Lily stepped into the room.
“You carry on, Padfoot,” James said, heading towards Lily before the portrait hole had even closed. “Lily?” he asked as he approached her.
“What do you want, Potter?” she asked tiredly.
“James.”
“What?”
“I want you to call me James, not Potter,” James explained. “I’ll call you Lily and you call me James.”
Lily raised an eyebrow questioningly.
“Look,” James said as he guided her back out of the portrait hole. “I’m not asking you out or anything, not this time. I’m just asking that you give us a chance at being friends, starting with using each other’s first names. And we’ll take things from there, okay?”
“Okay.” Lily nodded reluctantly. She still looked suspicious.
“I’m really not going to ask you out… yet,” James repeated. “I don’t want to be the rebound guy or anything like that.”
“Why are you being so nice?” Lily asked.
“Because I like you,” James replied, as though this was quite obvious. “I know I’ve been a jerk before, you’ve told me often enough, but I’m trying to make things up to you. I’m just asking you for the chance.”
“All right,” Lily sighed. “Friends?”
“Friends.” James held out his hand for Lily to shake, and tried not to squeal like a girl when she took his right hand with her left and led him down the stairs.
-o-xXx-o-
“You okay, Peter?” Remus asked. The blond haired boy nodded silently.
“Not still moping about being evil?” Sirius asked with a grin.
Peter shook his head half-heartedly and shrugged.
“Look at it this way,” Sirius advised. “On the last world, you were evil. On the one before that it was me. By my estimation that means it’s Prongs or Moony who are evil on this world.”
“I vote Prongs,” Remus said with a smirk. “He’s been acting odd for years.”
Peter smiled reluctantly and nodded in agreement.
-o-xXx-o-
“I wish they’d let us bring back those chocolate frog cards,” Sirius commented later that evening, after the marauders and Lily were the only ones left in the common room.
“We’d have made a fortune,” James agreed.
“We could still make some money,” Peter said from where he was stretched out on the floor.
“Don’t see how,” Sirius muttered.
Peter smirked up at him, waiting until he had everyone’s attention before continuing. “Who’s got the map?” he asked.
“I do,” Remus replied, easing himself out of Sirius’s embrace to pull the map from the pocket of his robes.
Peter reached out and took the map. He pulled his wand out and tapped the parchment. “Wormtail’s winners,” he stated simply.
The rest of the marauders and Lily leaned over to see the text that was slowly appearing on the parchment. Lines and lines of text in Peter’s small, neat handwriting soon filled the page.
“That’s the results of the Quidditch League!” Sirius gasped.
“For the next ten years,” Peter grinned. “We should clean up.”
“It’ll certainly help us get the funds for the ingredients for the Wolfsbane potion,” Sirius commented with a grin at Remus.
“That potion won’t be invented for years,” Lily pointed out.
Sirius grinned and pulled out his wand. “Great minds think alike, eh Wormtail?” He tapped the parchment as he said “Moony and Padfoot forever.” Slowly the text of the Quidditch results disappeared, being replaced with Remus’s own handwriting, detailing the ingredients and recipe for the Wolfsbane potion.
“You can’t use that before it’s invented!” Lily accused.
“You going to stop me?” Remus asked mildly.
“I… I….” Lily shrugged. “I guess not.”
“Good,” Remus smiled. “Now, I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m very glad to be home.”
“Hmm,” Sirius murmured in agreement as he snuggled up close to Remus. “No more evil doubles for me.”
“No more doubles for any of us,” Lily said with a smirk. “One lot of marauders is more than enough for any world.”
The End
Rating: PG15
Word Count: 38,781
Genre: Romance/Humour/Drama
Summary: The teenage Marauders and Lily Evans find themselves in a whole heap of trouble when they arrive in another parallel world, and discover that Sirius Black is on the run from Azkaban Prison, Remus Lupin is the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, their bitter enemy Severus Snape is teaching Potions, and the orphaned Harry Potter is about to start his third year at Hogwarts.
Pairings: Remus/Sirius (obviously) and Lily/Oliver (not so obviously) and a hint of James/Lily
Warnings: Slash and some bad language
Disclaimer: I own nothing that you recognise. J K Rowling retains all copyright.
This story is the fourth in my Trouble series, but should stand alone as well.
Double Trouble can be found here.
A Little More Trouble can be found here.
Triple Trouble can be found here.
Chapter 11
“What do you think Dumbledore will do about him?” Sirius asked, nodding to where his older self was walking by the lake with his godson.
“I don’t know,” Remus replied. “I don’t know why he won’t agree to Harry moving in with Sirius, instead of staying with his muggle relatives.”
“I guess there’s more to this than Dumbledore’s letting on.”
“I’m sure you’re right. I wonder how he’s getting on with finding a way to get us home…”
“Don’t know, but I hope he finds one soon. Peter’s more than ready to go home, seeing his other self sent off to Azkaban has knocked him for six. And James is sick of seeing Lily mooning over Oliver.”
“Lily isn’t mooning,” Remus replied. “She’s just decided to stop things before it gets too difficult to leave.”
“Not to mention, she doesn’t want to traumatise Harry by snogging a bloke that isn’t his father where he might see.”
“You know something, Padfoot?” Remus said as he pulled Sirius down to the ground near the willow tree. “I think we need to do something to cheer everyone up.”
“A prank?” Sirius’s eyes lit up.
“Of course,” Remus replied. “What else? I vote we call an emergency meeting of the Marauder/Weasley Alliance this evening.”
“And what do you suggest we do in the meantime?” Sirius whispered, planting kisses along Remus’s jaw.
“Um, you know what you said about traumatising Harry?”
“Hmm.”
“He and the older you are looking at us, and they’re looking rather… erm… traumatised.”
Sirius pulled back and turned to see where Remus was looking. “What’s the matter?” he called. “Never seen a couple of blokes snogging before?”
“Sirius!” Remus exclaimed, even as he laughed out loud at the astonished faces of Harry and the other Sirius.
“Maybe you should track down a certain bookish professor and try it yourself?” Sirius suggested with a wink.
Remus laughed as the older Sirius flushed familiarly. Harry meanwhile, didn’t seem to know where to look. “Come on, Padfoot,” he said, coaxing Sirius to his feet and back to the castle. “Let’s leave Harry and his godfather to get to know each other again.”
-o-xXx-o-
Getting into the kitchens was the easy part. Getting the potion past the house elves took a little more effort. But with the combined efforts of the Marauders and the Weasley twins they succeeded.
“We’re really going to do this?” James asked.
Remus grinned back at him as he poured the potion into the pumpkin juice that was waiting to be drunk by the entire school.
“You still don’t know what it does exactly?” George asked.
“The book was a bit vague,” Remus replied as he quickly stirred the potion into the juice.
“Do we need to avoid drinking it ourselves?” Peter asked.
“Nope, it’ll work on those who know about it, too.”
“We could test it now?” suggested Sirius, reaching towards the juice, only to have his hand slapped away by Remus.
“Be patient, Padfoot,” Remus scolded. “There’s no need to stick your dirty fingers in the juice.”
“My hands are perfectly clean.”
“You can still wait until we’re in the Great Hall with the rest of the school.”
-o-xXx-o-
“Looks like he’s staying here for a while,” Sirius commented, nodding towards the staff table where Sirius Black was talking quietly with Professor Lupin.
“Professor Lupin’s looking ill again,” George noted with a frown. “He looks even worse than Moony here.”
“Thanks a lot,” Remus snorted.
“You know, you never did tell us what your animagus form is,” Fred commented. “What with everything else, I forgot to ask again.”
“I don’t have one,” Remus replied shortly.
“So, where’s the nickname come from?”
“Where do you think it comes from?” Sirius smirked. “Moony here is the most daring and outrageous of all of us. Mooned Yorkshire from the Hogwarts Express back in fourth year.”
“I did not,” exclaimed Remus, casually kicking Sirius under the table just as the food arrived.
“He did,” Sirius whispered with a wink.
“I’d rather they know the truth, than have them believe that,” Remus hissed.
“Okay, okay.” Sirius turned back to the twins. “It was actually Derbyshire.”
Remus tried to kick Sirius again, only to find his foot captured between his boyfriend’s own. He was about to say something when the first astonished gasps of the students around them drew his attention away from their discussion.
“Looks like it’s working,” James said with a grin as he took a long swallow from his own glass of juice.
“What do you see, Prongs?” Sirius asked.
“Wow!” James breathed. “It’s beautiful. Lily’s you’re all glowing.”
Lily, who had yet to take a drink of her juice, looked across the table at him in confusion.
“I’ve got to see this,” Sirius said as he gulped down some of his own juice. “Moony, you’re all silvery.”
“So are you,” Remus replied, placing his own glass back on the table.
“We’re not identical!” Fred exclaimed as he looked at George. “You’re all blue-green, but I’m more purple.”
“That’s because the potion shows you a person’s aura, it isn’t based on personality or familial ties,” Remus explained. “If it was, me and Sirius would be totally different colours.”
“Instead of being a perfect match,” Sirius commented, picking up Remus’s hand and watching the two glowing auras mingling together. All around the room students were seeing the auras of everyone else, and the room seemed awash with every colour of the rainbow and more besides.
“Me and Lily are both red,” James crowed.
“We are not,” Lily snapped.
“How would you know?” James asked. “You’ve not taken a drink, yet.”
“I don’t need to take a drink to know you’re lying.”
“You just too scared to accept I might be right about this,” James accused. “If you’re so sure I’m lying, take a drink and prove it.”
“Fine! I will!”
“So, what are you waiting for?” James teased.
Lily scowled as she reached for her glass and took a swallow of juice. She closed her eyes as she drank, only opening them after she’d taken a calming breath. She looked at her hand, resting on the table, then across at James. “Shit!”
“Told you so,” James gloated. “A perfect match.”
“Not exactly perfect,” Lily pointed out. “You’re slightly darker than I am.”
“I’m closer to your colour than Oliver is,” James retorted, casting a glance down the table to where Oliver, with a dark orange aura was looking in their direction.
“Looks like the teachers are seeing what we are, too,” Sirius commented with a nod to the staff table. “And the other Moony and Padfoot are silver, just like us.”
Remus looked at the table with a smile. Professor Lupin and Sirius Black were currently holding their hands up next to each other, checking to see how close a match their colours were.
At the Gryffindor table, Sirius put his arm around Remus and smirked at the staff table. The older Sirius eventually caught his eye and Sirius winked at him. The older Sirius gave a barking laugh and turned to the Professor beside him. They couldn’t hear what he said, but Professor Lupin flushed slightly and shook his head in what appeared to be amusement. Sirius then whispered something in his ear, which caused Professor Lupin’s jaw to drop rather comically. Once he’d recovered his composure he said something to Sirius who shrugged slightly and smiled sheepishly. Their younger selves watched as Professor Lupin stood up and nodded towards the nearest exit. The older Sirius didn’t argue as he followed after the Professor without another look at the rest of the room.
“Bet I know where they’re going?” Sirius whispered to Remus. “Or at least what they’re going to do.”
“Just because you’ve got a one track mind,” Remus teased.
The rest of the meal was spent watching the rest of the students as they figured out what it was they were seeing.
“Your sister and Harry seem quite a close match,” James said to the twins with a nod down the table.
“I’m not surprised,” George replied. “She’s had a crush on him for ages. I’m more interested in Ron and Hermione. He does a lot of complaining about her and they fight like cats and dogs.”
“So did that pair,” said James, pointing a fork at Remus and Sirius. “As for me and my Lily, we’ve not stopped fighting since first year.”
“How long does the potion last for?” Fred asked.
“About twelve hours,” Remus replied.
“Right.” He nodded and looked down the table. “Hey! Colin! Over here kid!”
A young boy, who Remus guessed was a second year, looked up at the call and made his way cautiously down the table. “Yeah?” he asked.
“Can I borrow your camera for a bit?” Fred asked.
“You want to know if the glowing shows up on photos?” Colin asked.
“Yeah, that’s right,” Fred nodded. “So, can I?”
“Okay,” Colin said with a smile as he handed over the camera. “But don’t break it.”
“I’ll guard it with my life,” Fred promised. Then he climbed up onto the table and began snapping pictures of the occupants of the Great Hall.
“Why do you need so many?” Sirius asked curiously. “Just one would be enough to check if they appear.”
“No time to develop them until after the potion’s worn off,” Fred explained. “By then it’ll be too late. But if they show up we can make a fortune from the Weasley Dating Agency.”
Remus laughed and shook his head. It seemed that the older students were rapidly searching the hall for their best matches already, but for those that were colour blind or slow on the uptake, the Weasley twins would be prepared.
-o-xXx-o-
“Can you feel the love?” Sirius whispered as they made their way back to the Room of Requirement.
“I can certainly hear it,” Remus chuckled. “In every empty classroom and broom cupboard in the school.”
“I feel our work is done here,” Sirius smiled.
“It certainly is,” Professor Dumbledore announced with a smile.
“Professor?” Remus asked questioningly.
“Oh, don’t worry, you’re not in trouble. I’ve just come to let you know I’ve found a way to open the portal to your own world.”
“You have?”
“Yes. I think perhaps it might be wise for you to say your goodbyes this evening, then tomorrow I’ll see you safely home.”
Remus and Sirius nodded as they let themselves into the room. At the varied expressions in the room they knew that Dumbledore had already told the others the news.
“You okay?” Remus asked Lily.
The redheaded girl nodded mutely before running from the room.
Tomorrow was going to be difficult, for all of them, but most especially for the only female member of the party.
-o-xXx-o-
“You have everything you brought with you?” Dumbledore asked.
The five Gryffindors nodded.
“May I suggest we check they haven’t got anything they shouldn’t have?” Severus Snape asked.
Sirius scowled at the teacher and wished that their departure hadn’t drawn such a crowd. It had been decided to open the portal in a spot near the lake. Dumbledore had mentioned something about it being a powerful spot, but as long as it worked, Sirius didn’t really care where they travelled from. He just wished that certain people, namely Professor Snape, would bugger off back into the castle.
He silently reiterated that wish after the professors confiscated various chocolate frog cards and pranking items.
“And what’s this?” Professor McGonagall asked. She pulled out the blank parchment that was the Map.
“That came with us,” James said, reaching out his hand to take it back.
“Are you sure?” Professor McGonagall asked suspiciously. “Miss Evans, do you recognise this?”
Remus looked at Lily pleadingly. They couldn’t lose the parchment, and he silently begged her not to reveal what it was.
“It came with them,” Lily admitted, albeit somewhat reluctantly. Professor McGonagall looked equally reluctant as she passed back the parchment, but nothing further was said. Remus breathed a sigh of relief, which he hoped went unnoticed.
Professor Dumbledore then opened the portal, drawing gasps of awe from the crowd.
“Don’t do anything we wouldn’t do!” Fred yelled after them, as they walked towards the portal, where a rather irate looking Dumbledore was waiting on the other side.
Professor McGonagall snorted and told them to at least try to behave, reminding Remus one last time that he would come to regret it if he were banned from the library.
Lily looked towards the edge of the crowd where Oliver and Harry were standing close together. She gave them a final wave before stepping through the portal. James on the other hand ran to Harry and gave the rather startled boy a hug before following after her. Peter disappeared right after them, leaving only Remus and Sirius to cross through the portal.
“You’d think they would come and see us off,” Sirius muttered, looking for their older selves.
“They probably lost track of the time,” Remus pointed out. “It happens to me all the time… at least when I’m with you.”
“But still…”
“Here they are,” Remus said with a nod towards their older selves who were hurrying towards them from the castle.
“You came!” Sirius exclaimed joyful.
“Several times,” his older self replied with a wink.
“For Merlin’s sake,” Remus and the Professor muttered, whilst the young Sirius laughed.
“I thought you said you’d kissed once before and didn’t like it,” Remus asked Professor Lupin, curiosity getting the better of him.
“That’s true,” Professor Lupin replied. “It was awkward, in front of most of our year, and highly embarrassing.”
“Which is why our second one was in the privacy of an empty Transfiguration classroom,” Sirius explained with a wink at the slightly stunned looking Professor McGonagall.
“Remus, can I have a quiet word?” Professor Lupin asked.
“Make it quick,” Dumbledore advised, pointing to the portal. Remus nodded and stepped away from the crowd.
“Are you taking it with you?” the Professor asked in a voice that was barely more than a whisper.
Remus nodded. “Are you going to tell?”
“No,” Professor Lupin shook his head. “I guess there’s still a bit of the marauder in me, even after all these years. Just be careful, and take care of yourself and the others.”
“They take care of me,” Remus replied with a smile back at Sirius.
Professor Lupin smiled across at the older Sirius. “Don’t be afraid of trying to change things,” he advised. “Our fates don’t have to be your own.”
Remus nodded again. “We aren’t going to let the same things happen in our world,” he replied.
Professor Lupin looked like he was going to say something more, but a subtle cough from Professor Dumbledore reminded them that they were running out of time.
“Good luck!” Professor Lupin offered as they approached the portal.
“Don’t need it,” Sirius replied as he tugged Remus towards the doorway. “He’s got me instead.”
-o-xXx-o-
The Gryffindor common room looked just like it had when they’d left it. Sirius and James had just regaled the students with the tale of their great adventure for the third time when Lily stepped into the room.
“You carry on, Padfoot,” James said, heading towards Lily before the portrait hole had even closed. “Lily?” he asked as he approached her.
“What do you want, Potter?” she asked tiredly.
“James.”
“What?”
“I want you to call me James, not Potter,” James explained. “I’ll call you Lily and you call me James.”
Lily raised an eyebrow questioningly.
“Look,” James said as he guided her back out of the portrait hole. “I’m not asking you out or anything, not this time. I’m just asking that you give us a chance at being friends, starting with using each other’s first names. And we’ll take things from there, okay?”
“Okay.” Lily nodded reluctantly. She still looked suspicious.
“I’m really not going to ask you out… yet,” James repeated. “I don’t want to be the rebound guy or anything like that.”
“Why are you being so nice?” Lily asked.
“Because I like you,” James replied, as though this was quite obvious. “I know I’ve been a jerk before, you’ve told me often enough, but I’m trying to make things up to you. I’m just asking you for the chance.”
“All right,” Lily sighed. “Friends?”
“Friends.” James held out his hand for Lily to shake, and tried not to squeal like a girl when she took his right hand with her left and led him down the stairs.
-o-xXx-o-
“You okay, Peter?” Remus asked. The blond haired boy nodded silently.
“Not still moping about being evil?” Sirius asked with a grin.
Peter shook his head half-heartedly and shrugged.
“Look at it this way,” Sirius advised. “On the last world, you were evil. On the one before that it was me. By my estimation that means it’s Prongs or Moony who are evil on this world.”
“I vote Prongs,” Remus said with a smirk. “He’s been acting odd for years.”
Peter smiled reluctantly and nodded in agreement.
-o-xXx-o-
“I wish they’d let us bring back those chocolate frog cards,” Sirius commented later that evening, after the marauders and Lily were the only ones left in the common room.
“We’d have made a fortune,” James agreed.
“We could still make some money,” Peter said from where he was stretched out on the floor.
“Don’t see how,” Sirius muttered.
Peter smirked up at him, waiting until he had everyone’s attention before continuing. “Who’s got the map?” he asked.
“I do,” Remus replied, easing himself out of Sirius’s embrace to pull the map from the pocket of his robes.
Peter reached out and took the map. He pulled his wand out and tapped the parchment. “Wormtail’s winners,” he stated simply.
The rest of the marauders and Lily leaned over to see the text that was slowly appearing on the parchment. Lines and lines of text in Peter’s small, neat handwriting soon filled the page.
“That’s the results of the Quidditch League!” Sirius gasped.
“For the next ten years,” Peter grinned. “We should clean up.”
“It’ll certainly help us get the funds for the ingredients for the Wolfsbane potion,” Sirius commented with a grin at Remus.
“That potion won’t be invented for years,” Lily pointed out.
Sirius grinned and pulled out his wand. “Great minds think alike, eh Wormtail?” He tapped the parchment as he said “Moony and Padfoot forever.” Slowly the text of the Quidditch results disappeared, being replaced with Remus’s own handwriting, detailing the ingredients and recipe for the Wolfsbane potion.
“You can’t use that before it’s invented!” Lily accused.
“You going to stop me?” Remus asked mildly.
“I… I….” Lily shrugged. “I guess not.”
“Good,” Remus smiled. “Now, I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m very glad to be home.”
“Hmm,” Sirius murmured in agreement as he snuggled up close to Remus. “No more evil doubles for me.”
“No more doubles for any of us,” Lily said with a smirk. “One lot of marauders is more than enough for any world.”
The End