Disclaimer – Anything that you recognize does not belong to me. If it did; Fred Weasley would still be perfectly alive.

I wrote this story forever ago, and I always felt like it wasn't up to my normal writing standards. So I decided to give it a go and reboot the whole thing. I'm going to try and have the next chapter up next week, but since I have exams, no promises. If you'd like to beta, that'd be awesome. I could use someone to kick me in the butt and check continuity. Thanks for reading the all new What If?

Prologue: The Bet

"Prongs! Moony! Wormy!" A tall, black-haired boy pushed his way through the throng of misty-eyed parents of First Years and envious younger siblings. He was gangly and lean built, but graceful from generations of aristocratic breeding. His long hair had once been neatly brushed, but now stuck up about his head from the whooshing of trains and frantic running in the enormous King's Cross station. He had been dying for this day for a month and a half. A month and a half of grouchy house elves, painful hexes by an equally irritable cousin(although he could argue irritable and replace it with downright, soul-crushing, fiery depths of Hell evil), and parents so obviously and embarrassingly manipulative that he didn't know whether to laugh or try and run away again when they attempted a fourth talk at dinner. For some reason they still thought there was hope of adding another slimy Death Eater to the 'most noble house of Black'.

He really couldn't even begin to put in words just how happy he was to see the faces of the friends who had become like brothers to him, and the one that basically was, after taking him in. In fact, that one currently was standing with most of Sirius' things, since the latter had wanted to pack minimally in case he simply couldn't take his family. Which he hadn't. But he also hadn't left. If Sirius had anything, it was honor, and he had promised his parents that he would stay with him for the second half of summer. And he had. And hated every second of it with a burning that sometimes scared even him. Were you supposed to dislike your family so strongly? Be happy that you never really saw them anymore? To feel more comfortable with your best friend's parents than your own? He sometimes felt like there was something wrong with him, a defect that set him apart and planted him directly in the middle of the group of charming misfits that were his best friends. Nevertheless, Sirius felt a surge of the sense of safety he only got when he saw their faces.

Three heads popped up at his yelling, and three identical grins appeared on each face, and he breathed a huge sigh of relief. Sirius took them all in. James, the quintessential effortless cool guy. He stood with his hands in his pockets, slightly leaned back and his hair perfectly mussed. The corner of his mouth was still quirked to finish a sentence to Remus, but his eyes managed to hold both a warm glow and a glint that meant that the sentence wasn't entirely innocent. Or, at least what professors deemed innocent. Remus stood tallest, intelligent, yellowy-hazel eyes lighting up as he caught sight of the last Marauder. If James was able to portray effortlessness, Remus had an air that let everyone know he was much smarter than they, but without a neurosis to prove it every three seconds. There was a book tucked under his right arm, and Sirius knew there were much more in his cases. Remus didn't care much for fashion statements, but more for toting his personal library around with him.

He tended to blend, but not in a bad way. Just in the way that when you saw him, unlike James and Sirius, it wasn't immediately clear that his intent was to blow something up. And then Peter. He always just got the little tinge of annoyance at the weaker boy; sometimes his practically worshipping the ground he and the other two Marauders, but especially James, walked on was annoying. But, there were some good qualities. The watery, small eyes looked up at him as though he were God. But Sirius had no time for that. He smiled broadly at his friends, -with a conspiratorial wink at James, but his best friend had no time to react as his best friend was then immediately magnetized to the redhaired vision getting on the train with her friends. James' goddess, the girl he had been after since their second year. As he reached them, Sirius closed his friend's mouth with a click, and James gave his best smarmy smile. Sirius had a proposal, but for now, that could wait. James was too far gone.

James, as always, was drawn to Lily. He waved a hand at his friends, with a half-glance at his friends and a 'Well, come on lads,' he boarded the train after her. The others, with a shared exasperation, followed after him, and James grinned and strutted into the compartment across from Lily's. He ran his hand through his hair to make it even messier, hoping she noticed. She didn't. Sighing and giving up for the moment, he put his trunk above him and sat down, making sure he was in full view of Evans. Sirius sauntered in after him, taking his place at James' side, but James hardly noticed. Lily Evans was just…intoxicating. She flipped her wine-colored hair and laughed with her friends, and James wish he could have heard what she said that made them laugh. She was so smart, and pretty, and unattainable that it drove him absolutely mad. She was the one girl in Hogwarts he couldn't woo with the considerable force of his boyish charm. But suddenly, ruining his rare moment of uninterrupted Lily-watching, there were two fingers snapping in front of his face. He shook his shaggy hair.

"What, Padfoot? You're ruining my gaze time, mate. The apocalypse better be happening or something."

"Nope. But this is better. I got bored at my parents' and had a fantastical idea."

"What is it Sirius?" Peter asked his squeaky voice. Appropriate, really, James thought whimsically.

"Well," He began. "I was thinking. We all have some serious relationship issues. The fact I chase tail more than a spastic dog, James only wants that one," he jerked his thumb at Lily, who happened to look over, but Sirius only winked and continued, "Remus doesn't give anyone a chance, 'cause of the fuzz, and Peter, well, you just don't do very well. I was thinking we could turn it into a bet." Sirius looked very assured of himself, smiling, black hair falling roguishly into his gray eyes. Remus looked terrified, but covered it up with a practiced ease. If they were going to try and make him do what he thought they were going to to try and make him do…James piped up.

"Oh, that's easy. Sirius, you have to get your sorry arse in a committed relationship for three months. Decently difficult for you, with your personal record of two weeks," Sirius only gave him a smarmy grin, James rolled his eyes and went on, "I have to get yonder damsel, Peter has to get a girlfriend in general, and Remus…you have to find a girl you like enough to tell the truth to." Remus was back to being terrified. They were, and James was reading him like an open book. He was pretty sure Sirius' underlying plan here wasn't actually a bet, but an attempt to maneuver and corner their best friend into trusting someone outside themselves and a select few of the Hogwarts faculty. Sirius gave him a subtle wink, and he knew he had been right.

"So, what will the winnings be?" Remus shrugged.

"Twenty galleons to the winner?" James knew Remus wasn't stupid. He had caught on to his friends' scheme, and was resigned to. Or, maybe, -hopefully- he actually wanted to do it, deep down? Find a good bird he could trust enough to tell that every time a full moon popped out, he turned into a hairy monster fit for nightmares, and she'd take it with a grain of salt? Granted, no one that awesome -aside from Lily, and she was off limits- immediately came to mind, but perhaps there was a diamond in the rough outside of his and Sirius' many flings. He stood up.

"I think I shall try to win right now." His friends groaned, James shrugged. Then he swaggered across the aisle, opening up the compartment door.

"Say, Evans. Look, my friend Sirius over there said you'd never say yes to me. Prove him wrong? Hogsmeade? Two weeks from now?" James smiled crookedly, assuredly making the other girls in the compartment swoon. Except Lily.

"Well, Potter. He was right. No." She said charmingly. Without skipping a beat, James tossed her a Chocolate Frog.

"My sources say you like those. And I won't give up, Evans." He exited, while Lily eyed the candy.

"Lily, you should trust him. Try it." Her friend Elizabeth Norry said. Lily warily opened the package, and hesitantly took a bite of the frog. Then waiting for something to happen, she sighed in relief.

"Looks like Potter actually doesn't jinx everything he gets his wand on—AGH!" Lily screeched, as her dark red hair turned into a rainbow of flashing colors, changing every few seconds.

"Potter!"

"Yes Evans?" James said from his compartment. Lily stalked over.

"My hair is a neon sign."

"Yes, it is."

"Why the bloody hell did you do that?"

"Well, I jinxed the Frog so that after you ate it, the next time you spoke badly of me it would do that. You're far too predictable, Evans. I wanted to see how long it took for you to say my name, but I didn't anticipate how much better it would be screamed." He grinned cheekily. She whirled on him, and then his skin was bright yellow. Sirius fell off the seat laughing, and his robes were pink. Lily smiled to herself and went back to her compartment and slammed the door shut behind her.

"Looks like they're not the only ones who can jinx things." Her friends laughed as they watched the two boys struggle with the jinxes, the other two laughing.

There's hope for this year after all, Remus thought.