"It was Sirius' fault."
Those words were automatic, said so many times they were engraved in his brain, and were the automatic response to seeing Professor McGonagall glare down at him. He heard Sirius grumble underneath him, and James let loose a muffled snicker. Remus Lupin, age 14, pushed himself off of his friends and shakily got to his feet. His head ached from the full moon a couple days ago, but it wasn't as bad as it had been yesterday. Remus glanced around the great hall, which was currently empty besides him, his friends and McGonagall. Why was he here again? How did he and his friends end up in a giant pile? Spots of red danced before his eyes as he tried to remember.
"It is not my fault!" Sirius exclaimed, as he finally managed to push Peter off of him, who fell to the floor with a grunt.
"Everything's your fault. Well, except for the 50% that is James's fault." Remus said, rolling his eyes.
"Mr. Lupin, can you please explain to me how you got here?" McGonagall asked slowly, looking at James and Sirius with a wary look on her face. Also, Remus could've sworn she was wearing a dark blue cloak earlier today instead of the emerald green one she was wearing now. Strange.
"I….can't quite remember." Remus admitted.
"I do!" exclaimed Sirius, still on the floor, lying on top of James. McGonagall frowned at him.
"So, Mr. Black, why don't you stand up and tell me?"
"Thanks but no thanks, Minnie, I'm perfectly comfortable here." He responded cheekily. James laughed, and seeing him do so Peter did as well, though a bit louder than necessary. Professor McGonagall's frown deepened.
"Would you like me to take five points from Gryffindor for disrespect, Mr. Black?"
"Nah, not really." Sirius said, not moving a muscle to try and stand up. McGonagall's eyes flashed angrily. Sensing danger, James decided it was time to act.
"Get up! Geez, when did you become so fat?" James said, trying without success to push Sirius off of him. Sirius grumbled and crossed his arms and shifted his weight onto James's head. James yelped, and then with one final shove he pushed Sirius off of him. James stood up and faced Professor McGonagall, and a quietly snickering Sirius followed suit.
"Explain." Ordered McGonagall, her lips set in a thin white line.
"Well, you see, I was just serving detention with good old Sluggy, same as usual," Said Sirius.
"By 'Sluggy' I assume you mean Professor Slughorn."
"Yeah, yeah" Sirius rolled his eyes. "Well, I was innocently serving my detention, not complaining at all (Remus snorted) when Sluggy-sorry, Professor Slughorn had to go investigate some screaming down the hall."
"Not a planned distraction," Added Peter eagerly.
"Right. And then I sort of got bored, and one thing led to the next and I was looking through his stuff. Well, I found this really cool book about alternate dimensions." McGonagall raised one eyebrow, clearly surprised. Slowly these memories came flooding back to Remus. Sirius's excited face, the potion making….everything.
"Of course I had to try it. It took a week or two to make, and then we were ready to try it." This memory came rushing back to Remus, painfully vivid; All of them huddling over a cauldron in the abandoned bathroom; The purple smoke rising, obscuring their vision and making their eyes burn; Peter tripping and knocking over the cauldron; The black, viscous liquid spilling over the yellowing tiles, the sensation of falling…..
Then landing here. Oh Merlin.
"So I made the potion the book told about. Then we got it all over our feet thanks to Peter (Peter blushed profusely, shrinking downward.) and we ended up here. "
McGonagall opened and closed her mouth, mouthing the words 'alternate dimension?' over and over. At that moment James Potter walked in the door.
Well, it looked exactly like James Potter. Same mussed up, black hair, the same height, same face, same hazel eyes and same arrogant smirk. But it can't be James, thought Remus, because James is standing right next to me. Remus looked over at James, who was staring at James with an open mouth. James was staring right back at James. This is too confusing for a Monday, thought Remus tiredly.It was Peter who broke the silence first.
"D-d-did it work?" Peter asked, so nervous his voice came out more like a squeak.
"Of course it did! Unless James has a twin wandering around the castle he didn't tell us about." Sirius said, nudging James out of his stupor. James approached his other self. (Does that make sense? Remus didn't think it did, be he didn't know how else to phrase it.)
"Hi. I'm James Potter. And you must be James Potter. Nice to meet you, myself!" James said, his hand extended. The other James took original James's hand in his own, slightly cautious and confused but not wanting to look scared, and shook vigorously.
"Pleasure to meet you, James Potter!" They both laughed. Peter laughed along as well, trying to seem as if he was in on the joke, do he didn't really see what was so funny.
"Stay here, uh, Mr. Potters. I'll go fetch Dumbledore." McGonagall said, then quieter she muttered, "Alternate dimensions! Merlin, dimension traveling at their age is extremely dangerous…" McGonagall strode out of the room, her emerald robes billowing.
"Wow, I just came here to get a book I left, but this is way more exciting." The other James laughed. "How did you travel through dimensions anyway?"
"Long story." James told James, and James rolled his eyes.
"Well, it's not like I'm going to go to History of Magic so we've got time." James told James.
(Remus was honestly getting confused. He decided to call the James from his universe James, and the James from the other universe Potter, at least in his head.)
"How did you know we traveled from another dimension, anyway?"
"You know, at first I thought it was someone with Polyjuice Potion, (because who wouldn't want to be as good-looking as me?) But then I heard McGonagall muttering something about alternate dimensions."
"Good ears." Nodded James appreciatively, "So, here's how the story goes. Sirius over here found a book that outlined a potion that could take you to alternate dimensions."
Sirius grinned at Potter, and Potter grinned back.
"So, I managed to steal all of the ingredients from Slughorn's stores, and Remus helped us mix it."
"Unfortunately," Remus muttered, still subconsciously wincing from the bruises hidden underneath his robes. Potter looked at Remus, surprised, as if noticing that he was there for the first time.
"Don't be so gloomy, you're enjoying this, I can see it in your eyes." Said Sirius, and Remus just looked at him with steady, annoyed eyes.
"Or maybe not." Sirius said, and James and Peter laughed. Seeing Potter with a confused, irritated look on his face, James turned around to talk to him again.
"What's a matter, oh handsome one?" asked James.
"I'll explain later." Potter said. Then, with a mischievous smile, he added "Oh hideous one." (Remus snickered slightly at this. Potter completely missed the point that he and James looked exactly the same.)
"You asked for it," said a smiling James before lunging for Potter's throat.
When Professor McGonagall came back, Dumbledore following at her heels, she saw James and Potter wrestling and laughing, Sirius cheering them on, Peter squeaking and inching away from the ruckus, and Remus lounging against the wall, an amused but thoughtful look on his face.
"Separate yourselves!" shouted McGonagall. Potter and James reluctantly stood up, black hair still messed up from the fight and fighting back chuckles.
"Ah, what an interesting yet precarious situation we have found ourselves in." Dumbledore said, surveying the dimension-travelers with twinkling eyes, "Why don't we all go up to my office to discuss…"
A/N- Constructive criticism welcome! Destructive criticism will be ignored! Please Review!