A/N: Not terribly different, just better. I hope you enjoy it!
Ten Years in Lost Memory
Chapter One
August
James Potter would turn seventeen in three days. But the boy that sat on the edge of his bed in Godric Hollow had been seventeen for six months already. In three days Harold and Jane Potter would celebrate the day James had miraculously appeared on their front porch.
They changed his clothes and put glasses on his face hoping that no one would question whether or not the ten year old was really their son. He had not spoken for weeks after his arrival. He just stared out the window with a look of utter pain on his face. Then one day, he came down stairs and smiled at his new parents. He let them change his clothes and give him glasses. He took their surname and went to the school they chose for him. He played the part of their son and did not complain. But every once and a while Harold and Jane would catch him looking out a window with that same pained expression.
So James sat on the edge of his bed, looked out the window and letting the pain in his heart show on his face. It was raining outside and fog hung around Godric Hollow and the few houses that were near it. The wind blew the fog and made a tree look like someone's shadow. James leaned towards the window with anticipation bubbling in his stomach. The fog moved again and James could clearly see the tree. He sat back in disappointment.
Someone knocked softly the door. He turned to it as it opened. Jane smiled at him, he smiled back. "It's time to go. If we wait much longer you'll miss the train," she said. James nodded and stood up.
"Sooner I get there, the sooner I get back, right mum?" he asked stretching. Her smiled deepened. She helped him carry his trunk downstairs and out to the car.
----
James and Sirius sat down in a compartment, they stayed quiet until Remus slid the door open and sat down across from them. Remus gave Sirius a questioning look. He shrugged in response. Peter stumbled in and practically fell next to Remus.
"Hey guys," Peter said. "Almost missed the train, again. Would have sucked if I had, eh?" James blinked at Peter, then shook his head. "Wouldn't it have sucked, James?" Peter asked again.
"Sure," James said offhandedly. He looked at Remus and smiled at the Head's Badge on his chest. James nodded at it. "Who would have thought a Marauder'd ended up Head Boy?" James nudged Sirius, who smiled teasingly at Remus.
"Figures really," Sirius said. "He never was a very good Marauder." James laughed with Sirius. Peter joined in and Remus rolled his eyes.
"So, Prongs," Peter piped. "How many times are you going to ask Lily out this year?" James sighed and ran his hand through his hair.
"Look, guys, I've been thinking about this. Maybe asking her out every time I see her isn't the best idea. Maybe I should just try being nice?"
"I think you're right, James," Remus said. "It'll show her how mature you really are."
"Well, I think it's stupid," Sirius said. "You'll wear her down eventually. Besides I'm your best friend you should take my suggestion and only value my opinion." James hit Sirius on the back of the head. "What was that for!"
"I'm impatient and your idea has not been working. So, I'm going with my other best friend's idea. If Remus thinks that she'll react kindly to me being nice to her, then I'm going to be nice to her," James said.
"It's not just her you need to be nice to, James," Remus said. "You need to be nice to everyone, even Snape." James gave Remus a blank look.
"I'll stop pranking people, Moony, but you're pushing it with the Snape thing," James said. Sirius gave James a horrified look.
"Stop pranking?" he yelled. "Do my ears deceive me or did you just speak those terrible, blasphemous words!" Sirius demanded. James smiled at Sirius' reaction.
"How many pranks have we done since fifth year? We did two and I don't think they count as pranks."
"I disagree," Sirius said.
"We turned McGonagall's office pink, by accident I might add," James said counting on his fingers. "And we, again by accident, blew up Flitwick's desk. Neither of those were pranks, like I said they were accidents."
"We didn't get punished like they were accidents," Sirius pouted.
"That doesn't change the fact that they were," James pointed out.
"But we still get to play with Snape?" Sirius asked hopefully.
"First of all don't say 'play,' it sounds like were doing massive physical harm. And second if he starts with me, I'll finish with him. In other words, no more starting shit." Sirius crossed arms and pouted. Remus shook his head.
"James if you do anything slightly cruel to Snape, Lily isn't going to believe that you've changed," he said.
"Let's be honest, Remus. I'm not changing who I am, I'm changing how I act towards other people. You know that I'm a nice guy. Now, I just have to start acting like it to other people."
"Isn't it enough for just us to know you're nice? Or are you aiming at getting new friends!" Sirius yelled.
"Why is this such a big deal, Sirius!" James yelled back. "I'm not abandoning you by showing the bloody school I'm a decent person. We're not going to stop having a good time just because we're not breaking any rules. And everything you're saying makes you sound like a bloody evil lunatic!"
"All I want is to know why all of the sudden you want to be nice to everyone," Sirius said.
"Sirius, you know for a fact that I never hexed anyone I didn't think deserved it. I've always been nice enough to get by without everyone hating me. Now, I think for my last year at Hogwarts I ought to be the nicest I can be within reason. And Lily has always hated it when I hex people. She's always told me to be a better person. My argument is that I am a good person, just not in front of her. She should have been yelling at me not to be stupid," James said.
"You've been thinking about this for awhile, haven't you?" Remus asked. James just smiled.
"Well, what am I supposed to do with my extra energy!" Siris yelled. "If I'm not hexing or pranking, I'll be eating. And you know what will happen if I spend all of my spare time eating! I'll get fat!"
"Why don't you get a girl, Sirius? Instead of acting like one," James suggested laughing.
----
James sat between Sirius and Remus. Peter sat next to Remus and tried to be involved in the conversation the other three were having during the Sorting ceremony. Remus managed to quiet James and Sirius by the end of the Dumbledore's speech.
"… all students will be required to take an additional class this year. Professor Eric Juarbe will be teaching this class and will explain it tomorrow. To help all of you study for this class eight new students will be coming. They will be staying with the Gryffindor's for the entire year… Now, on with the feast!"
The food appeared on the tables and everyone began to eat.
----
"What do you think this new class is about, guys? What's with the teacher we've never heard of and the eight new kids? It's kind of weird, right?" James asked. He and the other Marauders walked lazily down the hall the next morning to breakfast.
"Looking for some new victims, Potter?" Lily spat as she walked past the foursome with her friends.
"No, actually I'm interested in why all of the sudden we need a new class. I mean I think everyone would like to know why Dumbledore insisted on a new class that requires eight new kids to come to the school. I'm just curious," James said.
"You should really call him Professor Dumbledore, Potter. It's disrespectful not to," Lily said. She walked away with her friend giggling behind her.
"Ha-ha! She didn't call me a prat! I'll take this as a personal achievement," James said.
"Good show, old man!" Sirius said patting James on the back.
"But honestly what are you guys thinking about the class?" James asked.
"I don't know, James," Remus said. "I agree with you, it does seem weird that out of nowhere we need to take some mystery class." They sat down at the Gryffindor table.
"Do you think any of these new kids will be girls?" Sirius asked.
"Why do you care?" James asked.
"You told me that I should get a girl. I've never settled for very long on one girl from Hogwarts, I figured that maybe if she wasn't from this school she'd stick for longer," Sirius said.
"That is the most ridiculous thing I think I've ever heard," Remus said.
"Yes, it is. I don't see why there wouldn't be girls coming too," James said.
"You think they'll be pretty?" Sirius asked.
"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder," James said earning him a confused look from Sirius.
"Wha?"
"Someone who's beautiful to me may not be beautiful to you," he said.
"But I think Lily's pretty," Sirius said.
"That's not the point, Padfoot."
"Then I don't understand what you're trying to say."
"Your meaning is falling on deaf ears, Prongs," Remus said.
"Since when is Sirius deaf?" Peter asked. Remus just shook his head.